Bringing Baby Home During a Pandemic

We know the health and safe­ty of your new­born baby is your high­est pri­or­i­ty, but we also under­stand there should be a healthy bal­ance between tak­ing appro­pri­ate pre­cau­tions and unnec­es­sar­i­ly keep­ing your new­born away from loved ones. Infec­tious dis­ease physi­cian, Mia Taormi­na, MD, and pedi­a­tri­cian, Don Sei­d­man, MD, share tips as you nav­i­gate bring­ing your new­born baby home dur­ing a pandemic. 

Although there are risks asso­ci­at­ed with group gath­er­ings, babies and chil­dren becom­ing sick with COVID-19 has been rare to-date. The risk of fam­i­ly expo­sure is sig­nif­i­cant­ly less than the sea­son­al flu. In addi­tion to COVID-19-spe­cif­ic mea­sures, we also rec­om­mend gen­er­al safe­ty guide­lines to help keep your baby safe, including:

• Restrict vis­its out­side of imme­di­ate fam­i­ly and grand­par­ents. Lim­it vis­i­tors to imme­di­ate fam­i­ly and grand­par­ents for the first two weeks. This guide­line is sig­nif­i­cant for babies born pre­ma­ture­ly, infants who have a low birth weight or express oth­er concerns.
• Lim­it who can and can­not hold your baby. A good rule of thumb is the most impor­tant mem­bers of your imme­di­ate fam­i­ly can hold your baby for any peri­od of time.
• Require hand­wash­ing. Since new­borns do not have estab­lished immune sys­tems, it is always impor­tant for indi­vid­u­als to wash their hands pri­or to touch­ing your baby.
• Keep mouths and noses cov­ered. Masks play a vital role in pre­vent­ing the spread of the virus. Ensure that all vis­i­tors wear a mask or face cov­er­ing while spend­ing time with your family.
• Keep inter­ac­tions small and main­tain social dis­tanc­ing. Lim­it the num­ber of fam­i­ly mem­bers and ask that those who do not live in the same house­hold to stand six feet from one another.
• Move social­iza­tion out­doors. If you have access to an out­door space such as a porch or yard, hold the meet-and-greet out­side; the risk of expo­sure is low­er in out­door spaces. 

In addi­tion to safe­guard­ing your baby, tak­ing appro­pri­ate pre­cau­tions can play a crit­i­cal role in pro­tect­ing high­er risk loved ones who come to vis­it. Cre­at­ing a plan and shar­ing key strate­gies with your imme­di­ate fam­i­ly can go a long way in sooth­ing your fears. 

Talk with your pedi­a­tri­cian about your con­cerns and ask any ques­tions you may have. If you would like to learn more about COVID-19 pre­ven­tion tips, DuPage Med­ical Group clin­i­cal safe­ty and more, please vis­it our com­mu­ni­ty health update page or call 1−888−693−6437 for addi­tion­al information.