Parenting

[Erich]

At times it feels the fear of spreading this to my kids is overwhelming.

[Dan S H]

Yes I have the same fear.  It is overwhelming at times.  All you can do is practice excellent hand washing and you should be fine.  You can wear gloves if you have to give baths, but I hear its over kill.

[luvurself16]

I personally wash my hands really well with warm water and soap. Then dry my hands and use sanitizer. Then wash my child. I only kiss my kid on the top of the head. I do butterfly kisses on the cheeks.

[VVK]

How about looking into it a little bit further to address the fears? Where is the HSV infection? What is the mechanism behind it possibly spreading to your child? Personally I would be more concerned about others spreading HSV to my child than spreading it myself, since I know what to avoid.

[Dan S H]

5 hours ago, luvurself16 said:

I personally wash my hands really well with warm water and soap. Then dry my hands and use sanitizer. Then wash my child. I only kiss my kid on the top of the head. I do butterfly kisses on the cheeks.

The chances of passing it to your child are slim to non.  Being sanitary it the best defense.

[Dan S H]

4 hours ago, VVK said:

How about looking into it a little bit further to address the fears? Where is the HSV infection? What is the mechanism behind it possibly spreading to your child? Personally I would be more concerned about others spreading HSV to my child than spreading it myself, since I know what to avoid.

Your right. Its still scary, and I'm worried about my child getting it from someone as well.

[luvurself16]

11 minutes ago, Dan S H said:

The chances of passing it to your child are slim to non.  Being sanitary it the best defense.

That's true but it happens. I rather be safe then sorry. Why would I risk dooming my child to the life of a modern day  leper?

[WilsoInAus]

As 5 billion people have herpes, you are essentially a leper if you don't have it!

[dont quit!17]

I have the same exact fear. My daughter turned one last week and I have yet to kiss her. I haven't kissed my son in over 2 years when I found out I was infected. I also wear gloves when I bathe my children. I go to Costco and buy gloves in bulk for whenever I bathe and or change their diaper. I know it may sound like OCD but I really don't want my kids to get this virus. 

Question: can we spread HSV by giving light kisses on their cheeks? 

[luvurself16]

7 hours ago, WilsoInAus said:

As 5 billion people have herpes, you are essentially a leper if you don't have it!

For oral herpes. Its less stigmatized. I have both. I am a modern day leper and I can honestly say I am happy with the solitude it brings.

[doh!]

3 hours ago, dont quit!17 said:

I have the same exact fear. My daughter turned one last week and I have yet to kiss her. I haven't kissed my son in over 2 years when I found out I was infected. I also wear gloves when I bathe my children. I go to Costco and buy gloves in bulk for whenever I bathe and or change their diaper. I know it may sound like OCD but I really don't want my kids to get this virus. 

Question: can we spread HSV by giving light kisses on their cheeks? 

Wow! That's some serious, unnecessary, baggage you are adding to yourself right there. I feel that you have bought all the stigma bullshit that has been perpetuated over decades onto yourself.

Do you have herpes on your hands? No, you don't. 
Do you have Hsv1 or 2? I don't know your symptoms but if you have Hsv2 on your genitals you are not going to spread it to your children by kissing them. Even if you have Hsv2 on your lips it still does not 'transfer' that readily to other parts of the body, though it can.
If you have Hsv1 you can kiss them on the cheek.
Not around the eyes however-so be sure (but not paranoid) of your aim.

I suggest you read up more about transmission of Hsv. There is plenty of info right here on Honeycomb.
For the purposes of this chat it is transmitted via mucous membranes- genitals, anus, mouth, eyes.
Not skin to skin contact unless there is broken skin (a wound).

[dont quit!17]

4 hours ago, adiebear said:

Wow! That's some serious, unnecessary, baggage you are adding to yourself right there. I feel that you have bought all the stigma bullshit that has been perpetuated over decades onto yourself.

Do you have herpes on your hands? No, you don't. 
Do you have Hsv1 or 2? I don't know your symptoms but if you have Hsv2 on your genitals you are not going to spread it to your children by kissing them. Even if you have Hsv2 on your lips it still does not 'transfer' that readily to other parts of the body, though it can.
If you have Hsv1 you can kiss them on the cheek.
Not around the eyes however-so be sure (but not paranoid) of your aim.

I suggest you read up more about transmission of Hsv. There is plenty of info right here on Honeycomb.
For the purposes of this chat it is transmitted via mucous membranes- genitals, anus, mouth, eyes.
Not skin to skin contact unless there is broken skin (a wound).

I'm mostly asymptomatic. So how do you know if I don't have asymptomatic shedding from the hands? After all I did finger the woman that gave me this disease and I hold my dick every time piss and shower. 

"I don't know your symptoms but if you have Hsv2 on your genitals you are not going to spread it to your children by kissing them. Even if you have Hsv2 on your lips it still does not 'transfer' that readily to other parts of the body, though it can."

Of course this is obvious.

"If you have Hsv1 you can kiss them on the cheek.
Not around the eyes however-so be sure (but not paranoid) of your aim."

I have both and chances are I have both on both areas: genital and mouth.

"I suggest you read up more about transmission of Hsv. There is plenty of info right here on Honeycomb.

For the purposes of this chat it is transmitted via mucous membranes- genitals, anus, mouth, eyes.
Not skin to skin contact unless there is broken skin (a wound)."

How can you say it is not transmitted by skin to skin contact when indeed it is transmitted by skin to skin contact? To clarify the mucous membranes are easier to infect versus the skin on any other part of the body but in fact it is possible to infect skin.

If what you are saying is true please provide me with a study/link if in effect what you are saying correct. 

Call it what you want but I don't want my kids to catch this virus because of me. I'm just being super careful. I'm not sure if you have kids but I have a one and three year old and would do anything to protect them. I appreciate feedback but there is information in HC that can be misleading or sometimes even false. 

[VVK]

1 hour ago, dont quit!17 said:

I'm mostly asymptomatic. So how do you know if I don't have asymptomatic shedding from the hands? After all I did finger the woman that gave me this disease and I hold my dick every time piss and shower

Have you ever seen any symptoms on your hands that may suggest whitlow? What exactly is the purpose of wearing gloves when you bathe or change your children? What's the suspected mechanism by which the HSV (assuming there was any at all on your hands) would be inoculated into your children?

[dont quit!17]

1 hour ago, VVK said:

Have you ever seen any symptoms on your hands that may suggest whitlow? What exactly is the purpose of wearing gloves when you bathe or change your children? What's the suspected mechanism by which the HSV (assuming there was any at all on your hands) would be inoculated into your children?

Maybe its just a bit more sense of security for me as a parent. Plus I work in the medical field and use gloves for just about everything. I'm probably just used to it. But no I haven't actually seen any symptoms on my hands just like I never seen symptoms on my privates. 

[Gamma]

It's been killing me to not feel free to kiss my kiddos for the last while. I've  been showing affection to them in other ways, but I really miss the goodnight kiss on the forehead. I'm doing this for the reason of better safe than sorry. 

[Dan S H]

I kiss my son but not on the lips OE eyes and I actually tuck my lips in when I do.

[VVK]

Transmission requires a number of conditions to be met in order to happen - a significant amount of virus at the point of contact, a susceptible skin surface (mucosal or broken skin), and friction - these are usually not met with the majority of interactions with children. However, if avoiding contact gives you peace of mind, then that's great.

[doh!]

17 hours ago, VVK said:

Transmission requires a number of conditions to be met in order to happen - a significant amount of virus at the point of contact, a susceptible skin surface (mucosal or broken skin), and friction - these are usually not met with the majority of interactions with children. However, if avoiding contact gives you peace of mind, then that's great.

What he said 

[Gamma]

22 hours ago, VVK said:

Transmission requires a number of conditions to be met in order to happen - a significant amount of virus at the point of contact, a susceptible skin surface (mucosal or broken skin), and friction - these are usually not met with the majority of interactions with children. However, if avoiding contact gives you peace of mind, then that's great.

Well, I'm pretty sure that I've got plenty of virus rocking it out at the current moment, so there's one out of three. I'd rather not be the one who did it.

[dont quit!17]

On 4/2/2017 at 11:04 AM, Gamma said:

It's been killing me to not feel free to kiss my kiddos for the last while. I've  been showing affection to them in other ways, but I really miss the goodnight kiss on the forehead. I'm doing this for the reason of better safe than sorry. 

Yes I know exactly how you feel. A small "mistake" could lead to a lifetime of nuisances.