Is it possible to protect the baby from her big brother's cold?

[limabean]

Do you try to keep your kids from getting their sibling's cold? My 4yo DS has a nasty fever/cough, and as bad as I feel for him feeling so miserable, I *really* don't want my 4-month-old DD to get it. The sniffles I wouldn't mind her getting, but this is a really yucky cold, and I just know how awful I'd feel watching her tiny little body fight it. At least with DS I can give him sympathy and make him feel better -- DD wouldn't know what was going on, she'd just feel awful and not know why or that it would end soon.

So I've been keeping them separate, washing my hands thoroughly after touching DS or any of his stuff, etc. My DH got the cold too, which sucks but is actually kind of convenient because he can care for DS and I can care for DD without too much cross-contamination. It's been 4 days now and DD and I are still symptom-free -- I'm soooo hoping that we escape this one, but frankly I'm shocked that we've actually evaded it for this long -- I wouldn't have thought it was possible!

So, do you try to avoid spreading illness within the family, or do you just figure it's inevitable and not worry about it?

(Also, as a side-question: If I get the cold, will DD definitely get it? She's exclusively breastfed at this point -- does that mean that she'll get it for sure because she's sharing my bodily fluids, or that she won't get it because she's getting antibodies?)

[Justmee]

I had strep and a bad cold in the last month, ds didn't get either. I would do the best I could to not encourage extra contact, but I don't drive myself nuts. If I tried to keep 4 kids washing hands all day I think I would lose my sanity. The baby is the least likely to get it, she does get immunites from you.

I have noticed that immunites do tend to vary in a family. Dh & I both got strep (him after me), but none of the kids got it (and the girls sleep in my bed, and dh is rarely sleeping in the room w/ us b/c there is no room). So like I said I do the best I can, but live & let live

[ChetMC]

Spreading Sickness

We take reasonable precautions, but we don't stress about it. Our older DD and our second DD both slept with us when our second DD was a baby, and we never kicked the older one out of the family bed when she was sick.

Typically, the exclusively breastfed baby is the least sick person in the house anyway.

[4evermom]

I don't have a baby but we seem to get colds when we aren't getting enough sleep. Dh usually doesn't get sick as often and I think it is because he needs less sleep than ds and I. I usually don't get enough sleep when ds gets sick because he can't sleep so we are both up (like right now!). So I'm expecting to catch this cold of his in a day or two. If I had a baby, I'd make sure I wasn't shortchanging her on naps while a cold was going around. I wouldn't encourage contact between the kids but I wouldn't drive myself crazy.

[LynnS6]

In a word: No. The virus is already in your house. She's been exposed already.

Take obvious normal precautions such as washing your hands after caring for ds, after wiping your own nose, etc. If you get it, she might get a lighter version because you'll have passed on some antibodies already.

Alas, my experience has been that any time ds got sick, dd got sick. Dd also seems more prone to colds in general. She often gets colds that ds doesn't, or worse versions of the same cold.

[Daffodil]

I don't make any special effort to keep the kids from getting each other's colds. I doubt it would work anyway. But when DS was a baby and we all got colds, he would barely be affected. I bet if your baby does get it, it won't be bad.

[limabean]

Thanks for the replies. It makes me feel better to know that even if she gets it, it probably won't be as bad. I feel terrible enough for poor DS coughing like he is, and even my DH, who never misses work, had to stay home yesterday because he felt so miserable.