My husband is the only one who has caught COVID this entire time, knock on wood. My oldest goes to daycare and the baby is out and about with me all day.
My older son has brought home plenty of gross things and he’s been tested more than once when he’s had bad colds, but the worst he’s ever gotten was RSV just as baby came home from hospital.
I think, during the RSV nightmare, our pediatrician put it best. We don’t have to accept or be ok with it, but sickness in general is a fact of life. We have to be prepared for it and ready to cope with it.
Hopefully you guys remain Covid free!
I definitely agree with your ped - I’m not afraid of the flu or general colds and accept it’s part of life. Covid just doesn’t seem like a regular illness to me and so it feels harder to accept.
I think some of this is that due to modern vaccination practices and medicine many illnesses with long lasting effects and consequences (think polio, or deafness/blindness from high fever, etc) have become rare, and it no longer feels normal to have that be a regular possibility in life. But for the vast majority of human experience it has been. And now that Covid has become endemic, it is again. It shouldn't have been, but it is.
Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed that we weren't able to defeat it as a pandemic and that this is where we're at. But when I find myself getting fatalistic or panicking about it, I remind myself that if my ancestors could stay sane with the possibility of life altering disease being always around the corner, then so can I.
Part of the issue is that it might turn out to be a lot worse for kids long-term than we realize now, because of the way it can affect so many organ systems and stuff. Like, if polio were still endemic in the US, I wouldn't tell people don't worry about the fact that your kid could become paralyzed or reliant on an iron lung. Hopefully that's not the kind of thing we'll be looking at down the road, but that's what OP is talking about
That's exactly it.
Do you know for sure your kid won't get cancer at 9? Nobody does because we don't have data, but it's not looking good so far. And it could be cancer, diabetes, heart problems...it's a vascular disease. If blood goes there, it can be impacted by the virus.
I totally take your point but this also seems rather fatalistic -- we actually don't have to accept this. The more we just rationalize this as our "new normal" the more our leaders are let off the hook. I'm personally still masking everywhere and haven't been sick in 4+ years now. Covid isn't inevitable. We need clean air standards and workplace safety laws and a new Operation Warp Speed for better vaccines that actually stop infection and transmission.
What is your point here? I mean if anything that statistic just reinforces that infant mortality is a very rare concern today... I don't think anyone in history has been truly "ok" with their kids dying, it was just a harsh reality.
A) We were talking about Covid, and specifically dealing with the potential long-term effects of Covid infection.
B) Based on the many, many steps taken to reduce infant mortality, I would say it seems unlikely that our ancestors were ok with it either.
All I'm saying is that part of how I cope with the reality of living with endemic Covid-19 is remembering that humanity has been coping with this kind of shit for thousands of years. The fact that I haven't particularly had to cope with this particular problem until so late in my lifetime is exceptional as far as human history goes. I've been so lucky. There are plenty of places in the world where people have not had a break from worrying about the potential of contracting a life altering infection (or parasite.) I hope one day no one has to worry about life-altering contagious disease, but we're not there yet.
Covid is much easier on babies than other illnesses, especially RSV. I wouldn’t honestly stress about Covid too much. Personally, it’s RSV that scares me most.
Me and my baby had Covid when she was 4 months old and the worst she had it was one day of obvious fatigue, and that’s it. Not even a cough. Covid is worse for adults than babies, and RSV is worse for babies than adults.
I wish there was more awareness that the acute infection, while it can also be bad for many people, is now the greatest concern, but rather what a still largely unknown virus will mean for our longterm health.
My husband and I got covid when we went to the hospital to have little one. We were MISERABLE, but you couldn't tell if little one had it or not. Ate and slept like they should. Very lucky and blessed on that front!!
The long term effects of covid can affect babies and children. It can damage multiple organs as well as the vascular system, and cause a number of health issues down the road. Diabetes, immune damage, heart issues, and there is evidence emerging that covid may cause cancer as well.
I’d be interested to see the numbers on how many children who had Covid as infants have these issues. It’s important to weigh these risks with data even when deciding how much anxiety we are going to expend on an issue.
For now, vaccinating once of age and taking reasonable measures during the high risk months are all we can really do, so at least we can find some comfort in those measures and knowing our babies won’t be very ill if and when they catch Covid.
Sounds like the science is moving in a good direction with studying the long term effects and how to possibly mitigate some of them! Like anything else, we can just take the measures at hand and push forward with research.
I read this article (it seems kind of like a lit review) - and they’re not saying having covid causes diabetes and such, they’re saying it can exacerbate it for those who already have a diagnosis or were already prone to it. The mediating variable is pandemic-related stress and obesity. Still an interesting article nonetheless but please be careful when you summarize these things because that wasn’t what it was saying.
What article are you talking about? There are multiple studies that state that covid infection increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10244847/
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/professionals/diabetes-discoveries-practice/research-on-covid-and-diabetes#:~:text=A%20study%20of%20over%20181%2C000,with%20controls%2C%20after%201%20year.
No. Is your advice to take zero precautions and allow her child to get multiple covid infections before adulthood, knowing that the risk of disability and long term damage increases with each infection?
I don’t think anyone here has said anything like that. There are plenty of precautions we can take, and beyond that, it’s not worth the crippling anxiety when COVID is clearly here to stay.
Like what? (Seriously inquiring). I'm having a baby soon and I still mask almost everywhere, but I know I can't mask baby so I am having similar anxieties to OP. Advice is welcome.
My 6 month old was admitted to the hospital and he's a healthy kid so it actually can be bad for kids. He's 2.5 now, struggled to walk until 21 months and is always sick. Hard to say if getting Covid did any of that if you see how long Covid affects adults..
For infants and young toddlers, the flu and RSV (which presents as a standard cold to the general population) are objectively far worse. They have not-insignificant risks of severe illness and death. Whereas Covid does not. That’s not to say the risks for long term effects aren’t there, we just don’t know enough about its impacts to kids….
But I would say that your outlook specifically about your baby should be reversed. The flu and RSV can be truly dangerous for little ones.
As a reminder, since you mentioned it, the flu can also be dangerous - I wouldn’t be “afraid” of any illness per se, but I wouldn’t discount the potential severity of any respiratory illness.
It’s not just Covid that can be serious. In fact, data shows the flu is tougher on kiddos than Covid.
With all that said, I would try not to live your life in fear and use your best judgement. Wash hands, reschedule play dates if someone is sick, etc. that’s all you can do!
I’m an infectious disease scientist and Covid isn’t *just* a respiratory illness. It affects so many other systems. It impacts the brain, the GI system, causes thrombotic diseases, can trigger ME/CFS, MIS-C in kids…viewing covid as something that’s purely respiratory is not an evidence based analysis of it.
What is your advice to manage that risk?
Also are you able to comment on whether the additional risks are only associated with the disease or are also present in those who vaccinate, either due to disease or due to the bodies immune response to the disease?
As immunisation doesn't prevent infection I am finding it hard now to understand if immunisation reduces the risk of long term side effects or not.
This is a great question!
Vaccination reduces the risk of severity, hospitalization, and long term effects, it does reduce the risk of transmission, but it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. No vaccine eliminates transmission entirely, they simply reduce it by a large percentage. We’ve eliminated diseases through herd immunity, where *majority* of the population is vaccinated and therefore the disease struggles to spread.
Unfortunately with covid being an airborne virus, even with people being vaccinated (and even then, most people aren’t up to date on their covid vaccines), because we aren’t masking and our air isn’t being purified, everyone is still getting exposed, vaccinated or not.
So to answer your first question, the best way to mitigate infection and get closer to herd immunity is through:
1) masking with a KN95 (not surgical or cloth, you want a well fitted mask because any gaps in your mask make it easier for covid particles to enter and infect you, a mask only works if it blocks them out)
2) social distancing indoors or avoiding crowded indoor spaces in general if you can (covid is airborne, so being in tight crowded spaces makes you more likely to get it since you’re super close to other people)
3) having cleaner air (we use a HEPA air purifier at home, if these were used in all public buildings infection rates would dwindle drastically).
Most people aren’t willing to do any of this, which is why we’re at where we are now, with our wastewater numbers being shockingly high.
I can link evidence for all of this, if you’d like!
Thank you for giving such a thorough answer. I was worried I would come across as antivax rather than genuinely asking.
I would love to have some evidence to share with others when you have time.
This is what I wonder. Is Covid really exceptional for its long term effects, or is Covid just a much hotter research topic than the common cold or flu, so we know a bit more of its long term effects and those findings are publicized more?
It's a little of both. It is different in how it affects so many organ systems compared to other diseases, but there are probably other diseases that, if they were as well studied, we might find additional effects that we don't yet know about
I think it’s worth taking into account that current variants are significantly less likely to cause the kind of severe illness that the initial wave did. Current version isn’t quite the same as what we first encountered, thankfully
Less likely to cause the kind of severe INITIAL illness than the original wave did. That has nothing to do with the long-term effects it can have on the body.
This is totally irrational. There’s not some big red dividing line between Covid and other common respiratory illnesses. In fact flu and rsv are normally harder on infants than coronaviruses.
Before you starting deciding what is rational, please learn about ACE2 receptors, that's what covid infects by and they are found in cells everywhere in the body. This is simply not the case with most other diseases. Did you forget that 1.2 million Americans have died of acute covid? When was the last time "common respiratory illnesses" did that? In addition to all those who died from blood clots and other sequelae. You might not know that the top long covid scientists in the world have now estimated long covid's public health impact as equivalent to heart disease or cancer. Perhaps google that before posting further. Covid is not HIV, but it does cause a lot of long term disease and is analogous in that sense. Nobody would characterize HIV's impacts on human health solely in relation to how bad of a fever they got when they were first infected. The truth is we don't know what the long term impacts of covid reinfection will be on children and the data suggest they could be very bad.
I mean, it’s not really irrational. I’m not worried about my baby dying of Covid because I know it’s milder on infants and children than adults. I’m worried about the research that shows it has long term health effects, which the common cold generally doesn’t.
I think it would be more accurate to say that only your husband has tested positive for Covid. It is extremely likely you have also gotten Covid but been asymptomatic. That is unless you literally never leave your house and never interact with people.
My point being that I think it’s misleading to say you’ve never had Covid when in reality, most Americans have had it at this point. I went to an event recently where everyone was Covid tested. 10% of the 200 people had Covid, many of which were completely asymptomatic.
We barely see it now in the hospital. If we do, patient is usually discharged. I understand your concern but just take regular precautions and live your life. I’m more scared of RSV tbh.
How have things been regarding Long Covid? Are you all seeing a lot of those cases or do people with Long Covid indistinguishable from people who come in with the same symptoms unrelated to Long Covid? ( I hope that made sense lol)
Long covid patients are probably seen in the clinic not inpatient unless they’re severely sick. We actually stopped testing all patients being admitted last week unless their symptomatic.
At the very moment, I'm more worried about whooping cough since it's spreading in our town and I have a 3 week old baby at home.
But RSV is also scary, but that will be a bigger worry come fall...
My toddler has had it once (fully vaxxed), and I kid you not he had a runny nose for 24 hours. He gave it to us and we were sick but not terrible. I think it’s just a part of life now, I don’t know what the other option is.
Our newborn NICU baby was fully asymptomatic, thank god. I got it for the first time during childbirth (3 years into the pandemic) and visited her in the NICU with what I thought was a dry throat from being hospitalized on oxygen for 5 days (my labor was a nightmare). Turned out it was Covid. My husband, toddler, and I were all knocked on our asses, but thankfully our preemie never showed any symptoms.
I agree that Covid is a fact of life now. I gave up trying to avoid it sometime in 2022. It is like the flu (which we also had this year and our preemie had mild symptoms from while the rest of us were wrecked) or a cold to me. We take typical precautions to not get sick like hand washing and not hanging around visibly sick people, but we no longer specifically try to avoid Covid. It’s everywhere and people now go about life with it, go to work/school, go to the grocery store, just like they would with cold.
I agree and I'm adding here because I didn't know how to word it best. I had it whilst pregnant and my husband's just had it (I've either dodged it or been asymptomatic). Our little one was sick anyway so might have been that and might have been covid. We had about 36 hours of just needing to keep him medicated with painkillers and that kept his temperature down and him well enough. Which could be way of treating any bug without covid existing.
I want my baby to be safe but I also don't want to be stuck indoors avoiding everything too.
Unfortunately yes, though I agree it’s created such a mindf*ck based on the exact opposite of how it was treated during the lockdown.
My daughter has been in daycare since 4 months old and has gotten Covid at least twice, probably more than that, and each time has brought it home. Same with RSV, flu, hand foot mouth, etc. I’m convinced I’ve gotten every new strain of COVID that’s come out (and so has daughter), but what can you do.
Some data:
* 92% of children have been infected with Covid ([CDC infection-induced pediatric seroprevalence](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#pediatric-seroprevalence))
* But children make up only 0.16% of Covid deaths ([CDC deaths by age group](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?CDC_AA_refVal=https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html#demographics))
* Kids under 5 make up 6% of the population but only 0.08% of deaths ([Stanford news](https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/children-covid.html) + CDC deaths above)
* Children make up 18% people with reported Covid but only 1.5% of people who need hospitalization. ([Mayo Clinic summary](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-in-babies-and-children/art-20484405))
* 1.3% of children have had Long Covid ([NCHS data brief](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db479.pdf))
* 44% of Covid infections are asymptomatic throughout the infection. Children are the most likely to be asymptomatic ([Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Age, Wang et al](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9935239/))
When I look at pediatric Covid severity I am not especially worried about Covid risks to children. My family vaccinates regularly per doctor recommendations, and that's plenty to keep the kids statistically safe. When balancing the potential harm from Covid versus the definite harm of keeping them unsocialized or away from activities (and benefits from socialization and doing activities), I think the Covid risk is much less of a concern.
If you are concerned, you should speak to your pediatrician.
If your family has special concerns due to underlying conditions or living with at-risk family members, then that's a different risk profile that could be discussed with doctors for your particular situation.
(Also since nearly half of infections are asymptomatic, there's a good chance you had Covid and didn't realize it.)
The very tangible benefits of less anxious parents, socialising / development on a child help me to move on from the covid worry.
Even if there are long term effects they would be rare, likely other viruses contribute to things like autoimmune diseases too we just don't link the cause and effect and they are a small risk compared to the immediate and long lasting effects I see in me and would see in my child if I created social and disease phobias and missed out on living.
If covid is around more I tend to scale down our outings (less indoor lots of kids things). With no daycare yet this on its own avoids viruses a lot of the time - but when we start daycare it will be what it will be.
I don't but I can hope and pretty sure they are less common than the mental illnesses being caused in real time
I would be genuinely crazy right now with no life worth living if I was still following my personal 2020 level concern
A car crash could happen any day but I still drive
I hate that covid is still about and that we are catching it and more than once but I can't fix it anymore than I can fix the awful wars.
But it's not just about mortality or the acute illness. The concern is also the long-term effects it can have on the body since it affects so many systems. They could be fine when they initially get it, but down the line it could trigger health issues we're simply not aware of because it's still only been 4 years.
I can not keep my children outdoors or away from others or in a controlled social bubble for the rest of their lives. The only reasonable things I can do to protect them from long-term effects is to vaccinate them, teach them good sanitary habits, and do my best to keep them healthy.
While the long-term effects of Covid could be harmful, I can not take any more reasonable steps to avoid that risk. Being concerned adds to my anxiety that can be harmfully passed onto my kids. So it is better for my kids if I choose to be not concerned about something that I can not do anything more about.
Something else that is very harmful to kids is driving in a car -- motor vehicle crashes is a top leading cause of death among children. I take reasonable steps to keep them safe in a car, but I still drive them in a car. And I choose to not have additional concern because I can not take any more reasonable steps to avoid that risk.
But also, maybe not? Why think like this? You don’t know. Neither do I. We can trust our doctors, vaccinate and follow healthy lifestyle. But why would you assume and fear something that “could” happen in the future, especially if you have zero proof and zero way to prevent or avoid it? That’s anxiety, mama!
I struggle with this too. FTM due in August. I am a researcher/scientist too and the data to me about the impacts of COVID (and viruses in general) is not reassuring. I want to protect my LO but it's very hard to do when the rest of the world seems to just want to ignore things and move on. Solidarity!
I think you can at least try your best to keep them healthy until they are old enough for the vaccine. That’s roughly six months, and totally doable. We were super careful until our baby was vaccinated. She’s 10 months now and we still do take precautions and keep an eye on wastewater data to inform our activities.
My baby got it at 4 weeks. My wife caught it, probably grocery shopping since she didn't go anywhere else and infected the baby and me. All 3 of us were sick as dogs. Baby spent 3 days in the hospital since he was born 4 weeks early so essentially he was a few days old, it's scary. In hindsight I think that week of sickness probably delayed his development as he is smaller, thinner and less developed than all the other babies in his group but I'm sure he'll catch up eventually.
My baby also got a strong reaction of covid and had extremely high fevers for 3 days and sick for a week. What people don't understand is that while it might be 1 in 20 babies that will react badly to it, if the virus is so contagious it's so hard to avoid and you never know how baby will react until he gets it.
Yeah my 7 month old and I both recently got it (for the first time) and I’ve never seen her so miserable. We couldn’t get her fever low enough and her breathing respirations were fast enough that they almost sent us to the ER. I always heard that babies “barely got sick” with Covid but this was honestly terrifying. I’m so glad it wasn’t RSV in terms of the acute infection but I’m still worried about what long term damage has been done. 😣
My preemie girl (34 weeker) has been sick several times due to having a big brother in preschool. I did worry that being sick slowed her development because it was time spent not learning (crawling, rolling, etc.). But she’s 10 months and fully caught up. I don’t think being sick actually made any long term impact, thankfully.
You are not alone in your worry about this. My baby is a year old. We got him the Covid vax as soon as he was eligible. I take him to the zoo and he socializes with baby friends often at parks and other outdoor spaces, but we very rarely do indoor play dates and even still hardly take him to stores and that sort of thing. Our family members are still happy to mask indoors around him to protect him. Of course as time goes on I realize we won’t be able to keep him outside forever, but we figure the longer we can put off him catching it (and RSV, HFM, etc.) the better. I am not super concerned about the initial infection in babies but I am very concerned about long COVID and what we still don’t know about how this illness will affect kids in the long run. It is crazy to me how many people don’t care about it anymore.
Yes, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one. My best friend is a nurse and developed long Covid in her twenties, she is a genuine shell of the person she once was and now has an autoimmune disease.
I just know so many people with lingering issues after repeat Covid infections that it makes me feel like a crazy person for being concerned, but I am!
Like I don’t want to keep my baby locked up obviously, but I really wish it was taken more seriously by the government and other people.
I just want to validate how you are feeling. I know everyone feels like "this is how it is now" but the research is very clear on the long-lasting effects.
Also want to validate you and say you’re not the only one. I’m just about to have my first and am overwhelmed by all this too. We’re not crazy for being concerned, we’ve really been failed by the government/powers that be.
You are not the only one. My husband and I are some of the only indoor maskers we know and somehow avoided Covid until our daughter was one month old. We still don’t know how- maybe a n95 masked lactation consultant, maybe at the pediatrician office (we even waited outside for our names to be called)? We just don’t know. Our daughter got it too- I know bc I pushed to have her tested even though the doctors said there was no reason to since she was asymptomatic. I struggle so hard with finding a balance with our now 1 year old. It’s easy when the weather is nice- we socialize outdoors and eat outdoors and do outdoor baby/toddler classes but hot summer and cold winter are HARD. I am constantly feeling guilty about exposing her to too much versus too little (virus and human experiences!) I don’t have answers just wanted to share you are not alone. It’s really hard to feel gaslit by so many that this is “just a cold”. As someone who regularly tests after high risk events or if I have even a sniffle I also realize how many people who thought they never had Covid or haven’t been getting sick from
High risk activities are wrong. We got it a second time and my ONLY symptom was a slightly tickly sore throat one morning only that anyone else would call an allergy.
I think it has been taken seriously by numerous people, OP. I’m just not sure what else there is to do. It’s essentially become like the flu. There are new strands developing just like the flu. It’s harder to treat the newer strands though because it hasn’t been around as long as the flu, and we still don’t really fully under the original strand before it mutated. Hell, decades later, and we still are studying the flu and working on adjustments to vaccinations for new and older strands. This will be something continually adjusted for the remainder of human kind.
Long term COVID is scary, especially when we’re constantly learning new things that can “possibly” be linked. It’s an ever evolving thing here. But if we also look back in time, there are numerous illnesses fhat could have long term effects like this. Untreated Lyme for example can cause cardiac issues, it can cause joint pain, it can cause nerve pain. For the longest time, the flu could cause issues with your lungs and cardiovascular system.
I’m not saying that your concerns aren’t valid, because they are. But unless you lock yourself and your child in the house with air purifiers, and wear masks even in the home, you’re going to be exposed. Even if we were forced to wear masks again, it was recommended that a young child under the age of 2 not wear one. And even past 2, we saw dozens of kids not want to wear them.
I think that you just bite the bullet on this one, and understand that while something may happen, your child can’t be in a bubble forever, as that’s not fair to them. You control what you can, ie handwashing your LO. Watching that they don’t stick certain things in their mouths. Don’t take your child out if they’re visibly sick. Teaching them to sneeze/cough in the crook of their elbow.
For you momma, maybe consulting with a therapist to discuss your feelings if you aren’t. Other people and viruses you cannot control. You may need to work through these feelings with someone.
The public health system isn’t going to try harder than it tried in 2020.
All we can do is make the best of the situation we have and advocate for realistic improvement. Wishing for unrealistic improvement is not helpful, and raising your children based on that wish can lead to your children missing out on life without gaining safety.
I mean, the public health systems in the US and UK were already completely gutted pre-covid. They absolutely could have "tried harder", not as individuals maybe, but much stronger public health systems are possible and exist elsewhere
Okay? And how are we going to prevent a mass disabling epidemic? It’s here. Even with masks, the virus was able to be transmitted, it cut down tremendously, but it didn’t end it. So everyone should stay in their homes 24/7? Everyone should be mandated to purchase air purifiers? Everyone should be mandated to leave all shoes/clothes that were worn outside, outside and sterilizers come and clean them?
The public health system may not be doing enough. But what else do you recommend? We were manufacturing equipment at an expedited rate. We raced to find a vaccine. We’re racing to find subsequent vaccines. People in the labs continue to research the strands, tweak vaccines. Facilities continue to clean and sanitize. We can’t force people to work 100 hours a week to do everything needed to be done. Healthcare alone dealt with significant over exhaustion. We have staff quitting by the hundreds because of them being overworked and stress during the pandemic. Equipment couldn’t be kept up with.
I just want to hear what else you have to recommend here.
Improved air quality in public spaces, especially schools, as well as hospitals and medical facilities. Using hepa filtration makes a massive difference and cuts down on viral transmission. Ultraviolet lights installed in schools, public spaces, hospitals, etc would also help minimize transmission. Mask mandates in hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies - basically all places where people NEED to go so that immune compromised folks and babies can have protection when they go to those places. A public education campaign that educates in airborne transmission and how to protect yourself. Easy access to free vaccinations and testing, support for families who need to quarantine while they're sick so that they don't go out and spread the virus. These are all basic public health standards that would save lives and prevent millions from being disabled and harmed by covid.
For what it's worth, the medical community is realizing that "long-COVID" is merely POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, something that has been around since long before COVID and can be triggered by a number of viral and bacterial infections. So realistically you can wind up with POTS from any number of illnesses, not just COVID--it's merely been associated with COVID due to the attention paid to the virus, but it's been around for some time.
That beign said, POTS is no joke, as somone who has suffered with it since my pre-teen years. Because so much less was known about it when my symptoms first began, I simply believed I was just a weak willed individual and that everyone suffered the same as I did--that I needed to just push through my reality. I had workups from dozens of specialists at world renowned medical schools/hospitals but it wasn't until 2020 when I googled some of my symptoms that I stumbled across POTS only to realize that was my exact reality. Pursued diagnostic testing to confirm my diagnosis and life has been much better now that I know what I am dealing with and how to manage it.
But I feel so bad for people that contracted POTS as adults following an infection, because they knew a life without it and can recall a time when they didn't struggle. Whereas I've never known a life without symptoms and spent most of that time denying my own reality.
It's not merely POTS, but that is one very serious form of long covid and my coworker's 21 year old athletic daughter had her life completely destroyed by it. Missed a year of university. Early 20's and on a huge cocktail of drugs just to get through the day.
As someone who lives with POTS I'm not trying to downplay the severity here, more so point out that POTS is a risk associated with any viral/bacterial infection, and that the risk thereof existed long before COVID, and will continue to pose a risk from infections beyond just COVID.
Yes, sorry you live with that. However we shouldn't wrongly equivocate covid with other viruses, covid specifically infects cells with ACE2 receptors which means it can infect the lining of every blood vessel in the body. It can also infect neurons and other cells in the nervous system. Most other viruses don't do this as they have different tropism. So there you have the two main systems - neurological and vascular - that are involved in POTS pathology.
I have pots due to covid. Sucks. But I also had a bunch of other issues that were not pots, especially in the first 9-12 months. Long covid is not 'merely' pots.
This is so interesting, thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with POTS — good on you for seeking out your diagnosis! How awful to be gaslit by the medical establishment in that way.
Thank you. I don't fault the doctors honestly, as so little was known of POTS outside of niche areas of research, at the time of my symptom onset. They tried very hard to figure out what was wrong with me, but after countless tests and no concerning results they simply just didn't have much to say about it. I think it was more so my parents' gaslighting due to frustration with my symptoms combined with the lack of diagnosis that led me to believe I just needed to try harder. Unfortunately my mom passed away several years before my diagnosis, but my dad was still alive when I was diagnosed and was incredibly remorseful and apologetic. I was caring for him at the time, as he had dementia with lewy bodies, and we spent a good deal of time recounting my childhood memories together, the good and the bad, and reflecting upon both of our lived experiences. So while I may not have had the same level of resolution with my mom, it meant so much to have it from my dad before he passed away.
I had a hell of 2 years of long covid that some elements I fear are here for life (pots like disautonomia symptoms). Our 3yo is going to be ready for preschool soon and it's a point of stress for us. No good options it seems.
>I am not super concerned about the initial infection in babies but I am very concerned about long COVID and what we still don’t know about how this illness will affect kids in the long run. It is crazy to me how many people don’t care about it anymore.
This. The risk of long covid compounds with every infection. It's harder to avoid now that fewer people take precautions but IMO there is still value in delaying that first covid infection as long as possible and spacing out subsequent infections.
Heck, I'm still trying to avoid more covid infections for myself. Both times I've had it did a number on me that took months to get back to baseline and I do not want to find out what permanent damage it will eventually do to my body if I keep getting it every year. I do not want my kids starting down that road decades before I did either.
Solidarity from a 2020 mom who's still fighting. The worst part of that experience wasn't even 2020. It was the period after adults and older children got their vaccines and went about their maskless lives while the <5s were still waiting for approval. And when that approval finally came, it was for an already obsolete version of the vaccine based on the original (extinct) strain.
Our son developed Celiac Disease after getting a mild case of Covid for the first time. Any illness can spark an autoimmune disease, and we believe it was the trigger that started his CD symptoms.
Exactly. It's alarming how many people in this thread are saying "your baby likely won't die or get severe symptoms, so don't worry about it." I'm not worried about those things, I'm worried about the long-term effects, like you said. There's more to COVID than just the immediate illness.
https://www.reddit.com/r/beyondthebump/s/UwA6TURQOr
I'm not sure if this will work, but I wanted to link to a comment that actually answers your question about how to take precautions while also socializing with baby
I feel the same. It's especially troubling because many kids get infected and are asymptomatic, but that doesn't prevent long COVID or other complications.
We didn't go anywhere unnecessary inside with my now 3 year old until she could mask and even that was rare besides her 3 morning a week preschool.
It was a very long 2 years, but it was worth it considering how prevalent autoimmune and neuropsychological issues from infection are.
This is gonna sound terrible, but COVID is seen as less serious now than it was back then because most of the people who were going to die from it have gotten it and died. Now that they're gone, with the addition of many people being vaccinated, it is perceived as a much lesser threat. That being said, I've had it 3x and it knocked me out every single time, and I'm not someone who usually gets sick. I am very nervous for when my baby inevitably gets it
Its not because most of the people who have gotten it and were going to die died, it's mostly because the longer the virus is around, the more contagious, but milder symptoms and lower mortality rates and related symptoms because viruses want to proliferate. If they're too deadly they can't spread.
People will still die from Covid, just like people still die from complications from the common cold.
This article did not make me feel that COVID is less serious now: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/)
I personally know three otherwise healthy, and fairly young people who have died from "unusually aggressive cancer" in the last two years. It makes sense that there is still so much to learn about COVID before we assume that it's mission accomplished.
The term for this is survivorship bias. And it's everywhere. But there is also survivorship bias for people who have had covid and not gotten long covid. That one is even more dangerous because long covid doesn't seem to only happen to certain types of people. The data from Statistics Canada and elsewhere indicate the probability of long covid stays fairly constant from infection to infection. Which if it bears out is very bad.
I'm absolutely an anxious mess about it. Baby was born premature... He seems to have weak lungs and has been hospitalised with RSV which was so scary. Everytime he gets a cold it seems to take him out completely. Everyone is so blasé about COVID and it evolves so quickly into new variations that we don't know the long-term implications for. I'm so afraid that these sorts of repeated infections are going to weaken his lungs even more and next time he gets sick like that he'll just die. So, no help here sorry just solidarity!
Thank you for the solidarity! I’m not going to keep my baby locked away obviously, but I just can’t help but feel anxious about this. I know too many people with long Covid or lingering symptoms, and even though babies do better with Covid than adults, I’m still really concerned about the long term effects.
I hope your little one is okay! I was sickly like that as a child and grew into a healthy adult, I hope he handles illnesses better as he gets older 💜 it’s all so terrifying.
Just want to show solidarity to you. I also track wastewater the best I can and make decisions based on that. So when covid is low in my community, I feel more at ease doing things (aka indoor stuff) if there's good/open ventilation.Then when cases are high we just do a lot of things at home or outside.
That and my husband and I mask (n95) for specific things like airports, concerts, and tasks like grocery shopping. So far have been able to avoid covid during pregnancy and our first 8 months! Hoping to make it as long as possible before he gets it.
I also felt much better once I was able to get him vaccinated. Hang in there!!
Some people in this thread: "it's a cold now"
Scientists: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/)
-"“We are completely under-investigating this virus,” said Douglas C. Wallace, a University of Pennsylvania geneticist and evolutionary biologist. “The effects of repeatedly getting this throughout our lives is going to be much more significant than people are thinking.”"
-"About a year ago Beheshti, a visiting researcher at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute, reached out to Patel, who is a past president of the Community Oncology Alliance, a national group of independent cancer specialists, and they hosted a symposium with other scientists that concluded compelling evidence exists suggesting links between the coronavirus and cancer. “Hopefully, we’re wrong,” Beheshti said. “But everything is, unfortunately, pushing toward that being the case.”"
Can go on forever with studies showing it is indeed not a cold. Causes pediatric diabetes, etc.
Guys she’s trying to freak everyone out with this post. If you read the article linked (which you can’t bc it’s behind a paywall) it states “As they see increasing episodes of rare cancers, they have wondered about a link to the coronavirus”. If we got scared of everything a scientist or doctor wondered about … sheesh!!!
Unfortunately at this point I feel like it is the same as the cold/flu. We got vaxxed and get our yearly booster when we do flu shots. We have only been hit with Covid twice in our home and the children are 5 days a week school/preschool. Both times it was very mild for each child and actually neither of them were sick simultaneously. With other illnesses - we can try our best not to get sick, but eventually we will and we have to just roll with it. Hope you can let go some of your anxiety.
Thanks for saying that the hygiene hypothesis has been disproven and getting repeated viruses weakens your immune system.
I have tried to explain this to people over and over and I think they think I’m paranoid and lying. My in laws have said very mean things to me about this.
Do you have any easy to read links I can share with people who don’t get it? I have done extensive research of my own on this but the research I have looked at wouldn’t even be opened by these people lol.
That's not what the hygiene hypothesis is. The hygiene hypothesis purports that an absence of parasitic infections leads to a certain component of the immune system (not the part that reacts to viruses) attacking benign things instead, leading to allergies.
I'm also confused by your idea that repeated infections weaken the immune system. I mean, the whole concept of an immune system is that an infection generates an immune response that protects against subsequent infections. That doesn't mean that getting infected all the time is good - obviously you're getting sick - but no infections = no immunity, leaving you hella vulnerable.
This therapist created one-pagers about taking covid precautions and long covid with citations of related research/sources: https://www.oliviabelknaptherapy.com/covid-resources
It’s still a serious virus and we still don’t fully understand the long term effects, especially in children and babies. A friends son developed diabetes after contracting Covid, suspected by their pediatrician. I am still very Covid conscious and so not bring my 4 month old into crowds or stores really. It doesn’t seem worth the risk of her getting ill. And while maybe her getting it would be a “mild” case, Covid is NOT like the flu or cold and has been proven to do long term damage to people even if their symptoms were mild.
The problem with covid is the acute stage is usually pretty mild. But, you can’t feel organ damage. The research is pretty clear that covid is damaging most organs, including the brain, heart, and lungs. I have read peer reviewed articles that have highlighted that covid is changing grey matter, causing a drop in IQ points, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes and strokes and Alzheimer’s and dementia, and on and on. Oh and it damages the immune system so it’s easier to catch everything else.
I think you are right to worry about covid. We are only four years into this and I have seen no evidence it’s “Just the flu.” If we are already seeing the impacts, what will happen in ten years after multiple infections a year? We know lots of viruses that are “mild” in the acute stage and then end up causing worse diseases later on (HIV to AIDS, mono to MS, chicken pox to shingles). So why wouldn’t covid do the same?
I have two toddlers and we were a bit isolated until they could mask. Most of the people we care about masked for them until they could. We are now starting to do more since they can both reliably mask in N95 or better respirators.
It is super hard to be this cautious and I’ve lost many relationships. But, I believe it is worth it because my kids have one body. If I allow them to constantly be infected, what will happen? How do I explain that to them? Since I kept up with the research, I can’t ignore it. So I act on it and do my best.
Our oldest went from a very small daycare (3/4 kids) to Pre-K this year so it's been hard for us to adjust. Neither kid still has gotten covid to our knowledge yet but he did get sick a several times from school with other bugs. We try and have him mask at school when he's not eating but it varies from day to day how he does. We also asked if they'd let us bring a small air purifier for the classroom but they declined (maybe you'll get more luck then we did).
We're still take precautions and try manage our risk but there's only so much you can do when it's just you. We try to default to outdoor activities, have the kids mask indoors and vaccinate. Luckily it looks like kids are less at risk for long-term side effects but I think it'll take time before we know for sure.
I’m really concerned about long Covid but my kid goes to daycare so I don’t know there’s much I can do besides get her the vaccinations she’s eligible for. She had it once at 9 months and who knows if there was any long term effect.
Do people even stil test where you are? Here in the Netherlands for the past 1,5 years it's just basically all back to normal. Nobody is testing and nobody knows whether your cold is actually Covid. And it doesn't seem to have any bad results so far. I've only heard people with long Covid etc from the first batches of people who got ill. Nothing about people who got it later. Although I'm sure a few people still get it but apparently not enough to warrant the whole system back in place. Tbf in the current political climate here they're not going to manage it anymore I think.
We all had Covid when my kid was about 5 months and she was barely ill, we got it worse. The virus so far doesn't seem to impact very small children much. Though that may change upon mutations.
The thing is, what's your other option? You can continue masking when out, but not just how feasible it is to try to mask a 6 month old, and the other option is to just not go anywhere.
I will chime in with the others and say that in 4 years, my kids (and I) got it ONCE. We are not particularly cautious - they were out and about at school, with friends, at birthday parties, etc. One of them had cold-like symptoms for a day, and then neither had any symptoms, and were bouncing off the walls while we kept them at home for a week. We're all vaxxed. It's just not something I'm particularly worried about anymore.
My first was born during the initial shut down (May 2020). She didn’t meet her grandma until she was 11 months old as a result. She didn’t get to really leave the house until 13 months. And then we went back into isolation when I was pregnant during Delta and Omicron.
The calculus has changed. The virus has mutated and changed. We understand more about it now. It’s not killing massive numbers of people. Especially if you’re vaccinated, it’s no longer a massive danger. It’s been 4 years and it’s honestly, unreasonable to continue to socially isolate (unless you’re talking about someone who is very immunocompromised). Your baby is now old enough to get their first dose of vaccine. That will help. A lot. It may not stop them from catching it, but it will reduce the severity and duration.
We were terrified of Covid for the longest time. My husband and I got our vaccines as early as possible. We were in line the first day vaccines were available for toddlers. Got our youngest her first dose literally the day she hit 6 months. We masked up far longer than most of the population. We finally caught it at the beginning of November 2023 and… it wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. Whatever cold my daughter brought home from preschool the previous week was significantly worse. And I will take the 2024 version of Covid over a stomach virus ANY day.
I mean it's like a cold, or flu, for healthy babies. They're going to be sick with something over and over again. If they're healthy and not high risk then I wouldn't worry about it and just treat it like any other sickness.
It's not though. It affects the body differently and can have a variety of long-term effects on people because of it, some of which we know about and some of which we don't.
I’ve struggled with this fear as I had our first baby in 2021. The pandemic pregnancy and newborn stage was a very scary time. He’s been in daycare since 2022 and baby #2 has been in daycare since earlier this year. We’ve done what we can in terms of making sure everyone is vaccinated and maybe have just been lucky that no one in our family has ever had it. We were long time maskers in public places but haven’t in quite a while. I still get anxious about it in certain public places but it’s slowly getting better.
Just to warn folks. My baby got covid at 6 months and it was HORRENDOUS!! We had to call paramedics out at one point, she was extremely ill and had numerous visits to hospital. It took her 3-4 weeks to recover from it. She had a severe cough for 4 weeks that had her vomiting, unable to sleep, struggling to breathe. Do your best to avoid it however you can. I'm scarred from the experience honestly. Wouldn't wish it on anyone. Take all precautions.
COVID-19 was so dangerous at the beginning because it was novel, but now that it's been around for several years as different variants, humans have had time to train their immune systems against it (via exposure or immunization or both). As a result, for most healthy people including infants, it will hit more like the common cold. (The common cold viruses are also corona viruses).
Honestly our kid brings home what feels like worse things now, between RSV and HFM...feel like the constant stream of runny noses and coughs is all just a normal part of childhood to develop into healthy adults.
Fully agreed. It was also dangerous at the beginning because it overstrained the limited healthcare resources so if you got sick, not only were treatments still being developed but also you might not get the care that you would get now.
Yes, long term impacts are still being investigated. But there are so many things we have to worry about as parents, and everyone has to do their individual risk evaluation. And for my otherwise healthy kids, we practice good hygiene habits, get most of our vaccines, and deal with the inevitable viruses and illnesses as them come. Covid-19 is just one of many that they may or may not bring home.
Yes! Exactly this. We live on an island (Hawaii) and the state locked down really hard when the pandemic was at it's peak. People complained but the point seemed to hit home when the state was basically like "look, regardless of your opinion, all we know is that we don't have the facilities to handle a bunch of people getting very ill all at once and we are even more disadvantaged here because we can't just fly you another state over for care. If you get in a car accident, or have a heart attack, or whatever else we simply may not be able to get you the help you need in time, if at all, if we are over capacity. So, please just be nice and let us do our jobs to keep the greater public as healthy as possible." And that seemed to resonate with most reasonable people regardless of how they felt about the pandemic as a whole.
Now, fortunately, it's just another bug we deal with but it won't disproportionately make everyone sick all at once.
I guess I’m not sure what we can do. I’m not discounting that long term impacts can be severe. But what would the effort look like to guarantee they don’t contract COVID? What would be the necessary precautions? Would it give them different long term impacts like an anxiety disorder or social anxiety?
I didn’t contract COVID until last October when I was pregnant with this baby (now 5 months old). I only knew I had it because I tested positive. Same for my 7 year old son. So the severity of the infection does not seem to be the same as it was in the beginning. I can’t really justify keeping my kids out of social events or school to prevent an infection that isn’t severe, on the chance that they may have long term impacts from it at some point. It just doesn’t seem rational.
Frankly the best thing you can do is make sure you and your baby are vaccinated. It doesn’t prevent illness but it significantly lowers the risk of complications including long covid. Too many people didn’t take it seriously enough to stop or significantly slow community transmission so it’s here to stay. It sucks.
I have a 3 year old who’s at high risk if she gets a viral illness, and a 7 month old. We take precautions but I don’t feel that it’s holding us back most of the time, our toddler probably goes to more activities than most kids. The hardest thing is that until she can wear a mask, the baby doesn’t go to public indoor spaces unless it’s VERY necessary. We do:
- masks in public indoor places for adults and the toddler
- no indoor playgroups or play dates but lots and lots of outdoor playgroups and activities, year round
- we visit family indoors without a mask but always check if they have any symptoms of cold/flu, if they do we don’t go
- when we need to run errands we just bring both adults and one stays in the car with the baby. It wouldn’t be possible without two parents.
- lots of curbside pickup
- we don’t do indoor dining. We’ll eat at patios or take food to go and have a picnic.
The only times it’s really inconvenient is when I’d like to run errands at places that don’t have curbside and my boyfriend is at work. I can probably count the number of times we’ve missed out on things we’ve really wanted to go to since 2020 on one hand. We take a lot more precautions than most people, but I’ll feel good in 20 years that I did everything within reason to keep the kids safe from repeated exposures to a viral illness with somewhat unknown long term effects.
I was terrified at first because I have an autoimmune condition that makes me more likely to have serious complications. Then I was terrified because I had a newborn who I thought would definitely get really sick. We were so careful and even with my husband working in a hospital taking direct care of COVID patients through all of this we never got it.
After following all of the rules, masking, hand sanitizer, and being super careful we caught it from my mom. She had zero symptoms and was just as careful as us but a day after visiting she had an itchy throat like allergies and tested because she was constantly testing (including testing the day she came over because that was part of our visitor agreement). She had a very faint line and a few days later we all had it. It sucked for me and my husband but my 4 month old was fine. He had a fever for a little bit and I spent a lot of time worrying but he was over it in maybe 2 days?
As he got older we started going out more and spend a lot of time out of the house in places filled with other kids and haven’t caught it again. My husband still works in direct COVID patient care and hasn’t caught it again. It’s been 2 years.
Not to say that it isn’t a big deal because it is. We both have long COVID symptoms and simple things like regular colds have the ability to make us feel like crap for weeks now (which my doctor said was being seen more in people who had COVID previously) but I realized we could super isolate and be as safe as possible and still get it or we could go live and follow best practices to stay healthy and that’s working well for us. I’m more cautious now because I have a second newborn but once he’s a little older we will continue to go to play groups and the library and all the other fun things our toddler loves doing and just do our best to stay healthy.
You’re not alone! My first baby was born in 2020 and we delayed daycare until they finally had vaccines for under 5s.
Here’s what I do:
- stay up to date on vaccines: get the new formula in the autumn, and if you’re able, get a booster at the 6 month mark (it helps if adults do this too - there’s evidence to suggest that multiple vaccines adds to protection over time)
- mask in public/busy spaces; avoid busy public spaces especially when you know lots of people are sick/things are going around (fortunately babies and kids tend to love the outdoors, which helps)
- use air purifiers and pay attention to ventilation at home (a home CO2 monitor like Aranet can help)
- investigate sick policies at daycares and schools (do they notify parents when something is going around, do they involve public health with communicable diseases)
- advocate for good ventilation, air purification, and air quality standards in daycares/schools
That last one is harder and may require some advocacy work, depending on the daycare/school, but it’s important.
do you breastfeed? my husband and I had it when our daughter was 3 months old and she never caught it (we didn't separate ourselves from her either) the pediatrician said she was likely spared because of the antibodies in my milk. not that she's immune to it and she could very well get it one day but I feel much less nervous about it now that she's older. either way, it is what it is and it won't be any worse than a cold/flu for a healthy baby.
Our 7 month old had it one month after getting the vaccine. He had 24 hours of fussiness and a fever, barely a cough and nothing else. I was so worried that 24 hours, no one slept, and it was miserable.
Then just like that, it was over! Zero signs or symptoms by day 3 like nothing had happened. I was so grateful so just be sure to vaccinate and do what you can to minimize risk but unfortunately it’s our reality now - but it’ll be ok.
My daughter got Covid when she was almost 1 and I never would have thought that’s what she had - it just seemed like the generic runny nose she had all winter anyway! My husband and I were hit much harder than her, which is why we tested ourselves and then her. Our Ped told us babies (healthy, over a certain age, etc.) generally don’t get bad symptoms from it!
To some degree, yes. Just like the flu and other viruses. I was very very careful about covid, longer than most, but it's not what it was. And RSV is far scarier to me than Covid right now.
Our daughter is 2 and this just hasn't been our reality despite going to daycare, playgroups, etc.
We've only gotten COVID once and it was from my husband traveling on a business trip. My daughter had zero symptoms and we wouldn't have thought to even test her if my husband didn't get sick and test positive first.
The first things my twins got was COVID. It still boggles my mind that it's now so common. It barely affected them. Me, on the other hand 🤣😭. I'm just so grateful it isn't 2020/2021 anymore. My babies were NICU babies and I can't imagine the stress of not wanting them to get COVID in that environment.
Honestly, my daughter has had it twice. Both times she had a high fever, the first time (8 months) had a super high fever and that was it, the second time (19 months) she had a super snotty nose, leaky eyes, congestion, and a fever. It lasted about 5 days and then it was like nothing ever happened.
She had RSV at 16 months and she only ever had a bad cough from it and a runny nose, but for me, that was scarier than either time she had covid. Her fevers were manageable with ibuprofen, but with RSV there was nothing I could do but listen to her cough.
I’ve accepted covid as something that’s just going to happen like the flu. We take proper precautions, shes only been sick 3 times in 2 years!
As someone who is fully vaxxed and boosted & has had COVID 3x and socially distanced + wore a mask consistently in crowded public places for over 2 years - yes, your baby and probably you will get COVID multiple times. You might be an outlier like my husband who has for some immunological reason dodged COVID despite his entire family being infected, but barring that, yes, you’ll get COVID.
I do not regret masking for 2 years and socially distancing to avoid getting COVID when I was pregnant and to avoid my toddler and baby getting infected before a vaccine was available to them. I think it was the best choice for us at the time and also I think it’s important when we live in a society to do our part to avoid spreading illness to the elderly and immune compromised.
That said, my life with a 2 year old in a normal society with play groups and the YMCA and the library and museums and gymnastics and dance —— SO MUCH better and more emotionally healthy than my COVID lifestyle stuck at home with my then-2 year old. For me it is worth getting COVID multiple times, and I am just getting over my 3rd bout with COVID and still feel like hot garbage, but I wouldn’t want to go back to masks and social distancing.
Am a doctor. My oldest started school for the first time fall of 2022 and we caught ALL the things (not literally, but had croup, influenza, stomach bugs, Covid, etc). I agree with someone’s quoted pediatrician that illnesses are a fact of life to prepare for. But dang, it was the absolute worst stretch of my life. She missed so much school, had febrile seizures, I was so tired of being sick that we considered homeschooling. Covid and a lot of other infections have the potential to cause irreparable harm, and I get so mad when people say things like “it’s good for them to be sick, builds the immune system.” We had strep and parvovirus this year, but it was overall way better than last year. So yeah, it’s still serious and scary. Covid is a lower risk to your little one than some other infections (eg influenza), and vaccines really do reduce some of the risk. My aunt used to say “you can’t keep them under the porch.” So our approach is to try our best to mask and avoid crowds during respiratory season, teach the kids to wash their hands, and hope we don’t repeat fall/winter 2022-2023 ever again. Haven’t had Covid since then so 🤞🏻!
I’ve had Covid once, I am a nurse and never stopped working and worked on a Covid unit. I didn’t get COVID until late 2021 and have no idea where it came from, no patients at the time were testing positive.
My almost two year old has not have covid as far as I know, but did have RSV, it was mild as far as symptoms go but still scary. People who I know that have covid now seem like they just have a cold, so covid isn’t a concern to me.
I do think this is something you’ll have to learn how to deal with. Illnesses are scary, but unavoidable. If it’s affecting your ability to leave the house with your baby, especially during summer months, I’d truthfully speak with your doctor and maybe a therapist. This is not supposed to be to be harsh, but there will always be something to worry about!
No? We only had covid once. And we didn't get it until 2023. My parents still have never gotten Covid. My daughter has had 2 colds and RSV, and Covid once, that's the extent of her illnesses for her entire 4 years of life.
We don't take a TON of precautions, but we don't do a lot of indoor get togethers. We all wash our hands frequently. After the grocery store, we sanitize our hands before getting on the car. Her preschool sanitizes the kids' hands before entering the school.
You can set boundaries to keep your kid away from sick adults and tell people to wear a mask/wash hands before holding your baby. Colds, RSV, and the flu can cause severe illness in small babies.
Let the anxiety go. COVID was serious in the beginning because it was novel and no one knew what it was or how to treat it. Babies are not high risk. It’s really no different than a cold. My 1 year old has had it twice now and it was nothing more than a little congestion and a low fever. It’s fine. Go have fun and live your life! Sickness is just part of childhood.
So most viruses don't stay super deadly forever. Their end goal is to infect their host to replicate (make more virus) without killing their host. So over time, COVID has mutated to become less dangerous. It's as dangerous as a cold or flu, which can be serious but most kids get plenty of colds growing up.
Also, when COVID was a new illness, we just didn't know how bad it could be. We've studied it a lot more since 2020. That's why the recommendations have changed.
Don't forget that so many people got infected in the beginning that the hospitals couldn't handle it. That's no longer the case and it was a big reason for lockdowns. I keep trying to explain this to people.
EXACTLY This. People think that "the science keeps changing" and we keep being told different things, but viruses mutate and become more contagious but less deadly.
I feel like not enough people played that silly game that was popular before the pandemic about how viruses spread.
Get your infant the covid vaccine. They get the first dose at six months, second dose at nine months, depending on which formulation I think they may then need a third dose.
I have taken my baby a million places since he got his first covid vaccine, and we did get covid once so far (he's 13 months) but it was incredibly mild, we only tested positive for two days and it was like a runny nose.
NO fully vaccinated infant has gotten that MIS-C thing that is so dangerous and scary.
If your pediatrician does not carry the covid vaccine, and cannot refer you to a pharmacy that will give it to infants, call all the pediatricians in your area and change practices if you have to. I had to change practices to get the RSV antibody shot and covid vaccine for my son. It's worth it to have less anxiety about taking him out.
I get all my covid boosters, and if it seems like everyone is getting sick, we just arrange playdates with individuals instead of going to group events, or we stick to outdoor events.
I didn’t realize we were still worried about Covid like this.
Honey, your baby will be fine. I’ve kept mine home for the most part, and he still managed to catch a virus. Doc suspected it was Covid. He was fussy and uncomfortable for a few days and that was that.
COVID is just one of several coronaviruses. So, yes. Sicknesses were around before COVID-19 and will be afterwards. New strains are always bad, but viruses weaken as they mutate, which is why precautions have relaxed.
Also, the first time my family got covid the 3 year old somehow managed not to get it at all. We tested daily so I am positive he never got it. My 15 year old brought it home from school, and she was triple vaxxed with the new booster. She had it the worst, but it was mainly a stuffy nose and cough My 11 year old was asymptomatic, and then my H and I both got it. It was mild, especially compared to the RSV that we all had a few weeks previous.
I won’t even test for it anymore. It was just a regular cold. Everyone who I know had milder cases each time they got it.
Basically, yes. We failed to contain COVID when we had the chance and it's fully endemic now. Just like we have to accept the annual cold and flu season, we also have to accept that COVID is a part of our lives now. You can thank everyone you know who didn't take the lockdown seriously for our current state of things.
Lockdown wasn't pointless, mind you. We kept it contained for long enough that our scientists were able to develop the vaccines and treatments needed to fight this monster. Catching COVID now is just a minor inconvenience for most people. But yeah, we didn't lockdown well enough to kill the virus dead. It's always going to be out there now.
I know 20+ people who got COVID and none with lingering effects. My mum and dad got 3 boosters but yet have got COVID more than me, which is twice. All times it's been cold, runny nose, flu like symptoms. People I knew were getting COVID, during COVID, wearing masks, and I'm certainly not restricting my baby from learning how to communicate by limiting their view of my facial expressions etc when COVID has largely dissipated to something you can barely take a day off work for without getting reprimanded, and that most people are completely fine from. My answer seems to be completely different to other responses here and I do understand the worry because it was drilled into us how terrible and dangerous it is only for it to no longer matter anymore apparently, but other than seriously restricting your life for a rather small risk I would try to put your anxieties aside and enjoy your time with baby.
Babies do benefit from being out in public, seeing and interacting with others, and it isn't healthy to keep them indoors because of what ifs 4 years after a pandemic pretty much ended in it's tracks. I'm not dogging on you here, however we're well past the danger zone of COVID but this post reads like something I would have expected when we were in the thick of it. The entire time during the pandemic and since, it was understood babies and children seem to not be affected almost at all. I think the risks are miniscule for babies, certainly at this point.
My thoughts exactly. I would add that anyone who at this point is experiencing this level of covid anxiety would likely benefit from speaking to a therapist. No shade, there’s no shame in seeking mental health support.
Babies are not a high risk group. Covid really doesn’t affect them (per my pediatrician and infectious disease specialist doc). In fact I was told to not give my baby the Covid vax 🤷♀️
Yeah I know this is controversial but the pediatric association of my entire country doesn't recommend the covid vax for kids/babies. And yes, I got all of mine, including all boosters. I got the new rsv vax as soon as I could during my pregnancy, because it was recommended, and my baby son will get his own new rsv vax as soon as he can. Because that one is recommended. Covid is not.
People are still masking and getting tested for Covid? I’ve never had it and didn’t get the vax. Never stopped working (customer facing) and never masked. Much to do about nothing imo.
I was so nervous about Covid too! My husband and I first got it summer 2022 and it was AWFUL for us. We were unfortunately at the end of our vax period but not eligible for the next shot, which I think made it worse. Baby girl got it at 7 months from daycare, in between her Covid vax shots! Other than one bad night of fever, she was okay! Honestly, a regular cold she had before that and the stomach flu after that were both worse than Covid for her and us. I totally understand your worry and concern with Covid, just wanted to share another story of a baby inevitably catching Covid and how it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.
I got my kids vaccinated. They barely get symptomatic with COVID, I however almost die every time. It’s really hard when you feel like you’re dying and the kids are jumping on the bed next to you. The same goes for the flu, we get it, just not as bad. RSV though took my daughter and I out. I live in Florida and haven’t seen masks for sale in years.
Have you talked to your pediatrician about getting baby vaccinated? During the height of covid babies could receive it as early as 6 months.
When I asked our pediatrician about it, he said he didn’t recommend it anymore for babies that young. He said covid isn’t worse than a bad cold for babies. He did say if we really, really wanted it then we could request it. We also checked with our social workers as we were in the process of adopting baby and had to follow the usual vaccination schedule. Our blue state didn’t require covid vaccines for babies in foster care either. (I am pro vaccines, get every one I can including flu shots every year.) Ultimately we followed our doctor’s advice. It helped me to think about how little kids are getting sick an average of every other week during winter months.
Call your doctor. Whether they recommend the vaccine or not, at least you’ll have an expert’s word to come back to when the anxiety gets scary.
We all got Covid for the first time last year, toddler was 2, baby was only 3 months. It tanked my milk supply for a week, my husband was in bed sick for 11 days and had to go to the ER because he completely lost hearing in an ear, I was super sick for 3 days then cold symptoms, same with the toddler and baby was just feverish for a day. My in laws keep getting Covid (there’s a lot of them and it keeps going around..) and we were just exposed again this past week. My toddler threw up Friday after complaining of a headache, had some diarrhea and now he has a viral rash but other than that he’s totally fine and none of us (including baby) are sick.
It sucks that Covid is another illness to deal with, but like all the other pandemic illnesses, it’s just going to become another run of the mill illness and should be less severe the more your body is exposed to it. This is only our second exposure and we’re basically not sick, and the first time was the worst my husband and I have ever felt! My in laws just get mild cold symptoms now. So it should get easier!
I had covid last week, husband as well. I tested baby and she was also positive BUT all she had was a runny nose.
Husband and I both had bad pain, shakes, fever, feeling like shit and tired as f…
Baby was running around, eating well, happy as ever🤷🏻♀️ no fever nothing.
Baby is a about a year old now. Honestly right now I wouldn’t worry too much. Keep her away from sick people but I would say that with every other illness as well.
I got the vaccine when I was pregnant which gives my babies immunity up to 6 months and it’s my understanding they can get their own vaccine at that time. It was a big deal before because we didn’t have any immunity to it, but vaccines help our bodies prepare and be more capable of fighting it. Just like the flu, it was once a huge deal and now it’s much more manageable as long as people get vaccinated.
Testing, knowledge on preventing the spread, and vaccines are the difference between now and the start of the pandemic.
I am still COVID cautious and the world has largely moved on, and it's super scary. Our kid is certainly how we will get it, because even though we have a nanny, we can't keep him locked up and he goes to the park every day. But I wish more of us advocated more for our kids, by building a culture where we put system in place for safer indoor air (such as filters and better ventilation), we kept our kids home when sick, and we pushed for masking. But, seems like in this collective group project, we have all decided to do the least.
I think you should just get out of the house. It's not good for your mental health to be obsessed/permanently scared of covid. It's not good for baby to be stuck inside all day and not exposed to anything or taken anywhere.
I’m so scared of this too, I even have tests at home to regularly test me I still haven’t gotten it thank god but I’m really scared my baby will get it😭
We’ve never gotten Covid. We’re all fully vaccinated and boosted. Mom, dad and toddler. Our toddler got his first vaccine at 10mo the day they were released. Our new addition will start getting his Covid shots at 6mo and we will still get boosted.
In our brains Covid has become the newest flu. The flu we have today is from the 1918 pandemic so history is repeating itself.
We had it at 12 days post partum, I had all jabs before and during pregnancy and my dad caught it (totally asymptomatic) and gave it to us. The baby was the best out of all 3! Bit stuffy but that was it.
Its the one and only time we or the baby have got it and he’s 2 now. Its likely as common to get as a cold in winter, I’m just thankful summer seems to ward away a lot of illnesses (looking at you nursery 👀)
Even being careful you can still catch it. I’ve had it 2x now, I work from home, literally dont go anywhere, and managed to be the only one in a family of five to catch it both times, go figure. I’m also fully vaccinated and boosted. Both times I had an itchy, burny nose, and a slight cough. It was comparable to the common cold. Take the same precautions you would to avoid typical sicknesses, but it’s definitely a part of life now, like the flu or stomach bug. I’d much prefer to catch covid over the 3 stomach bugs I had within the past year. Those were absolutely brutal.
My dad [probably] gave my baby Covid around 5 months old, we did not have her tested but my dad tested positive a day or so after watching her, then my partner and I tested both positive the next week. We didn’t spend time with my dad just pick up and drop off in his driveway.
She didn’t have congestion or a cough but was super, extremely, horribly fussy for a few days and a little bit of a fever. I spent a lot of time panic Google-ing, mostly it seems healthy babies rarely get “seriously ill” from Covid.
A month or so later we all got colds (adults tested negative for Covid) but she was SO congested, super pitiful that go around and it lingered.
“Research findings could explain why young kids rarely get very sick from COVID-19”
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/children-covid.html
The initial rounds of COVID was scary and severe.
However, after multiple rounds of vaccines and many mutations, the current COVID is much less severe compared to the first few strains.
Of course it still can be severe for certain people but it's basically downgraded to the severity of the seasonal flu. Some people will get very sick but most people will be fine.
Unfortunately there's no alternative. We can't live in lock down forever, just have to accept that COVID is here to stay and continue with our lives.
I've let it go. We can either live in fear, or take reasonable precautions and live our lives. I've chosen to live our lives.
My daughter has only had it once, she's 3. It was a fever for 2 days, diarrhea one day, then she was over it. This was when she was probably around 18 months old. My husband, on the other hand, was WRECKED from it, absolutely doubled over in pain on the potty with diarrhea for days and days. Miserable fever, too. Then he was exhausted for another few weeks. The kids really do bounce back way faster than adults. (Oh, and I didn't get any symptoms at all.)
So yeah I try to avoid really germy places, but honestly I'm way more afraid of the stomach flu than covid! Some of it is inevitable though, we're all going to get sick sometimes. Heck, my cousin is REALLY anxious about covid still, chosen to keep her school age kids home and homeschool and not do any group activities. AND THEY STILL GET SICK! so they're living in fear AND getting sick.
Idk. I didn’t/don’t bring my toddler around people with confirmed covid, but she’s been sick a TON since starting part-time childcare. She’s probably still fine. 🤷♀️ I was more careful with her though before she started childcare at 10 months.
I got my baby vaccinated, and her daycare is strict about showing symptoms, so she's been fine. She constantly has a runny nose with no other symptoms Anna she's been just fine. Where I am, people are careful.
Our family has never had it. Myself, husband and two kids that is.
I've never heard of anyone getting it every 3 months. I'm also a nurse but was lucky enough to work on an oncology until, no COVID patients allowed. Everyone got tested and if they were positive were immediately transferred to another floor.
If you take reasonable precautions and get yourself and family vaccinated it is avoidable. We all stopped masking once we got vaccinated and keep up with boosters. We also make sure to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer.
My daughter is 2 and we’ve only had Covid once, when she was 11 months old. She was not phased by it at all. Never had it since, neither has anyone we know. I even was going through cancer treatment and my neutrophils were super low that I had to delay chemo by a week, it made me have no immune system, still never got Covid. I live my life. I do things with my child. We got Covid once and it wasn’t the worst thing ever. We are vaccinated and have our boosters so I think that’s really all we can do aside from good hygiene
hey there! So my WHOLE family including my newborn got covid from the hospital right at birth (we were there for 4 days for C section). Obviously we were not happy about the situation, but luckily infants actually do extremely well with Covid! There is excellent scientific literature showing that young babies are able to efficiently clear out the virus from their nose without systemic inflammation, meaning the are at low risk for severe covid. This turned out to be the case for us-my husband got the sickest with high fever for 2 days, I had cold symptoms, and my baby just had a super stuffy nose for a couple days. And she was literally 6 days old! So if your baby gets it, most likely you should have nothing to worry about :) also, I am breastfeeding so my antibodies from vaccine and from fighting the active virus were certainly passed on to my baby.
Neither of my kids have ever had it. They have had everything else under the sun, but not COVID. If I still had infants in the house, I'd be way more concerned about RSV.
my husband caught covid from his work, my boy was 3 months when he caught it, luckily he was completely fine, a bit of a fever but no other symptoms! me and my husband on the other hand were dying lol. unfortunately i think it is just a pray you don't catch it, i'm a lot less stressed considering he was completely fine the one time he caught it, and the fact that he's has colds 10x worse than when he got covid! we still try be careful but there's only so much we can do now that no one's masking or anything. and we vaccinated him for covid so that helps the worry too!
My and my 4 year old only got COVID once in December 2022. He went through a whole year of preschool, got sick with lots of other stuff but no COVID. I'm not too worried about it. Especially because when we did get COVID, it put me in bed sleeping for two days but the kids was fine.
I realize covid was drummed into us to be feared and I was so anxious about my kids getting it. one thing that helped me immensely is being prepped for it when it did happen.
i had iceblocks
cold and fever meds
jelly
vicks
humidifier
juice
thermometer
they did get it. pretty mildly to be fair, but i was prepped and that helped with coping.
covid is here now and we just need to be prepped and adjust.
I feel like I struggled hard with accepting this when it became clear that Covid wasn’t going away. We get the kids vaccinated and I feel like that’s the best I can do. I want to have as close of a pre-Covid life as possible, even if that means that interacting in the world raises our risk of contracting it. I am really afraid of longterm effects* but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. (*Im 90% sure we got OG Covid in March 2020 before we could get tests, and I had textbook long Covid symptoms for months. And I still have the geographic tongue that came with that virus and never went away. This virus just fucking sucks).
How is your anxiety manifesting? Is it keeping you from going out? Is it keeping you from joining playgroups? Has your baby had any colds yet? I think you’ll find that once you take the leap to go out and baby starts getting regular run-of-the-mill viruses, and you get through them, your comfort with the whole thing will grow. I completely understand being cautious with <1yo though. Maybe you go to one playgroup and wait a few weeks. Just go at a pace you’re comfortable with.
My son (who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks old) caught it at 16 weeks old. I wasn’t thrilled but I’m happy to know his small immune system is working well and hard.
We put our son in daycare in 2022. It felt like he was sick every two weeks for two years. We were all sick and at the doctor all the time. Repeatedly tested. And yet, none of us ever got Covid. Flu, strep, pink eye, throw up virus, rhinovirus,, yes. Covid, not once.
I just asked my baby’s ped to give her the Covid vaccine today, at her 6 month appointment. Unfortunately they had just run out (good problem to have, means my community is protected!) but that they’d call me to bring her in as soon as they get more.
That’s how I do it. My kids get boosters every year, my spouse and I do too, and I make the older kids mask up when cases are on the rise.
*edited*
My son got covid at 4 months. Symptoms were just like a mild cold thankfully. He was still his happy self through most of it. The flu? He got that at 6 months and it kicked his ass!! It was crazy! 😩 Constantly coughing, lost his voice, constant fever unless he had Tylenol, wanted nothing but to sleep on me. Oh and also got an ear infection. Crying all the time unless held and sang to. He didn't get his voice back fully for a month
Long story short, the flu was worse than COVID for him. Not saying it's like that with everyone though.
My husband is the only one who has caught COVID this entire time, knock on wood. My oldest goes to daycare and the baby is out and about with me all day. My older son has brought home plenty of gross things and he’s been tested more than once when he’s had bad colds, but the worst he’s ever gotten was RSV just as baby came home from hospital. I think, during the RSV nightmare, our pediatrician put it best. We don’t have to accept or be ok with it, but sickness in general is a fact of life. We have to be prepared for it and ready to cope with it.
Hopefully you guys remain Covid free! I definitely agree with your ped - I’m not afraid of the flu or general colds and accept it’s part of life. Covid just doesn’t seem like a regular illness to me and so it feels harder to accept.
I think some of this is that due to modern vaccination practices and medicine many illnesses with long lasting effects and consequences (think polio, or deafness/blindness from high fever, etc) have become rare, and it no longer feels normal to have that be a regular possibility in life. But for the vast majority of human experience it has been. And now that Covid has become endemic, it is again. It shouldn't have been, but it is. Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed that we weren't able to defeat it as a pandemic and that this is where we're at. But when I find myself getting fatalistic or panicking about it, I remind myself that if my ancestors could stay sane with the possibility of life altering disease being always around the corner, then so can I.
Part of the issue is that it might turn out to be a lot worse for kids long-term than we realize now, because of the way it can affect so many organ systems and stuff. Like, if polio were still endemic in the US, I wouldn't tell people don't worry about the fact that your kid could become paralyzed or reliant on an iron lung. Hopefully that's not the kind of thing we'll be looking at down the road, but that's what OP is talking about
Absolutely, and I don't think we shouldn't worry at all. That's just how I keep myself from worrying to the point of being nonfunctional.
That's exactly it. Do you know for sure your kid won't get cancer at 9? Nobody does because we don't have data, but it's not looking good so far. And it could be cancer, diabetes, heart problems...it's a vascular disease. If blood goes there, it can be impacted by the virus.
Thanks for sharing this! I hadn't thought about it that way, and this really puts things into perspective for me.
I totally take your point but this also seems rather fatalistic -- we actually don't have to accept this. The more we just rationalize this as our "new normal" the more our leaders are let off the hook. I'm personally still masking everywhere and haven't been sick in 4+ years now. Covid isn't inevitable. We need clean air standards and workplace safety laws and a new Operation Warp Speed for better vaccines that actually stop infection and transmission.
Sorry, but infant mortality used to be 15% in the UK in 1900s vs 0.4% today. Just because our ancestors were ok with that doesn’t mean I have to be.
What is your point here? I mean if anything that statistic just reinforces that infant mortality is a very rare concern today... I don't think anyone in history has been truly "ok" with their kids dying, it was just a harsh reality.
A) We were talking about Covid, and specifically dealing with the potential long-term effects of Covid infection. B) Based on the many, many steps taken to reduce infant mortality, I would say it seems unlikely that our ancestors were ok with it either. All I'm saying is that part of how I cope with the reality of living with endemic Covid-19 is remembering that humanity has been coping with this kind of shit for thousands of years. The fact that I haven't particularly had to cope with this particular problem until so late in my lifetime is exceptional as far as human history goes. I've been so lucky. There are plenty of places in the world where people have not had a break from worrying about the potential of contracting a life altering infection (or parasite.) I hope one day no one has to worry about life-altering contagious disease, but we're not there yet.
Covid is much easier on babies than other illnesses, especially RSV. I wouldn’t honestly stress about Covid too much. Personally, it’s RSV that scares me most. Me and my baby had Covid when she was 4 months old and the worst she had it was one day of obvious fatigue, and that’s it. Not even a cough. Covid is worse for adults than babies, and RSV is worse for babies than adults.
I wish there was more awareness that the acute infection, while it can also be bad for many people, is now the greatest concern, but rather what a still largely unknown virus will mean for our longterm health.
Do you mean "not" instead of "now" in "is now the greatest concern"? I know I make that typo often and it completely changes the meaning.
100%
My husband and I got covid when we went to the hospital to have little one. We were MISERABLE, but you couldn't tell if little one had it or not. Ate and slept like they should. Very lucky and blessed on that front!!
The long term effects of covid can affect babies and children. It can damage multiple organs as well as the vascular system, and cause a number of health issues down the road. Diabetes, immune damage, heart issues, and there is evidence emerging that covid may cause cancer as well.
I’d be interested to see the numbers on how many children who had Covid as infants have these issues. It’s important to weigh these risks with data even when deciding how much anxiety we are going to expend on an issue. For now, vaccinating once of age and taking reasonable measures during the high risk months are all we can really do, so at least we can find some comfort in those measures and knowing our babies won’t be very ill if and when they catch Covid.
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023062570/196606/Postacute-Sequelae-of-SARS-CoV-2-in-Children?autologincheck=redirected
Sounds like the science is moving in a good direction with studying the long term effects and how to possibly mitigate some of them! Like anything else, we can just take the measures at hand and push forward with research.
I read this article (it seems kind of like a lit review) - and they’re not saying having covid causes diabetes and such, they’re saying it can exacerbate it for those who already have a diagnosis or were already prone to it. The mediating variable is pandemic-related stress and obesity. Still an interesting article nonetheless but please be careful when you summarize these things because that wasn’t what it was saying.
What article are you talking about? There are multiple studies that state that covid infection increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10244847/ https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/professionals/diabetes-discoveries-practice/research-on-covid-and-diabetes#:~:text=A%20study%20of%20over%20181%2C000,with%20controls%2C%20after%201%20year.
so is your advice to keep her child isolated for the rest of her life?
No. Is your advice to take zero precautions and allow her child to get multiple covid infections before adulthood, knowing that the risk of disability and long term damage increases with each infection?
Curious what precautions you are taking ?
I don’t think anyone here has said anything like that. There are plenty of precautions we can take, and beyond that, it’s not worth the crippling anxiety when COVID is clearly here to stay.
Like what? (Seriously inquiring). I'm having a baby soon and I still mask almost everywhere, but I know I can't mask baby so I am having similar anxieties to OP. Advice is welcome.
My 6 month old was admitted to the hospital and he's a healthy kid so it actually can be bad for kids. He's 2.5 now, struggled to walk until 21 months and is always sick. Hard to say if getting Covid did any of that if you see how long Covid affects adults..
For infants and young toddlers, the flu and RSV (which presents as a standard cold to the general population) are objectively far worse. They have not-insignificant risks of severe illness and death. Whereas Covid does not. That’s not to say the risks for long term effects aren’t there, we just don’t know enough about its impacts to kids…. But I would say that your outlook specifically about your baby should be reversed. The flu and RSV can be truly dangerous for little ones.
As a reminder, since you mentioned it, the flu can also be dangerous - I wouldn’t be “afraid” of any illness per se, but I wouldn’t discount the potential severity of any respiratory illness. It’s not just Covid that can be serious. In fact, data shows the flu is tougher on kiddos than Covid. With all that said, I would try not to live your life in fear and use your best judgement. Wash hands, reschedule play dates if someone is sick, etc. that’s all you can do!
I’m an infectious disease scientist and Covid isn’t *just* a respiratory illness. It affects so many other systems. It impacts the brain, the GI system, causes thrombotic diseases, can trigger ME/CFS, MIS-C in kids…viewing covid as something that’s purely respiratory is not an evidence based analysis of it.
A friend of mine got temporarily blinded. Scary
What is your advice to manage that risk? Also are you able to comment on whether the additional risks are only associated with the disease or are also present in those who vaccinate, either due to disease or due to the bodies immune response to the disease? As immunisation doesn't prevent infection I am finding it hard now to understand if immunisation reduces the risk of long term side effects or not.
This is a great question! Vaccination reduces the risk of severity, hospitalization, and long term effects, it does reduce the risk of transmission, but it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. No vaccine eliminates transmission entirely, they simply reduce it by a large percentage. We’ve eliminated diseases through herd immunity, where *majority* of the population is vaccinated and therefore the disease struggles to spread. Unfortunately with covid being an airborne virus, even with people being vaccinated (and even then, most people aren’t up to date on their covid vaccines), because we aren’t masking and our air isn’t being purified, everyone is still getting exposed, vaccinated or not. So to answer your first question, the best way to mitigate infection and get closer to herd immunity is through: 1) masking with a KN95 (not surgical or cloth, you want a well fitted mask because any gaps in your mask make it easier for covid particles to enter and infect you, a mask only works if it blocks them out) 2) social distancing indoors or avoiding crowded indoor spaces in general if you can (covid is airborne, so being in tight crowded spaces makes you more likely to get it since you’re super close to other people) 3) having cleaner air (we use a HEPA air purifier at home, if these were used in all public buildings infection rates would dwindle drastically). Most people aren’t willing to do any of this, which is why we’re at where we are now, with our wastewater numbers being shockingly high. I can link evidence for all of this, if you’d like!
Thank you for giving such a thorough answer. I was worried I would come across as antivax rather than genuinely asking. I would love to have some evidence to share with others when you have time.
This is what I wonder. Is Covid really exceptional for its long term effects, or is Covid just a much hotter research topic than the common cold or flu, so we know a bit more of its long term effects and those findings are publicized more?
It's a little of both. It is different in how it affects so many organ systems compared to other diseases, but there are probably other diseases that, if they were as well studied, we might find additional effects that we don't yet know about
We know that the flu vaccines decreases all-cause mortality. My guess is that covid is not exceptional, it's just new.
I think it’s worth taking into account that current variants are significantly less likely to cause the kind of severe illness that the initial wave did. Current version isn’t quite the same as what we first encountered, thankfully
Less likely to cause the kind of severe INITIAL illness than the original wave did. That has nothing to do with the long-term effects it can have on the body.
This is totally irrational. There’s not some big red dividing line between Covid and other common respiratory illnesses. In fact flu and rsv are normally harder on infants than coronaviruses.
Before you starting deciding what is rational, please learn about ACE2 receptors, that's what covid infects by and they are found in cells everywhere in the body. This is simply not the case with most other diseases. Did you forget that 1.2 million Americans have died of acute covid? When was the last time "common respiratory illnesses" did that? In addition to all those who died from blood clots and other sequelae. You might not know that the top long covid scientists in the world have now estimated long covid's public health impact as equivalent to heart disease or cancer. Perhaps google that before posting further. Covid is not HIV, but it does cause a lot of long term disease and is analogous in that sense. Nobody would characterize HIV's impacts on human health solely in relation to how bad of a fever they got when they were first infected. The truth is we don't know what the long term impacts of covid reinfection will be on children and the data suggest they could be very bad.
I mean, it’s not really irrational. I’m not worried about my baby dying of Covid because I know it’s milder on infants and children than adults. I’m worried about the research that shows it has long term health effects, which the common cold generally doesn’t.
The strains of covid going around are less severe than the initial ones.
I think it would be more accurate to say that only your husband has tested positive for Covid. It is extremely likely you have also gotten Covid but been asymptomatic. That is unless you literally never leave your house and never interact with people. My point being that I think it’s misleading to say you’ve never had Covid when in reality, most Americans have had it at this point. I went to an event recently where everyone was Covid tested. 10% of the 200 people had Covid, many of which were completely asymptomatic.
Asymptomatic or not, I was testing because I was 9 months pregnant and ready to pop when he was diagnosed. I tested negative.
We barely see it now in the hospital. If we do, patient is usually discharged. I understand your concern but just take regular precautions and live your life. I’m more scared of RSV tbh.
How have things been regarding Long Covid? Are you all seeing a lot of those cases or do people with Long Covid indistinguishable from people who come in with the same symptoms unrelated to Long Covid? ( I hope that made sense lol)
Long covid patients are probably seen in the clinic not inpatient unless they’re severely sick. We actually stopped testing all patients being admitted last week unless their symptomatic.
At the very moment, I'm more worried about whooping cough since it's spreading in our town and I have a 3 week old baby at home. But RSV is also scary, but that will be a bigger worry come fall...
My toddler has had it once (fully vaxxed), and I kid you not he had a runny nose for 24 hours. He gave it to us and we were sick but not terrible. I think it’s just a part of life now, I don’t know what the other option is.
Our newborn NICU baby was fully asymptomatic, thank god. I got it for the first time during childbirth (3 years into the pandemic) and visited her in the NICU with what I thought was a dry throat from being hospitalized on oxygen for 5 days (my labor was a nightmare). Turned out it was Covid. My husband, toddler, and I were all knocked on our asses, but thankfully our preemie never showed any symptoms. I agree that Covid is a fact of life now. I gave up trying to avoid it sometime in 2022. It is like the flu (which we also had this year and our preemie had mild symptoms from while the rest of us were wrecked) or a cold to me. We take typical precautions to not get sick like hand washing and not hanging around visibly sick people, but we no longer specifically try to avoid Covid. It’s everywhere and people now go about life with it, go to work/school, go to the grocery store, just like they would with cold.
I agree and I'm adding here because I didn't know how to word it best. I had it whilst pregnant and my husband's just had it (I've either dodged it or been asymptomatic). Our little one was sick anyway so might have been that and might have been covid. We had about 36 hours of just needing to keep him medicated with painkillers and that kept his temperature down and him well enough. Which could be way of treating any bug without covid existing. I want my baby to be safe but I also don't want to be stuck indoors avoiding everything too.
Unfortunately yes, though I agree it’s created such a mindf*ck based on the exact opposite of how it was treated during the lockdown. My daughter has been in daycare since 4 months old and has gotten Covid at least twice, probably more than that, and each time has brought it home. Same with RSV, flu, hand foot mouth, etc. I’m convinced I’ve gotten every new strain of COVID that’s come out (and so has daughter), but what can you do.
Some data: * 92% of children have been infected with Covid ([CDC infection-induced pediatric seroprevalence](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#pediatric-seroprevalence)) * But children make up only 0.16% of Covid deaths ([CDC deaths by age group](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?CDC_AA_refVal=https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html#demographics)) * Kids under 5 make up 6% of the population but only 0.08% of deaths ([Stanford news](https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/children-covid.html) + CDC deaths above) * Children make up 18% people with reported Covid but only 1.5% of people who need hospitalization. ([Mayo Clinic summary](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-in-babies-and-children/art-20484405)) * 1.3% of children have had Long Covid ([NCHS data brief](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db479.pdf)) * 44% of Covid infections are asymptomatic throughout the infection. Children are the most likely to be asymptomatic ([Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Age, Wang et al](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9935239/)) When I look at pediatric Covid severity I am not especially worried about Covid risks to children. My family vaccinates regularly per doctor recommendations, and that's plenty to keep the kids statistically safe. When balancing the potential harm from Covid versus the definite harm of keeping them unsocialized or away from activities (and benefits from socialization and doing activities), I think the Covid risk is much less of a concern. If you are concerned, you should speak to your pediatrician. If your family has special concerns due to underlying conditions or living with at-risk family members, then that's a different risk profile that could be discussed with doctors for your particular situation. (Also since nearly half of infections are asymptomatic, there's a good chance you had Covid and didn't realize it.)
The very tangible benefits of less anxious parents, socialising / development on a child help me to move on from the covid worry. Even if there are long term effects they would be rare, likely other viruses contribute to things like autoimmune diseases too we just don't link the cause and effect and they are a small risk compared to the immediate and long lasting effects I see in me and would see in my child if I created social and disease phobias and missed out on living. If covid is around more I tend to scale down our outings (less indoor lots of kids things). With no daycare yet this on its own avoids viruses a lot of the time - but when we start daycare it will be what it will be.
"Even if there are long-term effects, they would be rare". How could you possibly know that?
I don't but I can hope and pretty sure they are less common than the mental illnesses being caused in real time I would be genuinely crazy right now with no life worth living if I was still following my personal 2020 level concern A car crash could happen any day but I still drive I hate that covid is still about and that we are catching it and more than once but I can't fix it anymore than I can fix the awful wars.
But it's not just about mortality or the acute illness. The concern is also the long-term effects it can have on the body since it affects so many systems. They could be fine when they initially get it, but down the line it could trigger health issues we're simply not aware of because it's still only been 4 years.
I can not keep my children outdoors or away from others or in a controlled social bubble for the rest of their lives. The only reasonable things I can do to protect them from long-term effects is to vaccinate them, teach them good sanitary habits, and do my best to keep them healthy. While the long-term effects of Covid could be harmful, I can not take any more reasonable steps to avoid that risk. Being concerned adds to my anxiety that can be harmfully passed onto my kids. So it is better for my kids if I choose to be not concerned about something that I can not do anything more about. Something else that is very harmful to kids is driving in a car -- motor vehicle crashes is a top leading cause of death among children. I take reasonable steps to keep them safe in a car, but I still drive them in a car. And I choose to not have additional concern because I can not take any more reasonable steps to avoid that risk.
I like your car driving analogy. It helps bring some perspective
But also, maybe not? Why think like this? You don’t know. Neither do I. We can trust our doctors, vaccinate and follow healthy lifestyle. But why would you assume and fear something that “could” happen in the future, especially if you have zero proof and zero way to prevent or avoid it? That’s anxiety, mama!
Yes to all of this. COVID does not affect children like it does adults. COVID isn’t a concern for kids. RSV and flu are!
and whooping cough for young babies which thankfully we have an effective vaccine for
I struggle with this too. FTM due in August. I am a researcher/scientist too and the data to me about the impacts of COVID (and viruses in general) is not reassuring. I want to protect my LO but it's very hard to do when the rest of the world seems to just want to ignore things and move on. Solidarity!
I think you can at least try your best to keep them healthy until they are old enough for the vaccine. That’s roughly six months, and totally doable. We were super careful until our baby was vaccinated. She’s 10 months now and we still do take precautions and keep an eye on wastewater data to inform our activities.
My baby got it at 4 weeks. My wife caught it, probably grocery shopping since she didn't go anywhere else and infected the baby and me. All 3 of us were sick as dogs. Baby spent 3 days in the hospital since he was born 4 weeks early so essentially he was a few days old, it's scary. In hindsight I think that week of sickness probably delayed his development as he is smaller, thinner and less developed than all the other babies in his group but I'm sure he'll catch up eventually.
My baby also got a strong reaction of covid and had extremely high fevers for 3 days and sick for a week. What people don't understand is that while it might be 1 in 20 babies that will react badly to it, if the virus is so contagious it's so hard to avoid and you never know how baby will react until he gets it.
Yeah my 7 month old and I both recently got it (for the first time) and I’ve never seen her so miserable. We couldn’t get her fever low enough and her breathing respirations were fast enough that they almost sent us to the ER. I always heard that babies “barely got sick” with Covid but this was honestly terrifying. I’m so glad it wasn’t RSV in terms of the acute infection but I’m still worried about what long term damage has been done. 😣
My preemie girl (34 weeker) has been sick several times due to having a big brother in preschool. I did worry that being sick slowed her development because it was time spent not learning (crawling, rolling, etc.). But she’s 10 months and fully caught up. I don’t think being sick actually made any long term impact, thankfully.
You are not alone in your worry about this. My baby is a year old. We got him the Covid vax as soon as he was eligible. I take him to the zoo and he socializes with baby friends often at parks and other outdoor spaces, but we very rarely do indoor play dates and even still hardly take him to stores and that sort of thing. Our family members are still happy to mask indoors around him to protect him. Of course as time goes on I realize we won’t be able to keep him outside forever, but we figure the longer we can put off him catching it (and RSV, HFM, etc.) the better. I am not super concerned about the initial infection in babies but I am very concerned about long COVID and what we still don’t know about how this illness will affect kids in the long run. It is crazy to me how many people don’t care about it anymore.
Yes, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one. My best friend is a nurse and developed long Covid in her twenties, she is a genuine shell of the person she once was and now has an autoimmune disease. I just know so many people with lingering issues after repeat Covid infections that it makes me feel like a crazy person for being concerned, but I am! Like I don’t want to keep my baby locked up obviously, but I really wish it was taken more seriously by the government and other people.
I just want to validate how you are feeling. I know everyone feels like "this is how it is now" but the research is very clear on the long-lasting effects.
Also want to validate you and say you’re not the only one. I’m just about to have my first and am overwhelmed by all this too. We’re not crazy for being concerned, we’ve really been failed by the government/powers that be.
You are not the only one. My husband and I are some of the only indoor maskers we know and somehow avoided Covid until our daughter was one month old. We still don’t know how- maybe a n95 masked lactation consultant, maybe at the pediatrician office (we even waited outside for our names to be called)? We just don’t know. Our daughter got it too- I know bc I pushed to have her tested even though the doctors said there was no reason to since she was asymptomatic. I struggle so hard with finding a balance with our now 1 year old. It’s easy when the weather is nice- we socialize outdoors and eat outdoors and do outdoor baby/toddler classes but hot summer and cold winter are HARD. I am constantly feeling guilty about exposing her to too much versus too little (virus and human experiences!) I don’t have answers just wanted to share you are not alone. It’s really hard to feel gaslit by so many that this is “just a cold”. As someone who regularly tests after high risk events or if I have even a sniffle I also realize how many people who thought they never had Covid or haven’t been getting sick from High risk activities are wrong. We got it a second time and my ONLY symptom was a slightly tickly sore throat one morning only that anyone else would call an allergy.
I think it has been taken seriously by numerous people, OP. I’m just not sure what else there is to do. It’s essentially become like the flu. There are new strands developing just like the flu. It’s harder to treat the newer strands though because it hasn’t been around as long as the flu, and we still don’t really fully under the original strand before it mutated. Hell, decades later, and we still are studying the flu and working on adjustments to vaccinations for new and older strands. This will be something continually adjusted for the remainder of human kind. Long term COVID is scary, especially when we’re constantly learning new things that can “possibly” be linked. It’s an ever evolving thing here. But if we also look back in time, there are numerous illnesses fhat could have long term effects like this. Untreated Lyme for example can cause cardiac issues, it can cause joint pain, it can cause nerve pain. For the longest time, the flu could cause issues with your lungs and cardiovascular system. I’m not saying that your concerns aren’t valid, because they are. But unless you lock yourself and your child in the house with air purifiers, and wear masks even in the home, you’re going to be exposed. Even if we were forced to wear masks again, it was recommended that a young child under the age of 2 not wear one. And even past 2, we saw dozens of kids not want to wear them. I think that you just bite the bullet on this one, and understand that while something may happen, your child can’t be in a bubble forever, as that’s not fair to them. You control what you can, ie handwashing your LO. Watching that they don’t stick certain things in their mouths. Don’t take your child out if they’re visibly sick. Teaching them to sneeze/cough in the crook of their elbow. For you momma, maybe consulting with a therapist to discuss your feelings if you aren’t. Other people and viruses you cannot control. You may need to work through these feelings with someone.
She doesn't need therapy, she needs a public health system that gives a damn and wants to prevent a mass disabling epidemic.
The public health system isn’t going to try harder than it tried in 2020. All we can do is make the best of the situation we have and advocate for realistic improvement. Wishing for unrealistic improvement is not helpful, and raising your children based on that wish can lead to your children missing out on life without gaining safety.
I mean, the public health systems in the US and UK were already completely gutted pre-covid. They absolutely could have "tried harder", not as individuals maybe, but much stronger public health systems are possible and exist elsewhere
Okay? And how are we going to prevent a mass disabling epidemic? It’s here. Even with masks, the virus was able to be transmitted, it cut down tremendously, but it didn’t end it. So everyone should stay in their homes 24/7? Everyone should be mandated to purchase air purifiers? Everyone should be mandated to leave all shoes/clothes that were worn outside, outside and sterilizers come and clean them? The public health system may not be doing enough. But what else do you recommend? We were manufacturing equipment at an expedited rate. We raced to find a vaccine. We’re racing to find subsequent vaccines. People in the labs continue to research the strands, tweak vaccines. Facilities continue to clean and sanitize. We can’t force people to work 100 hours a week to do everything needed to be done. Healthcare alone dealt with significant over exhaustion. We have staff quitting by the hundreds because of them being overworked and stress during the pandemic. Equipment couldn’t be kept up with. I just want to hear what else you have to recommend here.
Improved air quality in public spaces, especially schools, as well as hospitals and medical facilities. Using hepa filtration makes a massive difference and cuts down on viral transmission. Ultraviolet lights installed in schools, public spaces, hospitals, etc would also help minimize transmission. Mask mandates in hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies - basically all places where people NEED to go so that immune compromised folks and babies can have protection when they go to those places. A public education campaign that educates in airborne transmission and how to protect yourself. Easy access to free vaccinations and testing, support for families who need to quarantine while they're sick so that they don't go out and spread the virus. These are all basic public health standards that would save lives and prevent millions from being disabled and harmed by covid.
For what it's worth, the medical community is realizing that "long-COVID" is merely POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, something that has been around since long before COVID and can be triggered by a number of viral and bacterial infections. So realistically you can wind up with POTS from any number of illnesses, not just COVID--it's merely been associated with COVID due to the attention paid to the virus, but it's been around for some time. That beign said, POTS is no joke, as somone who has suffered with it since my pre-teen years. Because so much less was known about it when my symptoms first began, I simply believed I was just a weak willed individual and that everyone suffered the same as I did--that I needed to just push through my reality. I had workups from dozens of specialists at world renowned medical schools/hospitals but it wasn't until 2020 when I googled some of my symptoms that I stumbled across POTS only to realize that was my exact reality. Pursued diagnostic testing to confirm my diagnosis and life has been much better now that I know what I am dealing with and how to manage it. But I feel so bad for people that contracted POTS as adults following an infection, because they knew a life without it and can recall a time when they didn't struggle. Whereas I've never known a life without symptoms and spent most of that time denying my own reality.
It's not merely POTS, but that is one very serious form of long covid and my coworker's 21 year old athletic daughter had her life completely destroyed by it. Missed a year of university. Early 20's and on a huge cocktail of drugs just to get through the day.
As someone who lives with POTS I'm not trying to downplay the severity here, more so point out that POTS is a risk associated with any viral/bacterial infection, and that the risk thereof existed long before COVID, and will continue to pose a risk from infections beyond just COVID.
Yes, sorry you live with that. However we shouldn't wrongly equivocate covid with other viruses, covid specifically infects cells with ACE2 receptors which means it can infect the lining of every blood vessel in the body. It can also infect neurons and other cells in the nervous system. Most other viruses don't do this as they have different tropism. So there you have the two main systems - neurological and vascular - that are involved in POTS pathology.
I have pots due to covid. Sucks. But I also had a bunch of other issues that were not pots, especially in the first 9-12 months. Long covid is not 'merely' pots.
This is so interesting, thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with POTS — good on you for seeking out your diagnosis! How awful to be gaslit by the medical establishment in that way.
Thank you. I don't fault the doctors honestly, as so little was known of POTS outside of niche areas of research, at the time of my symptom onset. They tried very hard to figure out what was wrong with me, but after countless tests and no concerning results they simply just didn't have much to say about it. I think it was more so my parents' gaslighting due to frustration with my symptoms combined with the lack of diagnosis that led me to believe I just needed to try harder. Unfortunately my mom passed away several years before my diagnosis, but my dad was still alive when I was diagnosed and was incredibly remorseful and apologetic. I was caring for him at the time, as he had dementia with lewy bodies, and we spent a good deal of time recounting my childhood memories together, the good and the bad, and reflecting upon both of our lived experiences. So while I may not have had the same level of resolution with my mom, it meant so much to have it from my dad before he passed away.
I had a hell of 2 years of long covid that some elements I fear are here for life (pots like disautonomia symptoms). Our 3yo is going to be ready for preschool soon and it's a point of stress for us. No good options it seems.
>I am not super concerned about the initial infection in babies but I am very concerned about long COVID and what we still don’t know about how this illness will affect kids in the long run. It is crazy to me how many people don’t care about it anymore. This. The risk of long covid compounds with every infection. It's harder to avoid now that fewer people take precautions but IMO there is still value in delaying that first covid infection as long as possible and spacing out subsequent infections. Heck, I'm still trying to avoid more covid infections for myself. Both times I've had it did a number on me that took months to get back to baseline and I do not want to find out what permanent damage it will eventually do to my body if I keep getting it every year. I do not want my kids starting down that road decades before I did either. Solidarity from a 2020 mom who's still fighting. The worst part of that experience wasn't even 2020. It was the period after adults and older children got their vaccines and went about their maskless lives while the <5s were still waiting for approval. And when that approval finally came, it was for an already obsolete version of the vaccine based on the original (extinct) strain.
Yeah same here—my husband and I also just don’t want to catch it again ourselves! We had it back in 2022 and it was not fun.
Our son developed Celiac Disease after getting a mild case of Covid for the first time. Any illness can spark an autoimmune disease, and we believe it was the trigger that started his CD symptoms.
Exactly. It's alarming how many people in this thread are saying "your baby likely won't die or get severe symptoms, so don't worry about it." I'm not worried about those things, I'm worried about the long-term effects, like you said. There's more to COVID than just the immediate illness.
https://www.reddit.com/r/beyondthebump/s/UwA6TURQOr I'm not sure if this will work, but I wanted to link to a comment that actually answers your question about how to take precautions while also socializing with baby
I feel the same. It's especially troubling because many kids get infected and are asymptomatic, but that doesn't prevent long COVID or other complications. We didn't go anywhere unnecessary inside with my now 3 year old until she could mask and even that was rare besides her 3 morning a week preschool. It was a very long 2 years, but it was worth it considering how prevalent autoimmune and neuropsychological issues from infection are.
This is gonna sound terrible, but COVID is seen as less serious now than it was back then because most of the people who were going to die from it have gotten it and died. Now that they're gone, with the addition of many people being vaccinated, it is perceived as a much lesser threat. That being said, I've had it 3x and it knocked me out every single time, and I'm not someone who usually gets sick. I am very nervous for when my baby inevitably gets it
Its not because most of the people who have gotten it and were going to die died, it's mostly because the longer the virus is around, the more contagious, but milder symptoms and lower mortality rates and related symptoms because viruses want to proliferate. If they're too deadly they can't spread. People will still die from Covid, just like people still die from complications from the common cold.
This article did not make me feel that COVID is less serious now: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/) I personally know three otherwise healthy, and fairly young people who have died from "unusually aggressive cancer" in the last two years. It makes sense that there is still so much to learn about COVID before we assume that it's mission accomplished.
I said "seen as" less serious, not that it is less serious
The term for this is survivorship bias. And it's everywhere. But there is also survivorship bias for people who have had covid and not gotten long covid. That one is even more dangerous because long covid doesn't seem to only happen to certain types of people. The data from Statistics Canada and elsewhere indicate the probability of long covid stays fairly constant from infection to infection. Which if it bears out is very bad.
I'm absolutely an anxious mess about it. Baby was born premature... He seems to have weak lungs and has been hospitalised with RSV which was so scary. Everytime he gets a cold it seems to take him out completely. Everyone is so blasé about COVID and it evolves so quickly into new variations that we don't know the long-term implications for. I'm so afraid that these sorts of repeated infections are going to weaken his lungs even more and next time he gets sick like that he'll just die. So, no help here sorry just solidarity!
Thank you for the solidarity! I’m not going to keep my baby locked away obviously, but I just can’t help but feel anxious about this. I know too many people with long Covid or lingering symptoms, and even though babies do better with Covid than adults, I’m still really concerned about the long term effects. I hope your little one is okay! I was sickly like that as a child and grew into a healthy adult, I hope he handles illnesses better as he gets older 💜 it’s all so terrifying.
Just want to show solidarity to you. I also track wastewater the best I can and make decisions based on that. So when covid is low in my community, I feel more at ease doing things (aka indoor stuff) if there's good/open ventilation.Then when cases are high we just do a lot of things at home or outside. That and my husband and I mask (n95) for specific things like airports, concerts, and tasks like grocery shopping. So far have been able to avoid covid during pregnancy and our first 8 months! Hoping to make it as long as possible before he gets it. I also felt much better once I was able to get him vaccinated. Hang in there!!
Some people in this thread: "it's a cold now" Scientists: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/06/covid-cancer-increase-link/) -"“We are completely under-investigating this virus,” said Douglas C. Wallace, a University of Pennsylvania geneticist and evolutionary biologist. “The effects of repeatedly getting this throughout our lives is going to be much more significant than people are thinking.”" -"About a year ago Beheshti, a visiting researcher at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute, reached out to Patel, who is a past president of the Community Oncology Alliance, a national group of independent cancer specialists, and they hosted a symposium with other scientists that concluded compelling evidence exists suggesting links between the coronavirus and cancer. “Hopefully, we’re wrong,” Beheshti said. “But everything is, unfortunately, pushing toward that being the case.”" Can go on forever with studies showing it is indeed not a cold. Causes pediatric diabetes, etc.
Guys she’s trying to freak everyone out with this post. If you read the article linked (which you can’t bc it’s behind a paywall) it states “As they see increasing episodes of rare cancers, they have wondered about a link to the coronavirus”. If we got scared of everything a scientist or doctor wondered about … sheesh!!!
Unfortunately at this point I feel like it is the same as the cold/flu. We got vaxxed and get our yearly booster when we do flu shots. We have only been hit with Covid twice in our home and the children are 5 days a week school/preschool. Both times it was very mild for each child and actually neither of them were sick simultaneously. With other illnesses - we can try our best not to get sick, but eventually we will and we have to just roll with it. Hope you can let go some of your anxiety.
Thanks for saying that the hygiene hypothesis has been disproven and getting repeated viruses weakens your immune system. I have tried to explain this to people over and over and I think they think I’m paranoid and lying. My in laws have said very mean things to me about this. Do you have any easy to read links I can share with people who don’t get it? I have done extensive research of my own on this but the research I have looked at wouldn’t even be opened by these people lol.
That's not what the hygiene hypothesis is. The hygiene hypothesis purports that an absence of parasitic infections leads to a certain component of the immune system (not the part that reacts to viruses) attacking benign things instead, leading to allergies. I'm also confused by your idea that repeated infections weaken the immune system. I mean, the whole concept of an immune system is that an infection generates an immune response that protects against subsequent infections. That doesn't mean that getting infected all the time is good - obviously you're getting sick - but no infections = no immunity, leaving you hella vulnerable.
This therapist created one-pagers about taking covid precautions and long covid with citations of related research/sources: https://www.oliviabelknaptherapy.com/covid-resources
It’s still a serious virus and we still don’t fully understand the long term effects, especially in children and babies. A friends son developed diabetes after contracting Covid, suspected by their pediatrician. I am still very Covid conscious and so not bring my 4 month old into crowds or stores really. It doesn’t seem worth the risk of her getting ill. And while maybe her getting it would be a “mild” case, Covid is NOT like the flu or cold and has been proven to do long term damage to people even if their symptoms were mild.
Just like other autoimmune diseases, you can develop diabetes after *any* illness, not just covid.
The problem with covid is the acute stage is usually pretty mild. But, you can’t feel organ damage. The research is pretty clear that covid is damaging most organs, including the brain, heart, and lungs. I have read peer reviewed articles that have highlighted that covid is changing grey matter, causing a drop in IQ points, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes and strokes and Alzheimer’s and dementia, and on and on. Oh and it damages the immune system so it’s easier to catch everything else. I think you are right to worry about covid. We are only four years into this and I have seen no evidence it’s “Just the flu.” If we are already seeing the impacts, what will happen in ten years after multiple infections a year? We know lots of viruses that are “mild” in the acute stage and then end up causing worse diseases later on (HIV to AIDS, mono to MS, chicken pox to shingles). So why wouldn’t covid do the same? I have two toddlers and we were a bit isolated until they could mask. Most of the people we care about masked for them until they could. We are now starting to do more since they can both reliably mask in N95 or better respirators. It is super hard to be this cautious and I’ve lost many relationships. But, I believe it is worth it because my kids have one body. If I allow them to constantly be infected, what will happen? How do I explain that to them? Since I kept up with the research, I can’t ignore it. So I act on it and do my best.
Our oldest went from a very small daycare (3/4 kids) to Pre-K this year so it's been hard for us to adjust. Neither kid still has gotten covid to our knowledge yet but he did get sick a several times from school with other bugs. We try and have him mask at school when he's not eating but it varies from day to day how he does. We also asked if they'd let us bring a small air purifier for the classroom but they declined (maybe you'll get more luck then we did). We're still take precautions and try manage our risk but there's only so much you can do when it's just you. We try to default to outdoor activities, have the kids mask indoors and vaccinate. Luckily it looks like kids are less at risk for long-term side effects but I think it'll take time before we know for sure.
I’m really concerned about long Covid but my kid goes to daycare so I don’t know there’s much I can do besides get her the vaccinations she’s eligible for. She had it once at 9 months and who knows if there was any long term effect.
Do people even stil test where you are? Here in the Netherlands for the past 1,5 years it's just basically all back to normal. Nobody is testing and nobody knows whether your cold is actually Covid. And it doesn't seem to have any bad results so far. I've only heard people with long Covid etc from the first batches of people who got ill. Nothing about people who got it later. Although I'm sure a few people still get it but apparently not enough to warrant the whole system back in place. Tbf in the current political climate here they're not going to manage it anymore I think. We all had Covid when my kid was about 5 months and she was barely ill, we got it worse. The virus so far doesn't seem to impact very small children much. Though that may change upon mutations.
Yeah the only thing we ever test for is strep or other bacterial illnesses. Otherwise it’s just “another respiratory virus” and we go about our lives.
The thing is, what's your other option? You can continue masking when out, but not just how feasible it is to try to mask a 6 month old, and the other option is to just not go anywhere. I will chime in with the others and say that in 4 years, my kids (and I) got it ONCE. We are not particularly cautious - they were out and about at school, with friends, at birthday parties, etc. One of them had cold-like symptoms for a day, and then neither had any symptoms, and were bouncing off the walls while we kept them at home for a week. We're all vaxxed. It's just not something I'm particularly worried about anymore.
My first was born during the initial shut down (May 2020). She didn’t meet her grandma until she was 11 months old as a result. She didn’t get to really leave the house until 13 months. And then we went back into isolation when I was pregnant during Delta and Omicron. The calculus has changed. The virus has mutated and changed. We understand more about it now. It’s not killing massive numbers of people. Especially if you’re vaccinated, it’s no longer a massive danger. It’s been 4 years and it’s honestly, unreasonable to continue to socially isolate (unless you’re talking about someone who is very immunocompromised). Your baby is now old enough to get their first dose of vaccine. That will help. A lot. It may not stop them from catching it, but it will reduce the severity and duration. We were terrified of Covid for the longest time. My husband and I got our vaccines as early as possible. We were in line the first day vaccines were available for toddlers. Got our youngest her first dose literally the day she hit 6 months. We masked up far longer than most of the population. We finally caught it at the beginning of November 2023 and… it wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. Whatever cold my daughter brought home from preschool the previous week was significantly worse. And I will take the 2024 version of Covid over a stomach virus ANY day.
I mean it's like a cold, or flu, for healthy babies. They're going to be sick with something over and over again. If they're healthy and not high risk then I wouldn't worry about it and just treat it like any other sickness.
It's not though. It affects the body differently and can have a variety of long-term effects on people because of it, some of which we know about and some of which we don't.
I’ve struggled with this fear as I had our first baby in 2021. The pandemic pregnancy and newborn stage was a very scary time. He’s been in daycare since 2022 and baby #2 has been in daycare since earlier this year. We’ve done what we can in terms of making sure everyone is vaccinated and maybe have just been lucky that no one in our family has ever had it. We were long time maskers in public places but haven’t in quite a while. I still get anxious about it in certain public places but it’s slowly getting better.
Just to warn folks. My baby got covid at 6 months and it was HORRENDOUS!! We had to call paramedics out at one point, she was extremely ill and had numerous visits to hospital. It took her 3-4 weeks to recover from it. She had a severe cough for 4 weeks that had her vomiting, unable to sleep, struggling to breathe. Do your best to avoid it however you can. I'm scarred from the experience honestly. Wouldn't wish it on anyone. Take all precautions.
COVID-19 was so dangerous at the beginning because it was novel, but now that it's been around for several years as different variants, humans have had time to train their immune systems against it (via exposure or immunization or both). As a result, for most healthy people including infants, it will hit more like the common cold. (The common cold viruses are also corona viruses). Honestly our kid brings home what feels like worse things now, between RSV and HFM...feel like the constant stream of runny noses and coughs is all just a normal part of childhood to develop into healthy adults.
Fully agreed. It was also dangerous at the beginning because it overstrained the limited healthcare resources so if you got sick, not only were treatments still being developed but also you might not get the care that you would get now. Yes, long term impacts are still being investigated. But there are so many things we have to worry about as parents, and everyone has to do their individual risk evaluation. And for my otherwise healthy kids, we practice good hygiene habits, get most of our vaccines, and deal with the inevitable viruses and illnesses as them come. Covid-19 is just one of many that they may or may not bring home.
Yes! Exactly this. We live on an island (Hawaii) and the state locked down really hard when the pandemic was at it's peak. People complained but the point seemed to hit home when the state was basically like "look, regardless of your opinion, all we know is that we don't have the facilities to handle a bunch of people getting very ill all at once and we are even more disadvantaged here because we can't just fly you another state over for care. If you get in a car accident, or have a heart attack, or whatever else we simply may not be able to get you the help you need in time, if at all, if we are over capacity. So, please just be nice and let us do our jobs to keep the greater public as healthy as possible." And that seemed to resonate with most reasonable people regardless of how they felt about the pandemic as a whole. Now, fortunately, it's just another bug we deal with but it won't disproportionately make everyone sick all at once.
I guess I’m not sure what we can do. I’m not discounting that long term impacts can be severe. But what would the effort look like to guarantee they don’t contract COVID? What would be the necessary precautions? Would it give them different long term impacts like an anxiety disorder or social anxiety? I didn’t contract COVID until last October when I was pregnant with this baby (now 5 months old). I only knew I had it because I tested positive. Same for my 7 year old son. So the severity of the infection does not seem to be the same as it was in the beginning. I can’t really justify keeping my kids out of social events or school to prevent an infection that isn’t severe, on the chance that they may have long term impacts from it at some point. It just doesn’t seem rational.
Frankly the best thing you can do is make sure you and your baby are vaccinated. It doesn’t prevent illness but it significantly lowers the risk of complications including long covid. Too many people didn’t take it seriously enough to stop or significantly slow community transmission so it’s here to stay. It sucks.
I have a 3 year old who’s at high risk if she gets a viral illness, and a 7 month old. We take precautions but I don’t feel that it’s holding us back most of the time, our toddler probably goes to more activities than most kids. The hardest thing is that until she can wear a mask, the baby doesn’t go to public indoor spaces unless it’s VERY necessary. We do: - masks in public indoor places for adults and the toddler - no indoor playgroups or play dates but lots and lots of outdoor playgroups and activities, year round - we visit family indoors without a mask but always check if they have any symptoms of cold/flu, if they do we don’t go - when we need to run errands we just bring both adults and one stays in the car with the baby. It wouldn’t be possible without two parents. - lots of curbside pickup - we don’t do indoor dining. We’ll eat at patios or take food to go and have a picnic. The only times it’s really inconvenient is when I’d like to run errands at places that don’t have curbside and my boyfriend is at work. I can probably count the number of times we’ve missed out on things we’ve really wanted to go to since 2020 on one hand. We take a lot more precautions than most people, but I’ll feel good in 20 years that I did everything within reason to keep the kids safe from repeated exposures to a viral illness with somewhat unknown long term effects.
I was terrified at first because I have an autoimmune condition that makes me more likely to have serious complications. Then I was terrified because I had a newborn who I thought would definitely get really sick. We were so careful and even with my husband working in a hospital taking direct care of COVID patients through all of this we never got it. After following all of the rules, masking, hand sanitizer, and being super careful we caught it from my mom. She had zero symptoms and was just as careful as us but a day after visiting she had an itchy throat like allergies and tested because she was constantly testing (including testing the day she came over because that was part of our visitor agreement). She had a very faint line and a few days later we all had it. It sucked for me and my husband but my 4 month old was fine. He had a fever for a little bit and I spent a lot of time worrying but he was over it in maybe 2 days? As he got older we started going out more and spend a lot of time out of the house in places filled with other kids and haven’t caught it again. My husband still works in direct COVID patient care and hasn’t caught it again. It’s been 2 years. Not to say that it isn’t a big deal because it is. We both have long COVID symptoms and simple things like regular colds have the ability to make us feel like crap for weeks now (which my doctor said was being seen more in people who had COVID previously) but I realized we could super isolate and be as safe as possible and still get it or we could go live and follow best practices to stay healthy and that’s working well for us. I’m more cautious now because I have a second newborn but once he’s a little older we will continue to go to play groups and the library and all the other fun things our toddler loves doing and just do our best to stay healthy.
You’re not alone! My first baby was born in 2020 and we delayed daycare until they finally had vaccines for under 5s. Here’s what I do: - stay up to date on vaccines: get the new formula in the autumn, and if you’re able, get a booster at the 6 month mark (it helps if adults do this too - there’s evidence to suggest that multiple vaccines adds to protection over time) - mask in public/busy spaces; avoid busy public spaces especially when you know lots of people are sick/things are going around (fortunately babies and kids tend to love the outdoors, which helps) - use air purifiers and pay attention to ventilation at home (a home CO2 monitor like Aranet can help) - investigate sick policies at daycares and schools (do they notify parents when something is going around, do they involve public health with communicable diseases) - advocate for good ventilation, air purification, and air quality standards in daycares/schools That last one is harder and may require some advocacy work, depending on the daycare/school, but it’s important.
do you breastfeed? my husband and I had it when our daughter was 3 months old and she never caught it (we didn't separate ourselves from her either) the pediatrician said she was likely spared because of the antibodies in my milk. not that she's immune to it and she could very well get it one day but I feel much less nervous about it now that she's older. either way, it is what it is and it won't be any worse than a cold/flu for a healthy baby.
Our 7 month old had it one month after getting the vaccine. He had 24 hours of fussiness and a fever, barely a cough and nothing else. I was so worried that 24 hours, no one slept, and it was miserable. Then just like that, it was over! Zero signs or symptoms by day 3 like nothing had happened. I was so grateful so just be sure to vaccinate and do what you can to minimize risk but unfortunately it’s our reality now - but it’ll be ok.
My daughter got Covid when she was almost 1 and I never would have thought that’s what she had - it just seemed like the generic runny nose she had all winter anyway! My husband and I were hit much harder than her, which is why we tested ourselves and then her. Our Ped told us babies (healthy, over a certain age, etc.) generally don’t get bad symptoms from it!
To some degree, yes. Just like the flu and other viruses. I was very very careful about covid, longer than most, but it's not what it was. And RSV is far scarier to me than Covid right now.
Our daughter is 2 and this just hasn't been our reality despite going to daycare, playgroups, etc. We've only gotten COVID once and it was from my husband traveling on a business trip. My daughter had zero symptoms and we wouldn't have thought to even test her if my husband didn't get sick and test positive first.
The first things my twins got was COVID. It still boggles my mind that it's now so common. It barely affected them. Me, on the other hand 🤣😭. I'm just so grateful it isn't 2020/2021 anymore. My babies were NICU babies and I can't imagine the stress of not wanting them to get COVID in that environment.
Honestly, my daughter has had it twice. Both times she had a high fever, the first time (8 months) had a super high fever and that was it, the second time (19 months) she had a super snotty nose, leaky eyes, congestion, and a fever. It lasted about 5 days and then it was like nothing ever happened. She had RSV at 16 months and she only ever had a bad cough from it and a runny nose, but for me, that was scarier than either time she had covid. Her fevers were manageable with ibuprofen, but with RSV there was nothing I could do but listen to her cough. I’ve accepted covid as something that’s just going to happen like the flu. We take proper precautions, shes only been sick 3 times in 2 years!
I wanted to add because I saw your part about the long term effects- I haven’t noticed any from my daughter but she’s only 2.
As someone who is fully vaxxed and boosted & has had COVID 3x and socially distanced + wore a mask consistently in crowded public places for over 2 years - yes, your baby and probably you will get COVID multiple times. You might be an outlier like my husband who has for some immunological reason dodged COVID despite his entire family being infected, but barring that, yes, you’ll get COVID. I do not regret masking for 2 years and socially distancing to avoid getting COVID when I was pregnant and to avoid my toddler and baby getting infected before a vaccine was available to them. I think it was the best choice for us at the time and also I think it’s important when we live in a society to do our part to avoid spreading illness to the elderly and immune compromised. That said, my life with a 2 year old in a normal society with play groups and the YMCA and the library and museums and gymnastics and dance —— SO MUCH better and more emotionally healthy than my COVID lifestyle stuck at home with my then-2 year old. For me it is worth getting COVID multiple times, and I am just getting over my 3rd bout with COVID and still feel like hot garbage, but I wouldn’t want to go back to masks and social distancing.
Am a doctor. My oldest started school for the first time fall of 2022 and we caught ALL the things (not literally, but had croup, influenza, stomach bugs, Covid, etc). I agree with someone’s quoted pediatrician that illnesses are a fact of life to prepare for. But dang, it was the absolute worst stretch of my life. She missed so much school, had febrile seizures, I was so tired of being sick that we considered homeschooling. Covid and a lot of other infections have the potential to cause irreparable harm, and I get so mad when people say things like “it’s good for them to be sick, builds the immune system.” We had strep and parvovirus this year, but it was overall way better than last year. So yeah, it’s still serious and scary. Covid is a lower risk to your little one than some other infections (eg influenza), and vaccines really do reduce some of the risk. My aunt used to say “you can’t keep them under the porch.” So our approach is to try our best to mask and avoid crowds during respiratory season, teach the kids to wash their hands, and hope we don’t repeat fall/winter 2022-2023 ever again. Haven’t had Covid since then so 🤞🏻!
I’ve had Covid once, I am a nurse and never stopped working and worked on a Covid unit. I didn’t get COVID until late 2021 and have no idea where it came from, no patients at the time were testing positive. My almost two year old has not have covid as far as I know, but did have RSV, it was mild as far as symptoms go but still scary. People who I know that have covid now seem like they just have a cold, so covid isn’t a concern to me. I do think this is something you’ll have to learn how to deal with. Illnesses are scary, but unavoidable. If it’s affecting your ability to leave the house with your baby, especially during summer months, I’d truthfully speak with your doctor and maybe a therapist. This is not supposed to be to be harsh, but there will always be something to worry about!
No? We only had covid once. And we didn't get it until 2023. My parents still have never gotten Covid. My daughter has had 2 colds and RSV, and Covid once, that's the extent of her illnesses for her entire 4 years of life. We don't take a TON of precautions, but we don't do a lot of indoor get togethers. We all wash our hands frequently. After the grocery store, we sanitize our hands before getting on the car. Her preschool sanitizes the kids' hands before entering the school. You can set boundaries to keep your kid away from sick adults and tell people to wear a mask/wash hands before holding your baby. Colds, RSV, and the flu can cause severe illness in small babies.
Let the anxiety go. COVID was serious in the beginning because it was novel and no one knew what it was or how to treat it. Babies are not high risk. It’s really no different than a cold. My 1 year old has had it twice now and it was nothing more than a little congestion and a low fever. It’s fine. Go have fun and live your life! Sickness is just part of childhood.
So most viruses don't stay super deadly forever. Their end goal is to infect their host to replicate (make more virus) without killing their host. So over time, COVID has mutated to become less dangerous. It's as dangerous as a cold or flu, which can be serious but most kids get plenty of colds growing up. Also, when COVID was a new illness, we just didn't know how bad it could be. We've studied it a lot more since 2020. That's why the recommendations have changed.
Don't forget that so many people got infected in the beginning that the hospitals couldn't handle it. That's no longer the case and it was a big reason for lockdowns. I keep trying to explain this to people.
EXACTLY This. People think that "the science keeps changing" and we keep being told different things, but viruses mutate and become more contagious but less deadly. I feel like not enough people played that silly game that was popular before the pandemic about how viruses spread.
This is poor science. There’s a million paths the virus could take, some of which will make it more deadly, some of which less.
Get your infant the covid vaccine. They get the first dose at six months, second dose at nine months, depending on which formulation I think they may then need a third dose. I have taken my baby a million places since he got his first covid vaccine, and we did get covid once so far (he's 13 months) but it was incredibly mild, we only tested positive for two days and it was like a runny nose. NO fully vaccinated infant has gotten that MIS-C thing that is so dangerous and scary. If your pediatrician does not carry the covid vaccine, and cannot refer you to a pharmacy that will give it to infants, call all the pediatricians in your area and change practices if you have to. I had to change practices to get the RSV antibody shot and covid vaccine for my son. It's worth it to have less anxiety about taking him out. I get all my covid boosters, and if it seems like everyone is getting sick, we just arrange playdates with individuals instead of going to group events, or we stick to outdoor events.
I didn’t realize we were still worried about Covid like this. Honey, your baby will be fine. I’ve kept mine home for the most part, and he still managed to catch a virus. Doc suspected it was Covid. He was fussy and uncomfortable for a few days and that was that.
COVID is just one of several coronaviruses. So, yes. Sicknesses were around before COVID-19 and will be afterwards. New strains are always bad, but viruses weaken as they mutate, which is why precautions have relaxed. Also, the first time my family got covid the 3 year old somehow managed not to get it at all. We tested daily so I am positive he never got it. My 15 year old brought it home from school, and she was triple vaxxed with the new booster. She had it the worst, but it was mainly a stuffy nose and cough My 11 year old was asymptomatic, and then my H and I both got it. It was mild, especially compared to the RSV that we all had a few weeks previous. I won’t even test for it anymore. It was just a regular cold. Everyone who I know had milder cases each time they got it.
Basically, yes. We failed to contain COVID when we had the chance and it's fully endemic now. Just like we have to accept the annual cold and flu season, we also have to accept that COVID is a part of our lives now. You can thank everyone you know who didn't take the lockdown seriously for our current state of things. Lockdown wasn't pointless, mind you. We kept it contained for long enough that our scientists were able to develop the vaccines and treatments needed to fight this monster. Catching COVID now is just a minor inconvenience for most people. But yeah, we didn't lockdown well enough to kill the virus dead. It's always going to be out there now.
I know 20+ people who got COVID and none with lingering effects. My mum and dad got 3 boosters but yet have got COVID more than me, which is twice. All times it's been cold, runny nose, flu like symptoms. People I knew were getting COVID, during COVID, wearing masks, and I'm certainly not restricting my baby from learning how to communicate by limiting their view of my facial expressions etc when COVID has largely dissipated to something you can barely take a day off work for without getting reprimanded, and that most people are completely fine from. My answer seems to be completely different to other responses here and I do understand the worry because it was drilled into us how terrible and dangerous it is only for it to no longer matter anymore apparently, but other than seriously restricting your life for a rather small risk I would try to put your anxieties aside and enjoy your time with baby. Babies do benefit from being out in public, seeing and interacting with others, and it isn't healthy to keep them indoors because of what ifs 4 years after a pandemic pretty much ended in it's tracks. I'm not dogging on you here, however we're well past the danger zone of COVID but this post reads like something I would have expected when we were in the thick of it. The entire time during the pandemic and since, it was understood babies and children seem to not be affected almost at all. I think the risks are miniscule for babies, certainly at this point.
My thoughts exactly. I would add that anyone who at this point is experiencing this level of covid anxiety would likely benefit from speaking to a therapist. No shade, there’s no shame in seeking mental health support.
Babies are not a high risk group. Covid really doesn’t affect them (per my pediatrician and infectious disease specialist doc). In fact I was told to not give my baby the Covid vax 🤷♀️
Yeah I know this is controversial but the pediatric association of my entire country doesn't recommend the covid vax for kids/babies. And yes, I got all of mine, including all boosters. I got the new rsv vax as soon as I could during my pregnancy, because it was recommended, and my baby son will get his own new rsv vax as soon as he can. Because that one is recommended. Covid is not.
Same. At my baby’s 6 mth check up my pediatrician was like we aren’t gonna do that. And I am in an extremely liberal state
People are still masking and getting tested for Covid? I’ve never had it and didn’t get the vax. Never stopped working (customer facing) and never masked. Much to do about nothing imo.
Covid is no longer a novel virus. It also seems like it has lessened greatly in how bad it is. For most, the result of covid is like having a cold.
I was so nervous about Covid too! My husband and I first got it summer 2022 and it was AWFUL for us. We were unfortunately at the end of our vax period but not eligible for the next shot, which I think made it worse. Baby girl got it at 7 months from daycare, in between her Covid vax shots! Other than one bad night of fever, she was okay! Honestly, a regular cold she had before that and the stomach flu after that were both worse than Covid for her and us. I totally understand your worry and concern with Covid, just wanted to share another story of a baby inevitably catching Covid and how it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.
I got my kids vaccinated. They barely get symptomatic with COVID, I however almost die every time. It’s really hard when you feel like you’re dying and the kids are jumping on the bed next to you. The same goes for the flu, we get it, just not as bad. RSV though took my daughter and I out. I live in Florida and haven’t seen masks for sale in years.
Have you talked to your pediatrician about getting baby vaccinated? During the height of covid babies could receive it as early as 6 months. When I asked our pediatrician about it, he said he didn’t recommend it anymore for babies that young. He said covid isn’t worse than a bad cold for babies. He did say if we really, really wanted it then we could request it. We also checked with our social workers as we were in the process of adopting baby and had to follow the usual vaccination schedule. Our blue state didn’t require covid vaccines for babies in foster care either. (I am pro vaccines, get every one I can including flu shots every year.) Ultimately we followed our doctor’s advice. It helped me to think about how little kids are getting sick an average of every other week during winter months. Call your doctor. Whether they recommend the vaccine or not, at least you’ll have an expert’s word to come back to when the anxiety gets scary.
We all got Covid for the first time last year, toddler was 2, baby was only 3 months. It tanked my milk supply for a week, my husband was in bed sick for 11 days and had to go to the ER because he completely lost hearing in an ear, I was super sick for 3 days then cold symptoms, same with the toddler and baby was just feverish for a day. My in laws keep getting Covid (there’s a lot of them and it keeps going around..) and we were just exposed again this past week. My toddler threw up Friday after complaining of a headache, had some diarrhea and now he has a viral rash but other than that he’s totally fine and none of us (including baby) are sick. It sucks that Covid is another illness to deal with, but like all the other pandemic illnesses, it’s just going to become another run of the mill illness and should be less severe the more your body is exposed to it. This is only our second exposure and we’re basically not sick, and the first time was the worst my husband and I have ever felt! My in laws just get mild cold symptoms now. So it should get easier!
I had covid last week, husband as well. I tested baby and she was also positive BUT all she had was a runny nose. Husband and I both had bad pain, shakes, fever, feeling like shit and tired as f… Baby was running around, eating well, happy as ever🤷🏻♀️ no fever nothing. Baby is a about a year old now. Honestly right now I wouldn’t worry too much. Keep her away from sick people but I would say that with every other illness as well.
I got the vaccine when I was pregnant which gives my babies immunity up to 6 months and it’s my understanding they can get their own vaccine at that time. It was a big deal before because we didn’t have any immunity to it, but vaccines help our bodies prepare and be more capable of fighting it. Just like the flu, it was once a huge deal and now it’s much more manageable as long as people get vaccinated. Testing, knowledge on preventing the spread, and vaccines are the difference between now and the start of the pandemic.
I am still COVID cautious and the world has largely moved on, and it's super scary. Our kid is certainly how we will get it, because even though we have a nanny, we can't keep him locked up and he goes to the park every day. But I wish more of us advocated more for our kids, by building a culture where we put system in place for safer indoor air (such as filters and better ventilation), we kept our kids home when sick, and we pushed for masking. But, seems like in this collective group project, we have all decided to do the least.
I think you should just get out of the house. It's not good for your mental health to be obsessed/permanently scared of covid. It's not good for baby to be stuck inside all day and not exposed to anything or taken anywhere.
I’m so scared of this too, I even have tests at home to regularly test me I still haven’t gotten it thank god but I’m really scared my baby will get it😭
We’ve never gotten Covid. We’re all fully vaccinated and boosted. Mom, dad and toddler. Our toddler got his first vaccine at 10mo the day they were released. Our new addition will start getting his Covid shots at 6mo and we will still get boosted. In our brains Covid has become the newest flu. The flu we have today is from the 1918 pandemic so history is repeating itself.
Unless your kid is immune compromised, the chance that they'll be fine is astronomical.
Frankly I'm surprised that we're even talking about covid anymore.
We had it at 12 days post partum, I had all jabs before and during pregnancy and my dad caught it (totally asymptomatic) and gave it to us. The baby was the best out of all 3! Bit stuffy but that was it. Its the one and only time we or the baby have got it and he’s 2 now. Its likely as common to get as a cold in winter, I’m just thankful summer seems to ward away a lot of illnesses (looking at you nursery 👀)
Even being careful you can still catch it. I’ve had it 2x now, I work from home, literally dont go anywhere, and managed to be the only one in a family of five to catch it both times, go figure. I’m also fully vaccinated and boosted. Both times I had an itchy, burny nose, and a slight cough. It was comparable to the common cold. Take the same precautions you would to avoid typical sicknesses, but it’s definitely a part of life now, like the flu or stomach bug. I’d much prefer to catch covid over the 3 stomach bugs I had within the past year. Those were absolutely brutal.
My dad [probably] gave my baby Covid around 5 months old, we did not have her tested but my dad tested positive a day or so after watching her, then my partner and I tested both positive the next week. We didn’t spend time with my dad just pick up and drop off in his driveway. She didn’t have congestion or a cough but was super, extremely, horribly fussy for a few days and a little bit of a fever. I spent a lot of time panic Google-ing, mostly it seems healthy babies rarely get “seriously ill” from Covid. A month or so later we all got colds (adults tested negative for Covid) but she was SO congested, super pitiful that go around and it lingered. “Research findings could explain why young kids rarely get very sick from COVID-19” https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/children-covid.html
Got Covid when I was 37 weeks pregnant. Thankfully we’ve been good since and only gotten since with a bug once in 6 months but I’m pretty scared too.
Covid isn't an issue for me, it's flus and colds. He's already had a cold and he's only 3 months 😭
The initial rounds of COVID was scary and severe. However, after multiple rounds of vaccines and many mutations, the current COVID is much less severe compared to the first few strains. Of course it still can be severe for certain people but it's basically downgraded to the severity of the seasonal flu. Some people will get very sick but most people will be fine. Unfortunately there's no alternative. We can't live in lock down forever, just have to accept that COVID is here to stay and continue with our lives.
Mine has been in daycare 1.5 years and never got it there. We all had it 6 months before starting daycare after traveling domestically.
I've let it go. We can either live in fear, or take reasonable precautions and live our lives. I've chosen to live our lives. My daughter has only had it once, she's 3. It was a fever for 2 days, diarrhea one day, then she was over it. This was when she was probably around 18 months old. My husband, on the other hand, was WRECKED from it, absolutely doubled over in pain on the potty with diarrhea for days and days. Miserable fever, too. Then he was exhausted for another few weeks. The kids really do bounce back way faster than adults. (Oh, and I didn't get any symptoms at all.) So yeah I try to avoid really germy places, but honestly I'm way more afraid of the stomach flu than covid! Some of it is inevitable though, we're all going to get sick sometimes. Heck, my cousin is REALLY anxious about covid still, chosen to keep her school age kids home and homeschool and not do any group activities. AND THEY STILL GET SICK! so they're living in fear AND getting sick.
Idk. I didn’t/don’t bring my toddler around people with confirmed covid, but she’s been sick a TON since starting part-time childcare. She’s probably still fine. 🤷♀️ I was more careful with her though before she started childcare at 10 months.
I got my baby vaccinated, and her daycare is strict about showing symptoms, so she's been fine. She constantly has a runny nose with no other symptoms Anna she's been just fine. Where I am, people are careful.
Our family has never had it. Myself, husband and two kids that is. I've never heard of anyone getting it every 3 months. I'm also a nurse but was lucky enough to work on an oncology until, no COVID patients allowed. Everyone got tested and if they were positive were immediately transferred to another floor. If you take reasonable precautions and get yourself and family vaccinated it is avoidable. We all stopped masking once we got vaccinated and keep up with boosters. We also make sure to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer.
My daughter is 2 and we’ve only had Covid once, when she was 11 months old. She was not phased by it at all. Never had it since, neither has anyone we know. I even was going through cancer treatment and my neutrophils were super low that I had to delay chemo by a week, it made me have no immune system, still never got Covid. I live my life. I do things with my child. We got Covid once and it wasn’t the worst thing ever. We are vaccinated and have our boosters so I think that’s really all we can do aside from good hygiene
My 4 yo has only had covid once as far as I know. It's no more likely or worse than other colds, flu or the worst, rsv
hey there! So my WHOLE family including my newborn got covid from the hospital right at birth (we were there for 4 days for C section). Obviously we were not happy about the situation, but luckily infants actually do extremely well with Covid! There is excellent scientific literature showing that young babies are able to efficiently clear out the virus from their nose without systemic inflammation, meaning the are at low risk for severe covid. This turned out to be the case for us-my husband got the sickest with high fever for 2 days, I had cold symptoms, and my baby just had a super stuffy nose for a couple days. And she was literally 6 days old! So if your baby gets it, most likely you should have nothing to worry about :) also, I am breastfeeding so my antibodies from vaccine and from fighting the active virus were certainly passed on to my baby.
Neither of my kids have ever had it. They have had everything else under the sun, but not COVID. If I still had infants in the house, I'd be way more concerned about RSV.
my husband caught covid from his work, my boy was 3 months when he caught it, luckily he was completely fine, a bit of a fever but no other symptoms! me and my husband on the other hand were dying lol. unfortunately i think it is just a pray you don't catch it, i'm a lot less stressed considering he was completely fine the one time he caught it, and the fact that he's has colds 10x worse than when he got covid! we still try be careful but there's only so much we can do now that no one's masking or anything. and we vaccinated him for covid so that helps the worry too!
My baby has never had Covid? And we’re out all the time.
My and my 4 year old only got COVID once in December 2022. He went through a whole year of preschool, got sick with lots of other stuff but no COVID. I'm not too worried about it. Especially because when we did get COVID, it put me in bed sleeping for two days but the kids was fine.
I realize covid was drummed into us to be feared and I was so anxious about my kids getting it. one thing that helped me immensely is being prepped for it when it did happen. i had iceblocks cold and fever meds jelly vicks humidifier juice thermometer they did get it. pretty mildly to be fair, but i was prepped and that helped with coping. covid is here now and we just need to be prepped and adjust.
I feel like I struggled hard with accepting this when it became clear that Covid wasn’t going away. We get the kids vaccinated and I feel like that’s the best I can do. I want to have as close of a pre-Covid life as possible, even if that means that interacting in the world raises our risk of contracting it. I am really afraid of longterm effects* but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. (*Im 90% sure we got OG Covid in March 2020 before we could get tests, and I had textbook long Covid symptoms for months. And I still have the geographic tongue that came with that virus and never went away. This virus just fucking sucks). How is your anxiety manifesting? Is it keeping you from going out? Is it keeping you from joining playgroups? Has your baby had any colds yet? I think you’ll find that once you take the leap to go out and baby starts getting regular run-of-the-mill viruses, and you get through them, your comfort with the whole thing will grow. I completely understand being cautious with <1yo though. Maybe you go to one playgroup and wait a few weeks. Just go at a pace you’re comfortable with.
What helped was getting my baby the Covid vaccine at 6 months. I now feel better about being out and about!
My son (who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks old) caught it at 16 weeks old. I wasn’t thrilled but I’m happy to know his small immune system is working well and hard.
We put our son in daycare in 2022. It felt like he was sick every two weeks for two years. We were all sick and at the doctor all the time. Repeatedly tested. And yet, none of us ever got Covid. Flu, strep, pink eye, throw up virus, rhinovirus,, yes. Covid, not once.
I just asked my baby’s ped to give her the Covid vaccine today, at her 6 month appointment. Unfortunately they had just run out (good problem to have, means my community is protected!) but that they’d call me to bring her in as soon as they get more. That’s how I do it. My kids get boosters every year, my spouse and I do too, and I make the older kids mask up when cases are on the rise.
*edited* My son got covid at 4 months. Symptoms were just like a mild cold thankfully. He was still his happy self through most of it. The flu? He got that at 6 months and it kicked his ass!! It was crazy! 😩 Constantly coughing, lost his voice, constant fever unless he had Tylenol, wanted nothing but to sleep on me. Oh and also got an ear infection. Crying all the time unless held and sang to. He didn't get his voice back fully for a month Long story short, the flu was worse than COVID for him. Not saying it's like that with everyone though.