Family germ exposure issues

beccasmom · Dec 9, 2008

I suspect this topic has come up before, but I am curious about what other families have done.

As background, my daughter Rebecca who is 2 has CF. She is adopted, and there is noone else with CF in our family. Rebecca is not colonized with anything at this point, although she does have severe Pancreatic Insufficiency and alot of GI issues, her lungs are good. She does have a chronic cough and coughs frequently.

My sister just had a baby. The baby is healthy, born on time, breast fed, no issues. The baby will be 3 weeks old at Christmas. IT is my sister's second child. She is a very high strung parent.

She and her husband have told us that we can not come see the baby. They live 3 hours from us but are coming here for Christmas. The whole rest of the family will be here. My sister does not want us to participate in the family Christmas because of Becca's CF and the new baby. She says Becca will contaminate the baby and that since she carries so many bad bugs, it will be very dangerous fot the new baby. She said she would not let us see the baby until it is a year old because the baby will catch something from Becca.

I have talked to our pulmonologist and she said Becca posed no greater risk to the baby than anyone else and not to worry. I told my sister this and she and her husband are still freaking out and now I am the bad guy with the whole family because I selfishly want to participate in a family event and am disregarding the safety of the new baby.

I am concerned that this is setting a precident for how the familly feels about Becca's disease and I do not want Becca to ever feel like she is "dirty" or not good enough because of CF.

Any thoughts?

beccasmom · Dec 9, 2008

I suspect this topic has come up before, but I am curious about what other families have done.

As background, my daughter Rebecca who is 2 has CF. She is adopted, and there is noone else with CF in our family. Rebecca is not colonized with anything at this point, although she does have severe Pancreatic Insufficiency and alot of GI issues, her lungs are good. She does have a chronic cough and coughs frequently.

My sister just had a baby. The baby is healthy, born on time, breast fed, no issues. The baby will be 3 weeks old at Christmas. IT is my sister's second child. She is a very high strung parent.

She and her husband have told us that we can not come see the baby. They live 3 hours from us but are coming here for Christmas. The whole rest of the family will be here. My sister does not want us to participate in the family Christmas because of Becca's CF and the new baby. She says Becca will contaminate the baby and that since she carries so many bad bugs, it will be very dangerous fot the new baby. She said she would not let us see the baby until it is a year old because the baby will catch something from Becca.

I have talked to our pulmonologist and she said Becca posed no greater risk to the baby than anyone else and not to worry. I told my sister this and she and her husband are still freaking out and now I am the bad guy with the whole family because I selfishly want to participate in a family event and am disregarding the safety of the new baby.

I am concerned that this is setting a precident for how the familly feels about Becca's disease and I do not want Becca to ever feel like she is "dirty" or not good enough because of CF.

Any thoughts?

beccasmom · Dec 9, 2008

I suspect this topic has come up before, but I am curious about what other families have done.

As background, my daughter Rebecca who is 2 has CF. She is adopted, and there is noone else with CF in our family. Rebecca is not colonized with anything at this point, although she does have severe Pancreatic Insufficiency and alot of GI issues, her lungs are good. She does have a chronic cough and coughs frequently.

My sister just had a baby. The baby is healthy, born on time, breast fed, no issues. The baby will be 3 weeks old at Christmas. IT is my sister's second child. She is a very high strung parent.

She and her husband have told us that we can not come see the baby. They live 3 hours from us but are coming here for Christmas. The whole rest of the family will be here. My sister does not want us to participate in the family Christmas because of Becca's CF and the new baby. She says Becca will contaminate the baby and that since she carries so many bad bugs, it will be very dangerous fot the new baby. She said she would not let us see the baby until it is a year old because the baby will catch something from Becca.

I have talked to our pulmonologist and she said Becca posed no greater risk to the baby than anyone else and not to worry. I told my sister this and she and her husband are still freaking out and now I am the bad guy with the whole family because I selfishly want to participate in a family event and am disregarding the safety of the new baby.

I am concerned that this is setting a precident for how the familly feels about Becca's disease and I do not want Becca to ever feel like she is "dirty" or not good enough because of CF.

Any thoughts?

beccasmom · Dec 9, 2008

I suspect this topic has come up before, but I am curious about what other families have done.

As background, my daughter Rebecca who is 2 has CF. She is adopted, and there is noone else with CF in our family. Rebecca is not colonized with anything at this point, although she does have severe Pancreatic Insufficiency and alot of GI issues, her lungs are good. She does have a chronic cough and coughs frequently.

My sister just had a baby. The baby is healthy, born on time, breast fed, no issues. The baby will be 3 weeks old at Christmas. IT is my sister's second child. She is a very high strung parent.

She and her husband have told us that we can not come see the baby. They live 3 hours from us but are coming here for Christmas. The whole rest of the family will be here. My sister does not want us to participate in the family Christmas because of Becca's CF and the new baby. She says Becca will contaminate the baby and that since she carries so many bad bugs, it will be very dangerous fot the new baby. She said she would not let us see the baby until it is a year old because the baby will catch something from Becca.

I have talked to our pulmonologist and she said Becca posed no greater risk to the baby than anyone else and not to worry. I told my sister this and she and her husband are still freaking out and now I am the bad guy with the whole family because I selfishly want to participate in a family event and am disregarding the safety of the new baby.

I am concerned that this is setting a precident for how the familly feels about Becca's disease and I do not want Becca to ever feel like she is "dirty" or not good enough because of CF.

Any thoughts?

beccasmom · Dec 9, 2008

I suspect this topic has come up before, but I am curious about what other families have done.
 
 As background, my daughter Rebecca who is 2 has CF. She is adopted, and there is noone else with CF in our family. Rebecca is not colonized with anything at this point, although she does have severe Pancreatic Insufficiency and alot of GI issues, her lungs are good. She does have a chronic cough and coughs frequently.
 
 My sister just had a baby. The baby is healthy, born on time, breast fed, no issues. The baby will be 3 weeks old at Christmas. IT is my sister's second child. She is a very high strung parent.
 
 She and her husband have told us that we can not come see the baby. They live 3 hours from us but are coming here for Christmas. The whole rest of the family will be here. My sister does not want us to participate in the family Christmas because of Becca's CF and the new baby. She says Becca will contaminate the baby and that since she carries so many bad bugs, it will be very dangerous fot the new baby. She said she would not let us see the baby until it is a year old because the baby will catch something from Becca.
 
 I have talked to our pulmonologist and she said Becca posed no greater risk to the baby than anyone else and not to worry. I told my sister this and she and her husband are still freaking out and now I am the bad guy with the whole family because I selfishly want to participate in a family event and am disregarding the safety of the new baby.
 
 I am concerned that this is setting a precident for how the familly feels about Becca's disease and I do not want Becca to ever feel like she is "dirty" or not good enough because of CF.
 
 Any thoughts?

MicheleGazelle · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know what to do about this Christmas, but given that other family members are likely to be a much bigger threat to your child than she is to them, I would tuck this little incident away for future reference, probably respect their wishes, then politely nail their balls to the wall when I need accommodation for my child with cf. If they stand by this standard for her new baby and you respect it, it makes it much harder for them to disregard your wishes in the future when you ask that someone with a cold (or whatever) please accommodate YOU and your child and not come to some family event so you and your child can safely attend.

It may not work but that would likely be my position.

MicheleGazelle · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know what to do about this Christmas, but given that other family members are likely to be a much bigger threat to your child than she is to them, I would tuck this little incident away for future reference, probably respect their wishes, then politely nail their balls to the wall when I need accommodation for my child with cf. If they stand by this standard for her new baby and you respect it, it makes it much harder for them to disregard your wishes in the future when you ask that someone with a cold (or whatever) please accommodate YOU and your child and not come to some family event so you and your child can safely attend.

It may not work but that would likely be my position.

MicheleGazelle · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know what to do about this Christmas, but given that other family members are likely to be a much bigger threat to your child than she is to them, I would tuck this little incident away for future reference, probably respect their wishes, then politely nail their balls to the wall when I need accommodation for my child with cf. If they stand by this standard for her new baby and you respect it, it makes it much harder for them to disregard your wishes in the future when you ask that someone with a cold (or whatever) please accommodate YOU and your child and not come to some family event so you and your child can safely attend.

It may not work but that would likely be my position.

MicheleGazelle · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know what to do about this Christmas, but given that other family members are likely to be a much bigger threat to your child than she is to them, I would tuck this little incident away for future reference, probably respect their wishes, then politely nail their balls to the wall when I need accommodation for my child with cf. If they stand by this standard for her new baby and you respect it, it makes it much harder for them to disregard your wishes in the future when you ask that someone with a cold (or whatever) please accommodate YOU and your child and not come to some family event so you and your child can safely attend.

It may not work but that would likely be my position.

MicheleGazelle · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know what to do about this Christmas, but given that other family members are likely to be a much bigger threat to your child than she is to them, I would tuck this little incident away for future reference, probably respect their wishes, then politely nail their balls to the wall when I need accommodation for my child with cf. If they stand by this standard for her new baby and you respect it, it makes it much harder for them to disregard your wishes in the future when you ask that someone with a cold (or whatever) please accommodate YOU and your child and not come to some family event so you and your child can safely attend.
 
 It may not work but that would likely be my position.

TestifyToLove · Dec 9, 2008

Oh what nonsense. Even if she were colonizing things in her lungs, its not typical bacteria that a normal healthy person would colonize easily in their lungs. And, a breastfed baby has a LOT of immunity coming from their mama.

M is colonizing PA resistent to 2 of the 3 classes of antibiotics currently. There is no way I would consider that he needs to be kept away from his baby brother until the baby is 1 just to keep baby brother healthy. I would be very shocked and surprised if the newborn gets PA from M. PA is not something that easily nor normally stays in the lungs. Normal, healthy lungs have protective measures to keep bacteria from growing there in the first place. Its called cilia and mucous. The mucous encapsulates the bacteria that gets into the lungs and the cilia (hair) move it OUT of the lungs. CF mucous does not work properly, thus it does not encapsulate the bacteria. Because their lungs are then dehydrated, the cilia also do not function normally so they can't move stuff out of there.

And, all of that is pointless since she isn't growing anything in her lungs in the first place right now! If she can't be near the baby, then they'd better not allow anyone to touch the baby. Afterall, there is anywhere from 60-130 strains of bacteria on the hands of the average adult human. Staph aureas not only grows on the hands of EVERY human, but our skin would not function properly without it. I guess since CFers can grow SA in their lungs, it means its a threat to the baby as well. So, nobody touches the baby for the first year or we might expose him to normal, healthy, life giving bacteria that our bodies NEED to be healthy and survive. It is, afterall, a bacteria in our gut that produces the vitamin K we need to clot properly.

Honestly, first of all, she isn't colonizing anything. She has NO bacteria in her lungs, so she has nothing to give the newborn. Second, if what were capable of growing in her lungs were a threat to the baby, then the baby would need to be tested for CF, not kept away from her. Normal, healthy lungs do NOT function like CF lungs. You'd have to deprive the lungs of the salt they need, dehydrate them, have messed up mucous, non-functional hair cells and the list just goes on and on.

A CFer, even one colonizing bacteria in their lungs like M, is not a threat to healthy individuals. WE are a threat to a CFer, because their body cannot fight off infection the way we can.

TestifyToLove · Dec 9, 2008

Oh what nonsense. Even if she were colonizing things in her lungs, its not typical bacteria that a normal healthy person would colonize easily in their lungs. And, a breastfed baby has a LOT of immunity coming from their mama.

M is colonizing PA resistent to 2 of the 3 classes of antibiotics currently. There is no way I would consider that he needs to be kept away from his baby brother until the baby is 1 just to keep baby brother healthy. I would be very shocked and surprised if the newborn gets PA from M. PA is not something that easily nor normally stays in the lungs. Normal, healthy lungs have protective measures to keep bacteria from growing there in the first place. Its called cilia and mucous. The mucous encapsulates the bacteria that gets into the lungs and the cilia (hair) move it OUT of the lungs. CF mucous does not work properly, thus it does not encapsulate the bacteria. Because their lungs are then dehydrated, the cilia also do not function normally so they can't move stuff out of there.

And, all of that is pointless since she isn't growing anything in her lungs in the first place right now! If she can't be near the baby, then they'd better not allow anyone to touch the baby. Afterall, there is anywhere from 60-130 strains of bacteria on the hands of the average adult human. Staph aureas not only grows on the hands of EVERY human, but our skin would not function properly without it. I guess since CFers can grow SA in their lungs, it means its a threat to the baby as well. So, nobody touches the baby for the first year or we might expose him to normal, healthy, life giving bacteria that our bodies NEED to be healthy and survive. It is, afterall, a bacteria in our gut that produces the vitamin K we need to clot properly.

Honestly, first of all, she isn't colonizing anything. She has NO bacteria in her lungs, so she has nothing to give the newborn. Second, if what were capable of growing in her lungs were a threat to the baby, then the baby would need to be tested for CF, not kept away from her. Normal, healthy lungs do NOT function like CF lungs. You'd have to deprive the lungs of the salt they need, dehydrate them, have messed up mucous, non-functional hair cells and the list just goes on and on.

A CFer, even one colonizing bacteria in their lungs like M, is not a threat to healthy individuals. WE are a threat to a CFer, because their body cannot fight off infection the way we can.

TestifyToLove · Dec 9, 2008

Oh what nonsense. Even if she were colonizing things in her lungs, its not typical bacteria that a normal healthy person would colonize easily in their lungs. And, a breastfed baby has a LOT of immunity coming from their mama.

M is colonizing PA resistent to 2 of the 3 classes of antibiotics currently. There is no way I would consider that he needs to be kept away from his baby brother until the baby is 1 just to keep baby brother healthy. I would be very shocked and surprised if the newborn gets PA from M. PA is not something that easily nor normally stays in the lungs. Normal, healthy lungs have protective measures to keep bacteria from growing there in the first place. Its called cilia and mucous. The mucous encapsulates the bacteria that gets into the lungs and the cilia (hair) move it OUT of the lungs. CF mucous does not work properly, thus it does not encapsulate the bacteria. Because their lungs are then dehydrated, the cilia also do not function normally so they can't move stuff out of there.

And, all of that is pointless since she isn't growing anything in her lungs in the first place right now! If she can't be near the baby, then they'd better not allow anyone to touch the baby. Afterall, there is anywhere from 60-130 strains of bacteria on the hands of the average adult human. Staph aureas not only grows on the hands of EVERY human, but our skin would not function properly without it. I guess since CFers can grow SA in their lungs, it means its a threat to the baby as well. So, nobody touches the baby for the first year or we might expose him to normal, healthy, life giving bacteria that our bodies NEED to be healthy and survive. It is, afterall, a bacteria in our gut that produces the vitamin K we need to clot properly.

Honestly, first of all, she isn't colonizing anything. She has NO bacteria in her lungs, so she has nothing to give the newborn. Second, if what were capable of growing in her lungs were a threat to the baby, then the baby would need to be tested for CF, not kept away from her. Normal, healthy lungs do NOT function like CF lungs. You'd have to deprive the lungs of the salt they need, dehydrate them, have messed up mucous, non-functional hair cells and the list just goes on and on.

A CFer, even one colonizing bacteria in their lungs like M, is not a threat to healthy individuals. WE are a threat to a CFer, because their body cannot fight off infection the way we can.

TestifyToLove · Dec 9, 2008

Oh what nonsense. Even if she were colonizing things in her lungs, its not typical bacteria that a normal healthy person would colonize easily in their lungs. And, a breastfed baby has a LOT of immunity coming from their mama.

M is colonizing PA resistent to 2 of the 3 classes of antibiotics currently. There is no way I would consider that he needs to be kept away from his baby brother until the baby is 1 just to keep baby brother healthy. I would be very shocked and surprised if the newborn gets PA from M. PA is not something that easily nor normally stays in the lungs. Normal, healthy lungs have protective measures to keep bacteria from growing there in the first place. Its called cilia and mucous. The mucous encapsulates the bacteria that gets into the lungs and the cilia (hair) move it OUT of the lungs. CF mucous does not work properly, thus it does not encapsulate the bacteria. Because their lungs are then dehydrated, the cilia also do not function normally so they can't move stuff out of there.

And, all of that is pointless since she isn't growing anything in her lungs in the first place right now! If she can't be near the baby, then they'd better not allow anyone to touch the baby. Afterall, there is anywhere from 60-130 strains of bacteria on the hands of the average adult human. Staph aureas not only grows on the hands of EVERY human, but our skin would not function properly without it. I guess since CFers can grow SA in their lungs, it means its a threat to the baby as well. So, nobody touches the baby for the first year or we might expose him to normal, healthy, life giving bacteria that our bodies NEED to be healthy and survive. It is, afterall, a bacteria in our gut that produces the vitamin K we need to clot properly.

Honestly, first of all, she isn't colonizing anything. She has NO bacteria in her lungs, so she has nothing to give the newborn. Second, if what were capable of growing in her lungs were a threat to the baby, then the baby would need to be tested for CF, not kept away from her. Normal, healthy lungs do NOT function like CF lungs. You'd have to deprive the lungs of the salt they need, dehydrate them, have messed up mucous, non-functional hair cells and the list just goes on and on.

A CFer, even one colonizing bacteria in their lungs like M, is not a threat to healthy individuals. WE are a threat to a CFer, because their body cannot fight off infection the way we can.

TestifyToLove · Dec 9, 2008

Oh what nonsense. Even if she were colonizing things in her lungs, its not typical bacteria that a normal healthy person would colonize easily in their lungs. And, a breastfed baby has a LOT of immunity coming from their mama.
 
 M is colonizing PA resistent to 2 of the 3 classes of antibiotics currently. There is no way I would consider that he needs to be kept away from his baby brother until the baby is 1 just to keep baby brother healthy. I would be very shocked and surprised if the newborn gets PA from M. PA is not something that easily nor normally stays in the lungs. Normal, healthy lungs have protective measures to keep bacteria from growing there in the first place. Its called cilia and mucous. The mucous encapsulates the bacteria that gets into the lungs and the cilia (hair) move it OUT of the lungs. CF mucous does not work properly, thus it does not encapsulate the bacteria. Because their lungs are then dehydrated, the cilia also do not function normally so they can't move stuff out of there.
 
 And, all of that is pointless since she isn't growing anything in her lungs in the first place right now! If she can't be near the baby, then they'd better not allow anyone to touch the baby. Afterall, there is anywhere from 60-130 strains of bacteria on the hands of the average adult human. Staph aureas not only grows on the hands of EVERY human, but our skin would not function properly without it. I guess since CFers can grow SA in their lungs, it means its a threat to the baby as well. So, nobody touches the baby for the first year or we might expose him to normal, healthy, life giving bacteria that our bodies NEED to be healthy and survive. It is, afterall, a bacteria in our gut that produces the vitamin K we need to clot properly.
 
 Honestly, first of all, she isn't colonizing anything. She has NO bacteria in her lungs, so she has nothing to give the newborn. Second, if what were capable of growing in her lungs were a threat to the baby, then the baby would need to be tested for CF, not kept away from her. Normal, healthy lungs do NOT function like CF lungs. You'd have to deprive the lungs of the salt they need, dehydrate them, have messed up mucous, non-functional hair cells and the list just goes on and on.
 
 A CFer, even one colonizing bacteria in their lungs like M, is not a threat to healthy individuals. WE are a threat to a CFer, because their body cannot fight off infection the way we can.

Ratatosk · Dec 9, 2008