I saw a lady on This Morning the other day, she had never had a coldsore before and when she kissed her newborn baby she infected it and it passed away it was cause she didnt have time to build up antibodys to pass over to the baby.

My question is.... i have suffered from coldsores since i was a baby, i was diagnosed with the herpes simplex virus when i was a baby and when i was a child i got them all the time, it calms when i went into my teens and only broke out at stressful times.

I started getting a sore throat the other day and its just niggling and still feels a little not usual then i noticed im getting it looks like 2 (small at the moment) coldsores on my top lip. Are these dangerous while i am pregnant? i dont really feel justified to go to the docs for a coldsore but because my throat feels a bit unusual im a bit worried it could spread down my throat and infec the baby especially this early?

Can anyone reassure me this is ok and its ok to leave to go away... they normally only last about 3 to 4 days when i dont treat them as nothing seems to work anyway and i cant stand having them creams on my lips.

Thanks in advance xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hiya,

I dont know the answer to this for sure but from what you have said you will have the antibodies to pass onto your LO when he/she is born which would hopefully shield them from this risk. A friend of mine is pregnant with twins and had a couple of cold sores recently and didn't seem too concerned so her doc hadn't warned her against them.

Oh no I never thought about this! I too had a coldsore 2 weeks ago!

I saw that interview on This Morning too, and I was a bit sceptical to be honest. I am sure there are hundreds, if not thousands of women out there who've had coldsores and given birth without problems.

It just seemed a bit sensationalised to me,

I think that woman's issue was that she hadn't suffered from them before and only caught a cold sore a couple of days after delivery so the anti-bodies hadn't passed to the baby, or something like that. She then said she kissed her baby on the mouth and passed the virus on.

She even claimed it didn't occur to the Doctors that it could be the cold sore.

I have quite a lot of faith in our health service, and I am pretty sure that if this was true, we'd all be warned about it.

I would make an appointment to see your Doctor, if nothing other than to put your mind at rest, or even call NHS Direct, they can be really helpful and great at putting your mind at rest.

Take care x

Coldsores during pregnancy is fine. I have had them since I was a child. I swear that every picture day I had them. I have also had a huge one this pregnancy and had them when I was pregnant with my other two children. I dont kiss my kids when I have one and I dont allow them to drink out of my cups when I have one either. Neither of them have ever had a cold sore.

I've got one now too *grumble* so annoying! I think that regardless of if you have them when you're pregnant, if you get one after having the baby don't kiss it on the lips anyway!! That's how I started getting them when I was a small child, because my grandmother had one and kissed me. Would NOT want to pass this on to my child!!

If you have had the virus before you will pass antibodies over to your baby. Herpes is most dangerous during an initial infection especially at the time of birth if you have genital herpes. Speak to your midwife for reassurance xx

Coldsores are fine during pregnancy, genital herpes is a little different. If you've had herpes for a while and get an infection while you are pregnant then it doesn't effect the baby, even if the infection is there when you give birth (there is a slight risk, so try and avoid this if possible) As long as you do not get infected for the first time during your pregnancy then you will be fine, as others have said, you've built up anti-bodies you pass onto your child. If it's you're first infection then you haven't had time to build up anti bodies to pass to your child, so there is a very high risk.

But coldsores are fine. If you need more advice, or are still worried, talk to your GP or midwife, i'm sure they will calm your fears :-)