Dr Amy Morgan, a GP, joined Drivetime to discuss why parents are being warned to prevent friends and family from kissing their newborns. Listen back above.
It might feel like the most natural thing to do, but experts are recommending against friends and family members kissing and cuddling newborn babies below a certain age.
While fussing over a newborn baby seems like exactly what we should be doing, experts have renewed advice to parents that babies under aged three months are shielded from dangerous viruses and infections, which are most easily passed through kissing, cuddling and holding them.
Dr Morgan acknowledged that this would feel like a blow to the loving family members that want to dote on the baby, saying "there's probably grandparents listening in now going, 'what do you mean? This is ridiculous!'
"In the context of the last couple of years and people have naturally been starved of affection and grandparents have missed out, and I think there's a renewed sense of 'let me hold the baby'."
She points to the recent Covid years as giving us a "good experience of understanding, a lot people had a better understanding of how immune systems work and how easily infection can be spread. I suppose we are talking about the most vulnerable sector of our population, and that is newborns.
"Thankfully most newborns are healthy but they do need time to build up their immune systems and that is through a combination of vaccinations and stuff that their own immune system is naturally developing through exposure as well."
She added that newborns who were born prematurely are especially vulnerable to infections and viruses.
Skin-to-skin contact is how these are most easily passed, such as kissing and snuggling. How do you tell friends and family that they can't cuddle a newborn, or are there ways of mitigating the risk?
Morgan said absolutely, adding that "generally people have really good common sense and it's probably been honed even more over the last couple of years". Hand hygiene and staying away if you have an active infection is key.
She said that people who are concerned about their newborns getting sick, but equally concerned about offending friends and family, should start by having the conversation.
"It all depends on your level of comfort as well, and I think just knowing what to look out for. Some pediatricians and some other experts would say really, really intense contact and kissing particularly, because the other thing to remember is while you mightn't be unwell yourself, you could actually be carrying something and you could be in the pre-infective state", she added.
The one GPs would "dread" most would be the herpes simplex virus, Morgan said, "and that could be transmitted through the virus that's responsible for common cold sores. Babies just do not have the necessary immunity to fully fight off an infection and it can escalate quite quickly."
For more information on newborn help refer to your GP or visit the HSE website.
