Your Newborn and Coronavirus (COVID-19)
We want your baby to be safe and healthy. You or a member of your family may get COVID-19 in the next few days or weeks or may be COVID-19 positive now. Anyone can get COVID-19 at any time. Below is information about how to protect your baby in your own home. If we test your baby for COVID-19 in the hospital, a member of the health care team will call you at home with the results.
How do you protect your baby from COVID-19?
Your baby can become very sick with COVID-19. It is important to keep your baby safe from COVID-19. Here are things you can do to protect your baby.
Before Your Baby Goes Home
- Make an appointment with your baby’s pediatrician (doctor) for 1-2 days after discharge from the hospital. Be sure to call the doctor’s office before your baby goes home. Doctor’s offices have reduced (shorter) hours at this time.
- If you or a member of your family is positive for COVID-19 or has symptoms, please tell your baby’s doctor when you make the appointment.
- Bring your baby right home after leaving the hospital. Do not bring your baby to the store or to visit family or friends.
At Home
- People with cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms such as feve+r and cough) should NOT be in your home.
- Do not invite visitors to your home. Instead, use virtual tools like FaceTime, Facebook or Zoom to introduce your baby to family and friends.
- Before touching your baby, you and other caregivers must wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based sanitizer covering all parts of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Make sure that the hand-sanitizer contains 60%-95% alcohol.
- Follow all instructions you receive from the healthcare team.
COVID-19 at Home
- If you tested positive for COVID-19 (even if you are the mother or father), you should stay away at least six (6) feet from your baby until you are healthy and well.
- Anyone in your home could get COVID-19, including a newborn’s mother, father or grandparents.
- Symptoms of COVID-19 often include fever and persistent (lasting) cough. Other symptoms may include body aches, chills, diarrhea, fatigue and loss of taste and/or smell.
- If any person in your home has symptoms of COVID-19 or tests positive for COVID-19, they are contagious (can spread illness to others) if they have symptoms, especially fever and/or persistent (lasting) cough. Even a person with no symptoms can have COVID-19 and be infectious (contagious).
- It is important for people, including a mother or father, with symptoms of COVID-19 or those who test positive to stay at least six (6) feet away from your newborn until they are symptom-free.
- Anyone in your home who has been in contact with (exposed to) someone who is/has been sick with COVID-19 in the past is few weeks should also stay away from your newborn, even if they have no symptoms.
- If someone sick or exposed needs to stay in the same home as your newborn, they should stay in a separate room (quarantine) and wear a face mask whenever they are in shared spaces. They should eat and sleep separately from your newborn. This includes the mother or father, if one or both test positive or show symptoms. When separation is not possible, that person or persons must wear a face mask or cloth face cover over that covers their nose and mouth.
- Everyone in the home should wash hands frequently (often) and before touching or caring for your baby.
- Well family members should keep away from sick family members.
- Persons with symptoms of COVID-19 or who test positive should not do infant care of your baby. If they do, despite this caution, they must wear a face mask or cloth face cover that covers their nose and mouth, and wash hands before touching your baby.
- A mother with COVID-19 or with symptoms should speak to her baby’s doctor before she starts or continues to breastfeed.
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DO
- Make an appointment with your baby’s doctor before your baby goes home. The appointment should be 1-2 days after discharge. Call the hospital if you are unable to get an appointment.
- Keep sick persons away from your newborn.
- Quarantine (keep in a separate location or room) and mask any person living in the home who has symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19. When separation is not possible, a face mask or cloth face mask that covers both the nose and mouth must be worn.
- Disinfect (clean from germs) all surfaces that you touch many times (for example, door knobs, light switches) with a disinfectant spray or wipe.
- Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based sanitizer covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Make sure that it contains 60%-95% alcohol.
DON'T
- Do not let persons who are sick take care of your baby.
- Do not let persons who do not live with you visit your home.
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When should you seek medical attention for your newborn?
Call your baby’s doctor if your baby:
- Has a fever
- Has congestion or respiratory symptoms
- Stops eating or refuses to eat
- Sleeps for long periods between feedings
- Has few or no wet or soiled diapers
- Is hard to wake from sleep
- Has skin that appears yellow in color or any other symptom that concerns you.
Call 911 or bring your baby to the Emergency Department if:
- Your baby is having trouble breathing (shortness of breath)
- You can’t wake your baby from sleep
Stay Up to Date
New facts are coming out every day so please stay up to date. Follow instructions from local and state governments on ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
For the latest information, visit the following websites:
- United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- World Health Organization (WHO):
For tips on how to cope with the stress of parenting a new baby during this time, visit:
- HealthyChildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/crying-colic/Pages/Tips-for-Coping-with-a-New-Baby.aspx
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Mother Baby Unit or the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. We are here to help you.
We are in this together – for safety, for health and for one another.
© NYU Langone Health. All rights reserved. Reviewed for health literacy. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Always follow your health care provider's instructions.
Adapted from CDC.gov Guidelines
Revised 4/17/20