Protect Your Newborn

By Max Lins, MD, FAAP

Get Your Influenza and TDAP Vaccines

As a pediatrician, one of the most rewarding aspects of my job is meeting parents of newborns at their first health maintenance visit. During that visit I always try to be available to answer any questions related to newborn care and anticipatory guidance. I often get asked about ways to best protect that newly born bundle of joy against diseases.

Newborns can be especially prone to bacteria, viruses and other organisms in the first few weeks to months of life. Their immune system is immature and they rely on passive immunity (mother to baby transfer of immunoglobulins through the placenta and breast milk) to protect against several diseases.

There are several practical steps that you can take as a new mother and father to protect your newborn. You can start by always washing your hands before caring for them. You can also try to avoid taking your newborn to crowded places, especially during the winter season when respiratory viruses are very prominent. Most importantly you can protect yourselves and your other children by making sure you are up to date on your own vaccinations.

It is essential that the siblings of your newborn are up to date on their vaccinations according to the CDC vaccine schedule recommendations. It is particularly important that all children over the age of six months and their adult caregivers receive the annual Influenza vaccine prior to or during the start of the flu season.

One of the vaccines currently recommended for adolescents and those who have close contact with newborns and infants (parents and caregivers) is the new tetanus vaccine (Tdap). This vaccine protects you against tetanus and also boosts your immune system against pertussis or whooping cough. This disease is caused by a bacterium called Bordetella pertussis. It is transmitted through close contact via aerolized droplets. It can cause significant respiratory manifestations in your newborns and infants, many times requiring ICU care.

Pertussis cases have been increasing in the past several years due to the waning immunity of adolescent and adults since childhood immunizations. Many cases of pertussis disease in newborns and infants are transmitted by parents and teenage siblings in the household. For that reason, this vaccine is now included in the vaccination schedule for all children ready to start 6th grade. It is also being strongly recommended by many hospitals to postpartum women in an effort to protect both the mother and her newborn.

If you have a newborn or infant at home, consult your own physician to find out what vaccines you currently need in order to be up to date. Remember, if you protect yourself you protect your baby.