Parents of newborns- how are you approaching RSV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I have a 2 and 3 year old who are in school 3 hours a day. If I have them wash well and I wear the baby and keep them out of the baby's face, how covered are we? My baby is 8 weeks.

Are you washing their respiratory tracts?

If you need help, maybe use their tuition to hire a mother's helper for three hours a day?

We also have a full time nanny but thanks for the helpful reply

My kids need to be in school after being stuck inside for the majority of their early lives.

The ironic thing is that we moved so my toddler could have the socialization she needed the past two years since COVID is of no threat to her. Now that she has a newborn sibling we have her home - our nanny lines up play dates - so we can somewhat hunker down when there is an ACTUAL threat to their age cohort - RSV.

You really did this backwards.

You seem really sleep deprived. Maybe you should go take a nap.

[Anonymous]

My second got RSV from 3 yo older sister at just 3 months old. We were super careful but it was a lost cause with the 3 year old coughing everywhere and being home alone with them a lot of the day I couldn’t successfully isolate the baby. I was pretty scared since the baby had been low birth weight, but it was uneventful. Urgent care told us what to watch for but it stayed like a moderately bad cold with fever and we were able to stay out of the hospital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I kept my eldest out of kindergarten. If you can't do it the whole winter, at least do it for 6 weeks when they are the most fragile.

I once walked out of a lab appointment because they wanted me to wait in a line in a hallway. Another time my MIL flew across the country and I would only meet her outdoors in the park in the freezing cold

Don't mess around with surgical masks. That was the biggest hoax of all during this covid business. Anything less than an n95 that totally seals to your face is theatre.

-signed 2x covid pregnancy veteran who managed to dodge covid unvaccinated

what in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spiriling here.

OP, I think you should take a deep breath. I'm not sure this is a reasonable reaction. Wash hands, be sensible, and most likely, things will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Our 4yo had it when she was 6 months old. We did have to take her into urgent care once, but ultimately it wasn't THAT bad.

We have a second child now that's 1yo and we're laying low as much as we can, but older DD is in preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a newborn currently, but when DS was born at 32 weeks, he received a vaccine for RSV for preemies.

I'm not sure why it's not given out to all newborns, maybe you can ask your pediatrician.

Also, clinical studies have just shown that a new vaccine given to pregnant mothers protects their newborns against RSV. It's not available right now, but it's something to follow.

It's 10k and only available to premies.

This is one of the things I hate most about the USA: life-saving meds exist, but the government is too weak to force pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices, like the European Union and other countries do. Same for the life-saving progesterone injection to prevent pre-term labor. Same for insulin.

It's an outrage.

Yes and where does the money to pay for this magic profit loss that gets passed on to the consumer in other ways come from? And how do you propose to incentivize drug companies to develop all these life-saving drugs if they aren’t allowed to profit from them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I have a 2 and 3 year old who are in school 3 hours a day. If I have them wash well and I wear the baby and keep them out of the baby's face, how covered are we? My baby is 8 weeks.

Are you washing their respiratory tracts?

If you need help, maybe use their tuition to hire a mother's helper for three hours a day?

We also have a full time nanny but thanks for the helpful reply

My kids need to be in school after being stuck inside for the majority of their early lives.

The ironic thing is that we moved so my toddler could have the socialization she needed the past two years since COVID is of no threat to her. Now that she has a newborn sibling we have her home - our nanny lines up play dates - so we can somewhat hunker down when there is an ACTUAL threat to their age cohort - RSV.

You really did this backwards.

You seem really sleep deprived. Maybe you should go take a nap.

Huh? This is sensible. Covid is not a threat to kids. Something about trusting the science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a hermit. The older toddler changed her clothes and took a bath immediately back from school. When she got sick I was fortunate to have help to separate both the children. It sucks to isolate during holiday season but it is what it is. The baby won’t be a baby for long, time flies. But worrying about the baby during cold rsv and flu season is why I will never have another child.

I think the above is a little extreme, but everyone is different. Last year my DC2 was 2 months at Thanksgiving and 3 months at Xmas. We tested for COVID weekly and my DC1 wore a mask at preschool and inside. I didn't bring the kids to the grocery store and we didn't go to Xmas parties. I didn't get COVID while I was pregnant with DC2 and my family didn't get COVID until the summer when DC2 was 8 months and DC1 was 3. I'm pregnant with DC3 right now and my DC1 is going to school unmasked and my younger one is playing with kids unmasked. We are going to cut back on going to indoor places without masks, but there is only so much that you can do if you have older children and you want them to stay in classes and have a social life.

IMO the most annoying people are like my SIL who went to Disney with her toddler while 32 weeks into a high risk pregnancy, sent her child to preschool unmasked throughout her pregnancy, and then made everyone test for COVID three times a day at Thanksgiving and Xmas and acted like she was the head of the NIH. Pick a lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I kept my eldest out of kindergarten. If you can't do it the whole winter, at least do it for 6 weeks when they are the most fragile.

I once walked out of a lab appointment because they wanted me to wait in a line in a hallway. Another time my MIL flew across the country and I would only meet her outdoors in the park in the freezing cold

Don't mess around with surgical masks. That was the biggest hoax of all during this covid business. Anything less than an n95 that totally seals to your face is theatre.

-signed 2x covid pregnancy veteran who managed to dodge covid unvaccinated

You should have gotten vaccinated.

That's what the high risk OB said, while wearing a useless surgical mask, who told me to stop talking over him when I tried to tell him I have a C section isthmocele which ended up being bad enough another doctor said I was at risk of spontaneous uterine rupture (nearly always fatal to baby). Needless to say he was fired and my respect and trust in doctors and the medical establishment, and thus experimental vaccines, is greatly diminished. You have zero right to tell someone what to do to their body.

You chose not to get vaccinated against covid bc you had a crappy high risk ob?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I kept my eldest out of kindergarten. If you can't do it the whole winter, at least do it for 6 weeks when they are the most fragile.

I once walked out of a lab appointment because they wanted me to wait in a line in a hallway. Another time my MIL flew across the country and I would only meet her outdoors in the park in the freezing cold

Don't mess around with surgical masks. That was the biggest hoax of all during this covid business. Anything less than an n95 that totally seals to your face is theatre.

-signed 2x covid pregnancy veteran who managed to dodge covid unvaccinated

what in the world.

co-signed. This is crazy.

Btw I had RSV as an infant and was fine. And my DD had it as a <2yo (highest-risk period) and was also fine.

I think the following are reasonable precautions:

-ask people to wear masks when visiting brand-new newborn
-limit indoor visitors to grandparents only for the first 2 months (when hospital sick visits for newborn would require a spinal tap)
-limit contact with actively sick people
-"divide and conquer" with spouse if you have an older kid who is sick; don't isolate the kid, but keep them from touching the baby and have them use separate bathrooms, etc.

Just remember, babies have been getting sick from their older siblings for millennia and usually it turns out fine.

[Anonymous]

Voice of dissent here. My 16 week old contracted RSV her first week of daycare. She had a very bad case but was not hospitalized. Her pediatrician probably should have had us take her in, but hindsight is 2020. That illness caused lung damage and gave her asthma, though we did not know it for a while because we thought she recovered. But the damage was done from that and We have spent the last 6 plus years with her catching every respiratory infection known to Man and being extremely vulnerable to illness. No cold or runny nose for her is ever a cold. She will be up all night struggling to breathe and needing nebulizer treatments every few hours. Talk about working mom guilt.

She would get sick every 2-3 weeks as an infant and toddler following the RSV and I used so much PTO I was worried about losing my job. I would have play dates with friends who failed to mention their kid had a cough or cold, and then a few days later my DD h would have pneumonia or bronchiolitis. She was so sick, all the time. It took a huge toll on me emotionally, on my marriage, health, and sleep. We are still dealing with the impact of that one illness almost every day of her life.

We now have a pediatric pulmonologist, multiple inhalers, an asthma action plan, etc. but dealing with the chronic stress of her condition and constant illness has been a burden I would not wish on anyone. I wish I had known how bad RSV could ge for a baby, and now it can haunt your kid for a lifetime.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I now have three friends with kids in the hospital with RSV. Going to just do our best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Voice of dissent here. My 16 week old contracted RSV her first week of daycare. She had a very bad case but was not hospitalized. Her pediatrician probably should have had us take her in, but hindsight is 2020. That illness caused lung damage and gave her asthma, though we did not know it for a while because we thought she recovered. But the damage was done from that and We have spent the last 6 plus years with her catching every respiratory infection known to Man and being extremely vulnerable to illness. No cold or runny nose for her is ever a cold. She will be up all night struggling to breathe and needing nebulizer treatments every few hours. Talk about working mom guilt.

She would get sick every 2-3 weeks as an infant and toddler following the RSV and I used so much PTO I was worried about losing my job. I would have play dates with friends who failed to mention their kid had a cough or cold, and then a few days later my DD h would have pneumonia or bronchiolitis. She was so sick, all the time. It took a huge toll on me emotionally, on my marriage, health, and sleep. We are still dealing with the impact of that one illness almost every day of her life.

We now have a pediatric pulmonologist, multiple inhalers, an asthma action plan, etc. but dealing with the chronic stress of her condition and constant illness has been a burden I would not wish on anyone. I wish I had known how bad RSV could ge for a baby, and now it can haunt your kid for a lifetime.

Is this the narrative that your doctor agrees with?

I have a kid whose bad reaction to his first virus, at 4 weeks, was the first warning sign of lifelong asthma. It almost certainly wasn't RSV, based on the time of year. But the virus didn't cause the asthma. It was just the first trigger that he was exposed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a newborn currently, but when DS was born at 32 weeks, he received a vaccine for RSV for preemies.

I'm not sure why it's not given out to all newborns, maybe you can ask your pediatrician.

Also, clinical studies have just shown that a new vaccine given to pregnant mothers protects their newborns against RSV. It's not available right now, but it's something to follow.

My premature twins received the shot but we still had to stay isolated. One child was a micro preemie. To this day, I detest and still have anger towards the idiots who were mad we didn't take our kids out or allow grandma to take them to her grandma shower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a newborn currently, but when DS was born at 32 weeks, he received a vaccine for RSV for preemies.

I'm not sure why it's not given out to all newborns, maybe you can ask your pediatrician.

Also, clinical studies have just shown that a new vaccine given to pregnant mothers protects their newborns against RSV. It's not available right now, but it's something to follow.

My premature twins received the shot but we still had to stay isolated. One child was a micro preemie. To this day, I detest and still have anger towards the idiots who were mad we didn't take our kids out or allow grandma to take them to her grandma shower.

You have anger issues and I’m grateful you’re not in my family! Yes of course people who don’t have preemies during a scary illness season are not going to fully comprehend what you’re going through or how you feel about it. Move the eff on. They sure as heck have.