Hi Ladies,
Im a FTM and DH family will becoming to see baby but one of his family members has recently contracted Herpes,she will be bringing her boyfriend (not sure if he has it).im worried about her kissing and holding baby and dont want to be rude but am not sure how to discreetly monitor her with baby. ADVISE PLEASE. How would you handle it?
Re: Family who wantto hold baby but have STd.
Explain that since LO hasn't had their injections you'd appreciate it if no one were to kiss them, you don't want to risk your baby getting sick (make it generalised if you don't want to hurt her feelings)
Or if you dont care just say "you're not giving my baby herpes, back off"
Definitely do not let them kiss the baby, no matter how you approach it
How is this person related to DH? Is this his sister? Or is this an extended family member? If she is extended, it's pretty easy to shut the whole thing down by saying you guys don't want anyone but immediate family members visiting until baby is a few months old and has their first couple rounds of shots and a stronger immune system. If this is his sister, then DH should have a frank discussion with her about what type of Herpes she has, if she has an active outbreak or not and gently go over proper hand hygiene and ask that she refrain from
kissing the baby. The boyfriend in either scenario (extended family or sister) has no business holding, kissing or handling the baby. Most boyfriends/guys are not going to ask to hold them, anyways and if he does you can gently say you are only letting immediate family hold the baby for now.
If people get butthurt about this DO NOT EVEN STRESS ABOUT IT. Your baby, your choices - doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or feels about the issue.
With my family I already mentioned I do not want them kissing my baby. It broke my mother's heart but she understood. She is a nurse. If you are afraid of hurting feelings just say you want anyone kissing the baby for the first few months, because baby needs to build an immune system. After that you may want to have a talk with the family.
It can be passed on even if someone does not have a break out. They also just released a huge study last month stating that there is no difference between the genital one and cold sore one. Also over 60% of Americans have it. They are working on a cure but we may not see it in our life time.
https://m.digitaljournal.com/pr/2718618
Eta:I suck at words today.
Since it's not your family have your husband tell them but be prepared to do it yourself if he can't for some reason.
I would encourage everyone to educate themselves fully on the actual facts surrounding herpatic transmission and have a better understanding for your own benefit of just how these things are transferred and how you protect against them.
*hit the post reply button on a hormonal rant post. Had no clue how to delete it. So. Enjoy my awkwardness.
The kind that causes cold sores is very common and can hit for a number of reasons. But it can be dangerous for babies. No biggie. If I had herpes and a new mom said that to me, I'd understand that.
My husband gets cold sores every now and then...if he had it flare up right now would I be worrying about him kissing my newborn baby in 6 weeks? Heck no because it would be GONE by then. If he has one when baby is born it is so fricking obvious it's gross, his entire lip is swollen and he's incredibly uncomfortable, his face wouldn't be going anywhere near our baby...but he could go to the dr, get some meds and be clear in a week and then baby would be perfectly safe again.
So if we're all talking about her mouth herpes right now than they will more than likely be gone in a few weeks. Needless to say, I wouldn't want any cousins' girlfriend kissing my baby and I don't know why they would, I've never kissed all over a baby.
Since genital herpes is the only scenrio that makes sense here... No one should be worrying about someone's genitals and your tiny baby, unless we're talking about Law and Order SVU. It's unnecessary to me to have a convo about this with her when the blanket statement of EVERYONE wash their hands can be made, I imagine that having genital herpes and other's knowing about it would be uncomfortable enough, being called out when you visit a baby would be awful.
Would be great to know which type of herpes it is....
Seriously though OP, I agreed to just enforce a no kissing rule for everybody because it's cold and flu season. You don't need to call out her herpes. If you see that she has an active visible outbreak then you can make a different decision at that point in time. If you're seriously uncomfortable, you can put the baby into a sling. Or you could use the cattle prod route. It's not like she's going to give genital herpes to the baby.
*ETA- seriously, tons of people have herpes and I'm sure that you'll have a lot of people holding the baby that have the virus and you'd never know.
We should probably send out a list of all the illnesses we do not want spread to our babies, and make people put their names on it and check off what they have- that way we would really know that our newborns are safe.
Just sayin.
I know it can be worrisome but there really shouldn't be a stigma and there's no reason to call anyone out or make them feel bad. Hubby has it from vaccination testing in the Military. He gets obvious cold sores when he's stressed so everyone knows about it.
I agree with PP, how on earth do you know your family has an STD? Seriously, my family does not talk about sex, I'm married and we lived together for 4 years before we got married and as far as I'm conserned, my parents can think it was immaculate conception!!
I really don't know about the rest, it seems like a question for your pediatrician.