Caring for your newborn at home if you have COVID-19
If you are in isolation for COVID-19, take the following precautions until your isolation period has ended:
Stay home to separate yourself from others outside your home.
Isolate (stay away) from other household members who are not infected, and wear a mask in shared spaces.
Have a healthy caregiver who is fully vaccinated and not at higher risk for severe illness provide care for your newborn newborn (see recommendations below).
Follow recommended precautions if you must care for your newborn before your isolation period has ended.
Recommended precautions for healthy caregivers helping care for newborns:
Caregivers should wash their hands for at least 20 seconds before touching your newborn. If soap and water are not available, they should use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
If the caregiver is living in the same home or has been in close contact with you and is not yet fully vaccinated for COVID-19, they might have been exposed.
Fully vaccinated people who have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19 should be tested 3-5 days following the date of their exposure and wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result. They should isolate if they test positive.
They should wear a mask when they are within 6 feet of your newborn for the entire time you are in isolation, and during their own quarantine after you complete your isolation.
If a healthy caregiver is not available, you can care for your newborn if you are well enough.
Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before touching for your newborn. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Wear a mask when within 6 feet of your newborn and other people during your entire isolation period. The mask helps prevent you from spreading the virus to others.
Others in your household, and caregivers who have COVID-19, should isolate and avoid caring for the newborn as much as possible. If they have to care for the newborn, they should follow hand washing and mask recommendations above.
Once your isolation period has ended, you should still wash your hands before caring for your newborn, but you don’t need to take the other precautions. You most likely won’t pass the virus to your newborn or any other close contacts after your isolation period has ended.
If you had symptoms, your isolation period ends after:
10 days since symptoms first appeared, and
24 hours with no fever without fever-reducing medicine, and
Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving
If you never had symptoms, your isolation period ends after
10 days have passed since you tested positive for COVID-19.
These timeframes do not apply if you have a severely weakened immune system or were severely ill with COVID-19. Please refer to “When you can be around others after you had or likely had COVID-19” and consult with your health care professional about when it’s safe for you to end your isolation period.
Monitor your newborn for COVID-19 symptoms.
If your newborn has one or more of these signs or symptoms, they may have early symptoms of COVID-19 or another illness, and you should contact your healthcare professional.
Fever (a temperature of 100.4 or higher is considered an emergency)
Lethargy (being overly tired or inactive)
Runny nose
Cough
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Poor feeding
Increased work of breathing or shallow breathing
See CDC’s webpage on Evaluation and Management Considerations for Neonates At Risk for COVID-19 for more information.
Breastfeeding and COVID-19
Current evidence suggests that breast milk is not likely to spread the virus to babies.
COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people aged 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future. You should always wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds before breastfeeding or expressing breast milk, even if you don’t have COVID-19. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
If you have COVID-19 and choose to breastfeed:
Wash your hands before breastfeeding
Wear a mask while breastfeeding and whenever you are within 6 feet of your baby.
If you have COVID-19 and choose to express breast milk:
Use your own breast pump (one not shared with anyone else), if possible.
Wear a mask as you express breast milk.
Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before touching any pump or bottle parts, and before expressing breast milk.
Follow recommendations for proper pump cleaning after each use. Clean all parts of the pump that come into contact with breast milk.
Consider having a healthy caregiver feed the expressed breast milk to the baby. The caregiver should be fully vaccinated (at least two weeks after the 2nd dose of a 2-dose vaccine or two weeks after a 1-dose vaccine) and not be at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. If the caregiver is living in the same home or has been in close contact with you and is not yet fully vaccinated for COVID-19, they might have been exposed.
Fully vaccinated people who have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19 should be tested 3-5 days following the date of their exposure and wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result. They should isolate if they test positive.
Any caregiver feeding the baby should wear a mask when caring for the baby for the entire time you are in isolation and during their own quarantine period after you complete isolation.
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