‘Pregnant women prone to infections, must take care’
Are pregnant women more prone to Covid-19?
During pregnancy immunity is lower and these women are more prone to acquire any infection in general. But the Covid-19 virus hasn’t shown any affinity to pregnant women specifically so far.
What precautions should pregnant women take during the lockdown?
Women should follow every precaution advocated like frequently washing hands, sanitising hands, avoiding touching the nose, mouth and eyes, coughing and sneezing into the elbow or a tissue, social distancing and staying at home, wearing a mask while stepping out of the house for any reason.
At home, pregnant women should remember to avoid strenuous work, have a keen watch on the baby movements, eat healthy, nutritious food and take the prescribed medications regularly.
In the current situation pregnant women are under stress. What can they do to help themselves?
Stress management is the need of the hour as society is under deep stress. We must remember that thoughts and words spoken by the mother reach the baby in the womb. Meditation, prenatal yoga, spending time with loved ones, watching and reading material that is pleasant and unrelated to the tense situation outside will help them imbibe positivity and cope with the pressure of the situation.
Any precautions to be followed by women after delivery?
All post natal women should breastfeed the babies as many immune factors are transferred from mother to child through breast milk. Mother should sanitise hands, wash the breast with soap and water just prior to feeding the baby and may have a mask on throughout the time.
Of special mention is the fact that masks must never be applied to a newborn under any circumstance.
If a woman is Covid-19 positive, does it pass on from her to the baby in the womb?
Available data on Coronavirus is limited to addressing the question precisely but the good news is that so far no case of vertical transmission from mother to baby has been reported. This can be said because Coronavirus could not be isolated in infected patients from neither the placenta nor the amniotic fluid. All the neonates who have turned positive have it acquired from person to person transmission.
If a woman becomes Covid positive can she breastfeed her baby?
Breastfeeding in Covid positive mothers can be continued because breast milk has several immune factors that would protect the baby from acquiring many infections including Covid-19 and thankfully so far the virus hasn’t been isolated from breast milk in them. But the positive mother should be in isolation and the baby should be with a healthy caretaker till the mother turns negative. The mother should express breast milk and hand it over to the caretaker of the baby to feed.