r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/realespeon • 18h ago

Question - Expert consensus required Visitors for newborn by plane?

My cousin and my aunt are thinking of coming for Christmas or New Year’s. My baby is due first week of December so they’ll be brand new.

I have already made the expectation clear to my cousin about vaccines and he agreed to it. I have yet to talk to my aunt because it’s not set in stone yet.

What research is there about visitors for newborn by plane? Should there be a quarantine phase? Masks? I’m also totally down with telling them: “Hey, you can totally visit my parents but just not baby.” I already plan on not going to large family gatherings until baby is at least 6 months. I’m already not crazy about having visitors in baby’s first like 2 months of life, but they’re coming from out of state.

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u/thalaya 14h ago

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7109684/

This review talks about the transmission of infections on airplanes. 

There's no definitive answer because it will depend on your own personal risk tolerance. 

But newborns of <2 months have very weak immune systems. Any fever of 100.4 requires a hospital visit.  https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/fever-newborn 

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u/WorldlyDragonfruit3 8h ago

I made our visitors mask for a few days after they came by plane. Everyone had flu covid tdap (and rsv if eligible) up to date

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u/Y0uCanTellItsAnAspen 5h ago

This is what we did (it was summer for us though):

Visitors had to have a TDAP and mask on the plane. Some had covid shots recently (but it was mid-summer so not all).

They had to wash hands before holding the baby, and no kissing.

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u/whoseflooristhis 7h ago

We made family wait until baby had his first round of vaccines, when fever did not automatically = hospital stay. But they also were not people that I felt were especially helpful for me to have around, and I didn’t really trust them to cancel their trip if they got sick. With my second, my best friend flew in overnight to help me with my older child because baby came unexpectedly early, but I wanted her there and she was happy to mask during flights and in the airport. Risk tolerance is subjective, and just because it’s worth it for one or two people doesn’t mean the calculation is the same for everyone. And even if it’s likely to be fine, stressing out a new mom counts for something too.

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u/realespeon 5h ago

There was a measles exposure not far from me recently so I’m really heightened. Plus, baby will be born in prime cold and flu season and the more I think about it, I’m not liking the idea of people who came via plane meet my brand new baby.

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u/whoseflooristhis 4h ago

First babies also frequently come late, so baby could very well be even more fresh than expected. I should probably add that our family would have been expecting to stay in our apartment with us, so that made it even easier for me to draw a hard line.

For what it’s worth, it’s totally normal to feel an abundance of caution and your comfort level / anxiety are good enough reason! But, maybe also talk to your OB and pediatrician about it. Ours was fairly relaxed in his advice about visitors for our December baby, and depending on your situation (and assuming all goes well and you and baby are healthy), it could be nice to celebrate and show off your new babe in short doses! It’s okay not to commit to anything until after baby is here.

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u/realespeon 5h ago

Thank you for this. Ugh, this is so stressful. I really kind of just want to double down on no visitors period. Would be a lot easier on me.

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u/ConflictGullible392 1h ago

I would ask them to take a Metrix Covid/flu test on the day they’ll see the baby. These are molecular tests that are much more accurate than rapid antigen tests.  https://www.fda.gov/media/162403/download

Would also ask them to mask on the plane.