I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for MedImmune. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

While anyone you love being hospitalized or seriously ill is scary, I’m not sure that anything quite compares to seeing a baby in your family in the hospital. I have a large family and have visited many people in the hospital but I will never forget visiting my niece when she was hospitalized for RSV at just a few months old. She looked so tiny in the hospital crib-bed. She was on oxygen but I could still see her chest rise and fall with each breath and hear her breathing as well. She recovered from RSV well and was released from the hospital a few days later but that experience will always stick with me. It was terrifying to see her struggling to breathe – and she wasn’t even born premature and didn’t have any other known health problems that would weaken her immune system. Since that experience, I am sure to wash my hands during the fall, winter and early spring in particular. While it’s important to be extra diligent around preemies, there are cases like my niece where they are not thought to be susceptible to severe RSV disease. I believe in being safe instead of sorry when it comes to little ones during RSV season.

Almost all babies develop RSV at least once by the time they turn two. Most full-term, healthy babies only have RSV show up as a mild to moderate “cold”. For preemies or other babies with weaker immune systems it leads to hospitalizations (and is the leading cause of hospitalizations for babies under a year old). For preemies, the risk if being hospitalized for RSV is about double that of a healthy baby. RSV is also responsible for up to 200 deaths per year.

Signs of severe RSV disease:

  • Persistent coughing or wheezing.
  • A blueish color around the mouth or fingernails.
  • Rapid, difficult or gasping breaths
  • Fever (especially a rectal temperature of 104.0 Ferinheight

There is no cure for RSV once it is contracted. As a result, it’s important to focus on prevention. Ways to help prevent RSV:

  • Make sure the members of your family a regularly washing your hands (and visitors, too!)
  • Keep toys, blankets, clothing, etc clean.
  • Avoid crowds (particularly of lots of small children) during RSV season (roughly Nov-March)
  • Never let others smoke around your baby
  • Steer clear of people who are or have recently been sick.

November 17th is world preemie awareness day. It’s a great “excuse” to share and promote information that is beneficial to preemies such as ways to prevent RSV. The infographic below is a great little fact sheet to share to help spread the world about RSV, how common it is and how dangerous it can be for babies.

RSV infographic - important info for moms with babies under age 2 especially preemies

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