Isolation precautions for newborns and infants may have to be modified from those recommended for adults because 1) usually only a small number of private rooms are available for newborns and infants, and 2) during outbreaks, it is frequently necessary to establish cohorts of newborns and infants. Moreover, a newborn may need to be placed on isolation precautions at delivery because its mother has an infection.

It has often been recommended that infected newborns or those suspected of being infected (regardless of the pathogen and clinical manifestations) should be put in a private room. This recommendation was based on the assumptions that a geographically isolated room was necessary to protect uninfected newborns and that infected newborns would receive closer scrutiny and better care in such a room. Neither of these assumptions is completely correct.

Separate isolation rooms are seldom indicated for newborns with many kinds of infection if the following conditions are met: 1) an adequate number of nursing and medical personnel are on duty and have sufficient time for appropriate handwashing, 2) sufficient space is available for a 4- to 6-foot aisle or area between newborn stations, 3) an adequate number of sinks for handwashing are available in each nursery room or area, and 4) continuing instruction is given to personnel about the mode of transmission of infections. When these criteria are not met, a separate room with handwashing facilities may be indicated.