Spread RSV Awareness & Keep Our Babies Healthy #RSVProtection

Before Liam was born, I knew very little about RSV and, although I knew to keep hands clean and babies away from germs, I did not know just how important those things can be. Liam was born 5 weeks early and was in the hospital for two weeks until his lungs had fully developed. During this time, my husband and I were lucky enough to take some classes offered by the hospital, which prepared us for taking our little preemie home with us. One of the things we talked about at length was Respiratory Synctial Virus.

Liam on the day he was born. He was very much at risk for RSV during this time.

What is RSV? 

It is a virus that infects the lungs and most children will catch RSV by the age of two, but 2/3 of moms have never even heard of RSV! However, RSV is especially dangerous for babies and preemies. It is very contagious and can take up to three weeks to fully recover and stop spreading the virus! This is why the doctors kept such a close eye on Liam. Since his lungs were not fully developed and he was on breathing tubes for a few days, he was at a very high risk for contracting RSV from other babies in the NICU area. If he were to get RSV, this could lead to a very serious lung infection and further hospitalization. One of the other preemies had RSV and they had to keep him away from all the other babies and take extra precautions so the other babies did not catch it.

The day we finally brought Liam home sweet home!

Winter time is when RSV is at its peak and children are more at risk for catching it. In Georgia, RSV season typically goes from November until April. This is why we must do what we can to keep our babies and children healthy and germ free, especially when in school. Teachers do what they can to keep sickness in the classroom to a minimum, but some viruses still manage to get in. When Josiah is in school, he often brings home colds and viruses, which eventually pass on to the entire family. There are some great ways to help prevent this from happening and to help prevent RSV, which you can find on the RSV Prevention website and below!

Here are some tips:

1. Keep hands clean! We not only keep antibacterial wipes and gel in our diaper bag, but always go straight to the bathroom for hand washing before we eat and when we get home from being in town or outside playtime. This is such an important tip and we've definitely noticed a difference in viruses in our home since we've started paying more attention to clean hands.

2. Keep baby away from large crowds! We didn't take Liam out anywhere until he was a few weeks old because when you go out in crowds, you never know who is sick, who could be smoking nearby and what other germs are around. We actually bought a breathable mesh cloth to put over Josiah's stroller for when we went walking to keep others from touching him, which was very helpful!

Instead of taking the boys out on the weekends, we invite family over and cookout!

3. Never let people smoke around your baby and children. It is bad for their lungs, health and increases the risk for RSV. Plus, it just stinks! If only my mom knew just how bad smoke was when I was a baby, she never would have smoked around me.

4. Keep toys, bedding, clothing, and touchable items clean! Anything your babies or children touch can potentially have germs attached! This is why we keep antibacterial wipes nearby. My son's school actually sent home a list of items they needed for the classroom and I saw antibacterial wipes on the list. I went straight to the store and bought several containers for them because they can definitely use them on a daily basis to keep the classroom clean.

How do you help prevent RSV? 

For our home, I want to keep everything clean. This means, if Liam and Josiah can possibly get their hands on something, then it needs to be cleaned often! That's why we have a cleaning day once a week. I can go through and even get the kids to help out so they learn good cleaning skills, too. They actually enjoy cleaning day (wonder how long this will last?), so this has been great help for me. Plus, getting them to wash their hands is a must. Since their little hands touch everything in sight, I know they could have germs all over them, so we wash often!

Liam is always happy to wash his hands!

Like I said, before having Liam, I knew very little about RSV, but know that I do know, I feel like it is my mission to help spread the word, encourage other parents to learn about RSV and how they can prevent it in their own homes. Please help spread RSV Awareness and let other parents know what they can do to prevent it!

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of MedImmune and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.