“Don’t kiss your newborn relative” sounds like a pretty harsh piece of advice, but according to doctor Karan Rajan, it’s got a strong scientific basis.
In a recent TikTok, the doctor stitched a video of an aunt who put clingfilm around her mouth before giving her sister’s child a smooch on the forehead.
“You’ll be shocked how many people don’t know this, and this information is massively important” he explained.
“If you own a tiny human or regularly come into contact with one,” he said, there are “rules of baby visiting club”.
Which are?
Dr. Rajan says most of us know to wash our hands before touching the child.
But he adds, “do not kiss a newborn unless you’re their parent or main carer”.
Even then, he says you should refrain from giving them a peck on the forehead if you’re infected or don’t feel well.
“This includes active cold sores, diarrhoea and vomiting illness,” he shared.
Newborns’ immune systems are “undergoing a software update”, but are very immature and have far fewer defences against illness than ours do, the doctor explained.
“Also, their blood-brain barrier isn’t fully developed, so even infections that cause mild symptoms in older children and adults like the common cold can be life-threatening for newborns.”
The advice may be extra-useful during RSV season.
Newborn babies’ immune systems get enough strengthening through microbes shared via things like breast milk and their environment, he adds, so “they don’t need to be exposed to potentially pathogenic viruses and bacteria” via kisses.
When can I kiss babies?
Friends and family should hold off for two to three months, Dr. Rajan explained.
That gives their immune systems time to strengthen.
People in the comments of Dr Rajan’s video seemed to agree with his message.
“I haaaaaate to see this!!!” a neonatal nurse said.
“As a midwife, THANK YOU!!” another TikToker wrote.
“I’ve had a strict no kissing rule for both my boys! It upset older relatives but they are my babies and my rules,” yet another app user shared.