Shawn Johnson Details Son's 'Scary' Experience with RSV That Led to Hospitalization: 'He Couldn't Breathe' (Exclusive)

The former Olympian shares daughter Drew Hazel, 4, and sons Jett James, 2, and Barrett 'Bear' Madison, 10 months, with her husband Andrew East

Shawn Johnson East is taking no chances in protecting her kids from Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) this winter season.

The former Olympic gymnast, 32, recently returned from her family trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she says her kids — daughter Drew Hazel, 4, and sons Jett James, 2, and Barrett 'Bear' Madison, 10 months — "thrived."

When returning to America, it was time for Johnson East to prepare for the dreaded winter virus season. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the athlete shares how she took a proactive approach to keeping her younger son Bear safe from contracting RSV following daughter Drew's previous diagnosis and son Jett's "scary" hospitalization with the virus.

"Jett was 6 months old. He woke up in the middle of the night. I could tell he was coming down with something, but up until that point, I hadn't dealt with this before," she tells PEOPLE. "He couldn't breathe. It was scary and I ended up calling an ambulance for him."

At the hospital, "It was confirmed that he had RSV and that was the first time I learned about it — how it can be really dangerous for kids under the age of 1," she shares. "He responded to treatment beautifully, but at the time, any preventative care was for high-risk babies at birth."

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Related: Shawn Johnson Recounts 'Scariest Incident' with Son Jett, 2, Where He Was 'Unable to Breathe' During Paris Trip

While Jett, wasn't a high-risk baby, Bear "was born in peak RSV season" last December. Johnson East explains that after welcoming her youngest, "I had such trauma from Jett from that, I was so worried. A week after he was born we were getting together for Christmas and we were going to be around a lot of babies, and I was just so scared."

She admits that her stress surrounding Bear and the virus began long before his birth. "I remember when I got pregnant with Bear and they told me the due date. I was really nervous, just because as any toddler mom knows the winter is brutal with illnesses," says Johnson East. "I was just like, 'How do I keep this little guy healthy?' And it was just a big, big conversation for us." 

It was then that the mom of three discovered Sanofi's Beyfortus® injection, a preventative antibody given directly to babies to help prevent serious lung disease caused by RSV for babies under one born during or entering their first RSV season.

After talking to multiple doctors, Johnson East recalls, "Every single one of them was like, 'This is a genius thing for your child given when they were born and their specific make-up and the history of my other kids.' It was just a no-brainer for me."

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"They highly recommended this for my baby," she says of Bear, excitedly adding, "and it's now being offered to not just high-risk babies."

For Johnson East, the injection not only protected her baby against the virus but "it just kind of armed me with more confidence," the concerned mom tells PEOPLE.

She continues, "As a new mom, you want to make sure you're arming your kid with as much protection as they can get, but that's specific and catered to them. So having your conversations with your pediatrician is very, very important."

Going into this next winter season, Johnson East says, "I feel great."

"I'm a huge advocate for my kids to be kids. I don't try to quarantine them. We still go out and have fun. We still go to school and play dates and all these things," she continues. "But it's just about being smart, washing our hands, disinfecting, doing all as much as you can — even though they eat dirt," she jokes.

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