My baby has a cold sore and I'm DEVASTATED!

[Itsychik]

I'll spare you the background and the long rant...but when I went to take my baby out of bed this morning I saw that he has developed a cold sore!

I'm DEVASTATED! I'm absolutely paranoid about cold sores and children and have been extremely careful with my older children when around people with outbreaks...and I'm so so so upset that my baby has developed one.

I've been reading horror stories online about babies spreading the infection to their eyes (and going blind!), to their BRAINS, to other body parts and of course, other children!

Does anyone have experience with cold sores in children/babies? How easily can it spread to other body parts? I'm breastfeeding...is it likely to spread from my DS's mouth to my nipple? (I already get them as well, but only on the mouth-area). I know the "general" information about the duration from blisters/crusts and how to take care of them, and washing hands and utensils, etc...

I called our GP who told me that it's "not that bad" and that the infection doesn't usually spread to eyes/nipples/etc. But I'm freaking out, and would like to realistically know what other people have experienced so i can be best prepared to help my DS.

I'm SO upset by this!

 

[xdxxtx]

All of this depends.. How old is your baby???

The risk of passing a cold sore from a mouth to a nipple is pretty low, but it's possible and DOES happen. Most of the information regarding cold sores and breastfed babies is regarding a cold sore on the parent's nipple (or mouth) and whether or not it's safe to continue breastfeeding during that time. I'm sure we can do better than that if we continue to dig for information. I, personally, have not experienced this and do not get cold sores. My sister gets them, but our kids and her husband have been lucky to not pick any up. She breastfed her second baby.

 

[Babybump87]

Although I do get cold sores lucky enough touch wood DDs and DH are fine .

I've no experience with children getting them unfortunately all you can do is follow the guidelines and try put cream on often .

I am not sure if it's just newborns that are mainly at risk of developing more serious complications ? .

Hope it clears quickly for him I know how annoying they are !

 

[CaptainMummy]

I get coldsores, although haven't had one for about a year. A couple of weeks ago, dd2 woke up and had one on her top lip. I panicked, and expected it to get really bad.. I put a tiny dot of coldsore cream on 3 times in the first day, and told her not to touch it (she was very good and I didn't see her at it once) and by the next day it had all but disappeared. She is a bit older than your little one, but I think it is one of the things we only ever read horror stories about, where in actual fact it is quite common and usually easily dealt with.

I have no advice regarding breastfeeding, I'm afraid x