The moment you become a mum, you will do everything possible to protect your new baby, even from sick family members. A polite request for friends and family not to visit when they’re sick is not usually warranted as it’s usually common sense.
What’s not well known is the dangers of friends and family arriving to meet baby, suffering from a cold sore.
One UK mum, Lynette Clare, nearly lost her newborn daughter, Chloe, at 5 days old after a family friend kissed her baby with a cold sore.
The kiss nearly took Chloe’s life as she contracted HSV-1 encephalitis. Thankfully Clare knew that her daughter’s 42°C temperature and her unusual sleepy behavior meant there was something wrong. When she took Chloe into hospital to get her heel test, her baby’s unusual lethargy prompted the mum to rush her baby to the A&E.
Chloe was immediately admitted to a high dependency unit where Clare was told her daughter might not make it through the night. Her baby was given antiviral medication when the doctors worked out the infection could have been caused by a cold sore.
“When the doctors told me Chloe might not make it through the night I was just devastated,” Clare said.
“I thought I was going to lose her and stayed up with her all through the night.
“Luckily, when the consultant worked out it must have been linked to a cold sore she was put on antivirals and responded well to them.
“I just feel so lucky it was caught at the right time – I was told afterwards if I had waited until the morning before taking her into hospital she probably wouldn’t be here today.
“None of the midwives on the maternity ward had warned me about cold sores being a risk, I just had no idea they were dangerous in any way.
“I think there should be something given out in the packs which are given to new mums.
“It is completely natural to want to kiss a newborn baby, you just want to shower them with love and kisses.
“How were we to know a cold sore could have caused this?”
Baby Chloe remained in hospital for 3 weeks and made a full recovery.
The newborn is now three years old and has been diagnosed with microcephaly – an abnormal smallness of the head – which doctors believe is linked to Chloe contracting HSV-1 as a newborn.
“Parents just have to know about this and if I can save at least one other family from going through the same thing then it has all been worth it,” Clare added.
“I nearly lost my daughter and what I went through that first night is something no parent should have to go through.
“As a parent no one can ever prepare you to hear a consultant say your five-day-old baby might not make it through the night.
“It’s a nightmare that never goes away.”
Clare, who is also mum to Daniel, 18, Natalie, 16, and Jamie, nine, has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the condition, with another mum, Claire Henderson, whose own daughter Brooke was in hospital after sores appeared on her face, throat and lips in September 2015.
The petition is calling on the UK Government to provide new parents with information about the dangers of cold sores to newborn babies.
Were you aware how fatal cold sores could be to newborn babies?
