HYDERABAD: Building immunity by taking all safety precautions during the pandemic has become a necessity and calls for a healthy routine. But, when it comes to newborns, what are the extra measures that the mother and family should take? Experts help us understand how one can keep babies safe during a pandemic and the precautions new moms should take.
Dr Swapna Yendru, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Swapna Health Care, talks about how a Covid-positive mother can take good care of her newborn. “If you have tested positive, you can continue breastfeeding, but wear a mask while doing so. The antibodies present in the breast milk will protect the baby against Covid.”
The other option is to pump the milk and ask someone to nurse the child in a separate room. Ask visitors to wear a mask while being around the baby. “If the mother has a mild infection or is asymptomatic, they only need prophylactic antibodies. If the mother’s condition is bad, she would need an anti-viral,” she says.
Dr Pritesh Nagar, head of the paediatric department at Care Hospitals Banjara Hills, says if a mother tests positive two weeks before and two days after delivery, the risk of the baby also getting infected is high. They are three ways the virus can transmit from the mother to the baby: when the baby is in the womb, during delivery because of the blood and secretion and through hospital exposure.
A newborn, whose mother has tested positive, is usually tested after 24 hours to rule out the chances of false positives. If the baby is negative and subsequently has symptoms, it might have contracted the virus post-delivery.