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(copied) there are three known ways that lyme disease can be transmitted- via a tick bite, gestational, or through breast milk. in an infected mother, the borrelia burgdorferi spirochete can cross the placental barrier, infecting the fetus with lyme. jones reports that the transmission is simliar to that seen in gestational syphilis cases. in a case study of 102 children with gestational lyme, where the mother was either untreated or partially treated for lyme, 66% reported a difficult pregnancy. 41% breast fed and all the children in the study improved with appropriate antibiotics. some of the most common symptoms of gestational lyme include: hypotonia (floppy baby), irritability (accompanied by impulsivity), cognitive problems including learning disabilities and mood swings, fatigue and lack of stamina, pain, low grade fevers, pallor, sickly, and dark circles under the eyes, arthritis or painful joints, unspecified rashes, GERD and vomiting with coughing, frequent URI and otitis, noise, light and skin sensitivity, eye problems, developmental delays including language and speech problems, and more. about 10% of cases presented with symptoms consistent with the autism spectrum. in one study, pregnant women with lyme who were treated with 2 different antibiotics throughout the duration of their pregnancy had no reported presence of lyme in their babies. 25% of those treated with only 1 antibiotic had children born with lyme and 50% of mothers who were taking no antibiotics had children born with lyme. in a different study, in a mother being treated for her active lyme, 85% of newborns were normal. in those not receiving antibiotics, 33% of neonates were born normal. however, there were many adverse events including miscarriage, stillbirths, perinatal death, congenital anomalies, sepsis or chronic progressive infection. women who also had babesia need to take mepron to help prevent transmission of babesiosis. if born with congenital lyme, children need to be treated immediately to give the best chance of eliminating the infection and reducing the potential for long-term damage. jones states that kids fare best with agressive treatments that last for a sufficient duration. live spirochetes have been isolated from breast milk and nursing women with active lyme need to be treated with appropriate antibiotics in order to prevent disease transmission. many mothers infected with lyme are unaware of their status, and subsequently do not know to seek adequate treatments. lyme symptoms in babies are often misdiagnosed or overlooked, leading to late diagnosis and treatment. the longer the child goes without being appropriately diagnosed, the more severe and complicated the clinical course.