RSV Prevention and Preemie Awareness Day (Nov 17th)

This coming Thursday, November 17th is RSV Prevention and Preemie Awareness day.

Premature babies are any babies that are born prior to 37 Weeks old. RSV is respiratory syncytial virus, it is really easy to spread. The symptoms present themselves as moderate to severe cold symptoms that later has the risk of turning into a lung infection, this can be fatal in all children but especially in premature babies.

RSV and Preemies are something I’m all too familar with, my Mother has had 5 premature babies all who were at great risk for RSV especially my youngest sister Ava, she was born 6 weeks early in February. My new cousin Matthew who was just born a couple of weeks ago, 4 weeks early is also at risk for RSV which means we have to be extra careful when we’re around him.

Let me be clear on one thing though, premature babies are not the only babies that are susceptible to RSV. Mason was born 8 days late and within a week he had caught RSV, but he was born late in January (RSV season in many states) and although we took all the precautions we possibly could have it still didn’t stop him from getting it. In fact most children will contract RSV by the time they turn two, that is really scary to think about. Mason recovered very quickly, his doctors were really impressed with how quickly he “beat it”. I really think the fact that he was exclusively breast fed helped him get better quicker! Despite his quick discovery my doctor informed me that for the next two years of his life he is more likely to catch respiratory diseases than a child who hasn’t had RSV.

Looking back I wish I had known a little more about RSV and it’s prevention. This infographic would have came in very handy:

If you want to learn more about RSV and how you can prevent visit www.RSVProtection.com  and if you feel so inclined share this post or the website on Facebook and Twitter so you can help spread RSV awareness as well!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of MedImmune and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.