THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS UPDATES GUIDANCE ON CARE OF NEWBORNS TO MOTHERS WITH COVID-19

​The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released updated guidance for the care of newborns to mothers with COVID-19, finding that evidence now suggests that babies are at low risk of becoming infected when they remain in-room with the mother after birth if infection control practices are used. This marks a change from the initial AAP guidance, which recommended the temporary separation of newborn infants from infected mothers.

Experts based the cautious approach on the limited amount of information available in April, when the initial guidance was first written. The early research came from China, where the universal protocol was to immediately separate all newborn infants from infected mothers and isolate them for 14 days.

The new interim guidance, provided in an FAQ format, can be found at the link below.