Covid-19-positive women are unlikely to pass on the infection to their newborns during childbirth with proper precautions in place, suggests a study conducted by a group of doctors in New York.

“Our data suggest that perinatal transmission of Covid-19 is unlikely to occur if correct hygiene precautions are undertaken and that allowing neonates to room in with their mothers and direct breastfeeding are safe procedures when paired with effective parental education of infant protective strategies,” the report reads.

The report was based on a study of 120 babies born to mothers who had tested positive for the virus. Samples were collected between March 22 and May 17 from three New York-Presbyterian Hospitals in New York City.

None of the babies whose samples had been collected had tested positive at birth, according to the study. The results were similar two weeks later. Some of the babies had shared a room with their mothers and had been breastfed.

Experts suggested that larger trials were needed to confirm these findings.

The study has been published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

Guidelines for mothers

Guidelines related to contact between Covid-19 positive mothers and newborns have varied from country to country.

For instance, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that mothers should consider temporary separation from the newborn to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to the baby. They can consider expressing breast milk.

The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, in its guidelines, has said that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risk of infection.

Precautions such as wearing a mask and frequent hand-washing were taken while mothers were encouraged to share a room and breastfeed their babies.