Re: Newborns and public

We had him outside after a week or 2 for walks. He was born in April. I had visiters over and made them wash their hands and use Purell. I followed my doctors recommendation for no public places until 6 weeks. I did take him to visit family and friends.

Re: Newborns and public

Its up to you and what you are comfortable with, I was out and about at about 10 days with my son. He was born in January and I could not wait to get out of the house! I went to babygroups when he was about 4-5 weeks old. It was a lifesaver for me.

Re: Newborns and public

We were very conservative, I did not take her in public for 8 weeks. We did plenty of walks, and I had enough family & friends around who could pick up things for us if we needed something. DH & I would walk into town and he'd stay outside with the baby and I'd go into CVS. It worked well. I wanted to be more safe than sorry, the spinal tap thing really freaked me out as did germs in general.

But I know I'm definitely in the minority though, I'm fine with what others do.

Re: Newborns and public

I dont care for inclosed area'a (stores, homes wiht a lot of people/kids) im all for fresh air so as soon as it gets warm enough to walk around outside- ill be doing that. But i will limit the indoor places we visit, but i also have 2 other children so it will be hard to avoid it entirely.
With my first i was much more anal, my second i was pretty good with as long as everyone washed and it was summer so people didnt get too close.

Re: Newborns and public

my dd was in stores at 1 week old but I did not let anyone touch her

Re: Newborns and public

Luckily I have a great support system and my mom lives upstairs so I can run out and leave her home. I guess I'll be out walking as soon as I can (section) and keeping her home about 4 weeks. That seems reasonable to me.

Thanks for all the input.

Re: Newborns and public

Re: Newborns and public

We didn't start any vaccinations with DD until she was 5 months and we were out and about long before then.
In the very early stages I was careful about hand washing and staying away from sick people but we went about life as usual...shopping, friends houses, out to dinner, etc.

Re: Newborns and public

I had close family & friends visit. Everyone had to wash their hands & I had very little interaction with other children. You can go out - walks, running out to the store, etc. I would keep it to a minimum. They generally get their first shots about 6 weeks.

I had no issue with my son. However, when my 2 week old daughter spiked a fever, she had to go for a spinal tap - a spinal tap that failed SIX times. I had to hold her down in the ER while they did it. She had to spend 4 days in the hospital.

Sure many people will tell you that they had no issues with it. The question you need to ask yourself is do you want to take that risk?

Re: Newborns and public

my ped said 6 weeks but i could not hold out that long so i went for walks around the block etc but if people came to visit I would have them wash their hands even though they probably thought i was a lunatic. but i did not let my neighbors hold her and def not strangers at a store she was always in a car seat so that kind of limited their interaction.

Re: Newborns and public

DD is now 3 wks and I took her to the store the other day !! I have 2 other kids and staying inside for a month isnt too much of an option for me ,especially with really no help