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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
In some reassuring news on the coronavirus front, a new study finds that pregnant<\/a> women with COVID-19<\/a> rarely infect their newborn<\/a>.<\/p>\n That finding suggests that it may not be necessary to separate infected mothers from their infants and that moms can continue to breastfeed, the researchers added.<\/p>\n “Our findings should reassure expectant mothers with COVID-19<\/a> that basic infection-control measures during and after childbirth<\/a>, such as wearing a mask and engaging in breast and hand hygiene when holding or breastfeeding<\/a> a baby, protected newborns from infection in this series,” said researcher Dr. Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman. She’s a professor of women’s health in obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York City.<\/p>\n For the study, the team looked at 101 newborns born to COVID-19<\/a>-positive mothers from March 13 to April 24, 2020.<\/p>\n Hospital personnel maintained basic precautions to prevent infection and kept infants in protective cribs six-feet<\/a> away from the mothers’ beds. Direct breastfeeding<\/a> and skin-to-skin contact with babies<\/a>, however, was encouraged, as long as moms wore masks and washed hands and breasts with soap and water.<\/p>\n “During the pandemic, we continued to do what we normally do to promote bonding and development in healthy newborns, while taking a few extra precautions to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus,” Gyamfi-Bannerman said.<\/p>\n Among the infants, only two tested positive for SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 and they had no symptoms. The researchers couldn’t be sure how the babies<\/a> became infected.<\/p>\n Several groups have recommended that babies of COVID-19<\/a>-infected mothers should be separated from their mothers, the study authors noted in a university news release.<\/p>\n “These recommendations were made in the absence of data on rates of mother-to-newborn<\/a> SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 transmission and are based on experience with mother-newborn transmission of other infectious diseases,” explained researcher Dr. Dani Dumitriu, an assistant professor of pediatrics<\/a> in psychiatry at Columbia.<\/p>\n “But some of the recommendations conflict with what we know about the developmental benefits of early breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact,” Dumitriu added. “Our study shows that these measures may not be necessary for healthy newborns with COVID-positive moms.”<\/p>\n The findings were published online Oct. 12 in JAMA Pediatrics<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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