new york contrary to the previous findings the researchers now claim that mothers with covid19 infection are unlikely to pass the virus to their newborn if correct hygiene precautions are observedthe study published in the lancet child adolescent health journal examined 120 babies born to mothers with covid19 infection found no cases of transmission of the virus during childbirth or after two weeks of breastfeeding and skintoskin contactthe findings suggest that mothers with covid19 infection can breastfeed and stay in the same room as their newborn safely if they use appropriate face coverings and follow infection control procedureswe know that skintoskin contact and breastfeeding are important both for motherinfant bonding and for longterm child health said study author patricia delamora from the newyorkpresbyterian komansky childrens hospital usour findings suggest that babies born to mothers with covid19 infection can still benefit from these safely if appropriate infection control measures are followed delamora addedthe latest study observed outcomes from 120 babies born to 116 mothers at three hospitals in new york city between march 22 and may 17 2020all of the babies were allowed to share a room with their mothers and breastfeed if their mothers were well enough the babies were kept in enclosed cribs six feet apart except during feedingmothers were required to wear surgical masks while handling their babies and followed frequent hand and breast washing proceduresall of the babies underwent a pcr test from a nasal swab within the first 24 hours of birth and none tested positive for covid19followup data was available for 82 babies after five to seven days of life of these the vast majority had been sharing a room with their mothers 83 per cent and three quarters were still breastfeeding 78 per centa total of 79 babies were tested for the sarscov2 virus again after 57 days and 72 babies received a further test after two weeks of birththe findings showed that none of the results were positive and none of the babies showed symptoms of covid19 at any timefiftythree babies underwent a remote checkup by video conferencing after one month of birth all of them continued to be clinically well and were growing appropriately the study saidhowever the researchers highlight that the sample size in the study is small to draw firm conclusions and larger studies may be neededearlier a case study published in the pediatric infectious disease journal provided evidence of covid19 transmission from mother to infant