When you brought baby home, how did you handle visitors?

[wish4baby]

Hi, I'm back with another question
So we are sure baby will be here before 36 weeks, best case senario at 36+0. Specialist is thinking it will be more like 34, best case, with steroid shots, probably sooner.

This means baby boy will be here middle - end of September, then the holidays are shortly after...which means visitors/family.

What are/were your "rules" once y'all were home? Same as any newborn, or extra cautious? Especially considering the flu season/cold weather? I'm hoping the doctors will also give us some ideas on how we'd proceed, right?

I am thinking that I am going to want to snuggle up in my house & not leave at all (lol) until the warmer weather, and the sick season is over.

 

[jjbubbles28]

My baby was born at 35 weeks and spent 6 days in the NICU due to a heart arrhythmia and jaundice. How did I handle visitors? We said NOONE can come over besides my mother ( for 4 days) for an entire month. Not anyone. It was way too scary for him to get sick and have to be hospitalized. He was only a little over 5 pounds so I wasnt taking any chances.

 

[Mrs W 11]

My lo was born at 35 weeks and spent 11 days in nicu learning how to breastfeed. We've had some visitors although because we don't live near any friends or family they ve been spread out. If anyone was unwell I'd tell them not to come and we ask people to wash hands before they hold him. He was also just over 5lbs and hospital didn't give us any guidelines but I'm assuming if he was at any huge risk he'd still be in hospital.

Do what you feel though. If you don't want visitors, ask people to plan to come once he's term. It's your baby, your choice.

 

[wish4baby]

Thanks y'all! I guess we will just wait and see how it goes...

 

[sethsmummy]

my son was a 36 weeker, 6lb 8oz, spent 3 days in nicu for iv antibiotics and jaundice treatment. we said nobody but close family.. my parents came and visited while i was still in hospital, my sister came and brought her elder two girls. sister brought me home and we said nobody at all was allowed to visit for 2 weeks. he ended up being admitted to PICU at 12 days old as he caught RSV postive bronchiolitis.

so i would say air on the side of extreme caution especially if they are very early.

 

[wish4baby]

Sethsmummy, that's terrible! I'm so sorry! It's my biggest fear. My youngest caught the flu at 6 weeks old, from her older sibs. I had to take her to the ER for her fever (only symptom) & they sent her home, even though she tested +. I was just supposed to watch her, breastfeed constantly and bring her back if she got worse. It never turned into anything, thank God, but had she been premature or had lung issues, it could of been really bad.
Yeah, I am already getting all protective and making a plan.

We have tdap shot boosters for me, DH & my parents scheduled for next week (whooping cough).
And we NEVER do flu shots, but I think we all are, kids too - as soon as they are out. My parents live down the street, and my mom doesn't work, so she will be over every day to help out.

My 2 year old is getting another DTAP shot (due anyways) and we are getting her the chicken pox shot tomorrow (previously declined, but I caught it at 4 y/o and gave it to my newborn brother - who was a healthy, 10.5 pound baby and he almost died from it).

I also got a ton of hand soap & hand sanitizers, lol. I want the kids in the habit of walking in & cleaning their hands (and anyone else who enters). Once school starts, I may literally have them walk in and go straight to shower! Housekeeper is also scheduled every Monday with instructions to disinfect

I will keep my woven wrap handy & snuggle him in tightly to ward off unwanted people getting close to him lol

No one except us & my parents will hold or care for baby until after the winter. I have no problem saying no you can't hold him, he's hungry/fussy/sleepy, etc.
Except - Around Christmas, my in laws MAY come up, but I'll just have to do the clean routine & keep him covered in the wrap as much as possible (while being polite of course!)

We will not be traveling 5+ hrs, as we normally do, to visit my extended family of 50+ OR my husband's immediate family (they are invited up constantly, doubt they will come but we'll see). They won't be up for the birth, their choice - they didn't even meet our 2 y/o until her first Christmas, when we went down - she was born in March lol

 

[sethsmummy]

Rohan caught it from his brothers too even though we tried to keep them completely seperate. I asked the health visitor daily about his snot and mild cough and she said it was fine just a little cold. next day he stopped breathing. I was always quite blazey about colds etc before this because i never know how much of an effect it could have on such a little baby (my eldest was tiny and got a cold as a newborn but didnt end up like this). I can honestly tell you when we finally got home again at 5 weeks i was neurotic! nobody was allowed within an inch of him, i had a mesh cover and a full cosey toes for my pram to stop people touching him. I also had the hand sanitiser, i was told i was being silly by family but i wasnt taking any chances. hes had a lot of issues since and i dont allow anyone near him if they are ill or have been in the last few days.

Your plan sounds amazing hun! I dont think we will ever be able to stop all bugs but we can take precautions against as much as we can. I also love Dettol spray that you can spray on literally everything and it kills bugs

 

[xTink24x]

I hasn't eldest at 34 weeks home next day and youngest at 31 weeks in nicu for 10 weeks we were advised to have visitors and build up baby's immune system but obviously if they are unwell then not to visit xx

 

[Kiwiberry]

I did not have any visitors other than the people who lived with us as well as take her outside for the first two months.

 

[Lil_Pixie]

My daughter was born at 33 weeks. She developed septicaemia and was in nicu for 13 days and discharged at 35 weeks.

Tbh we chose to treat her like any other newborn. She had no active issues at discharge and she has a 4 year old brother so no use trying to keep her seperated. We had visitors the day she came home. In fact she went straight from hospital to school to pick Xander up.

For a baby who's home on oxygen or discharged with any issues we would have taken more caution but she came home healthy so we treated her like a healthy baby.

 

[Kiwiberry]

I think it has A LOT to do with how early they are. When my 27 weeker came home they warned us about exposure. With my 34 weeker however it was never brought up. By they I mean the NICU.

 

[Lil_Pixie]

^^ yep no one mentioned anything when I had my 33 weeker

 

[PinkPokaDots]

We treated my 34weeker- 5lbs- (6 days in NICU) like any other newborn. We didn't want to coddle him too much as we needed his immune system to build since he was starting daycare at 6 weeks old. He was born 30 July. Started daycare mid September (start of flu season). He didn't really get sick until he was 4 months, and then he was sick like every other week. It was miserable, but there wasn't much we could do about it. Once he was old enough to get his flu shot he stopped being sick all the time, and then flu season ended and he hasn't been sick in months. Im hoping this flu season is easier since he has already been exposed to daycare

 

[wish4baby]

Well, my baby boy was born at exactly 36 weeks (after 2 weeks of me being in the hospital for bed rest and monitoring). He was a great 6 pounds 10 oz and perfectly healthy - he did have low glucose a couple times but they just gave him some formula and stuck his heal constantly. He's now 2 weeks old and BF like a champ (with a nipple shield).

But as for keeping him "unexposed", I guess it's more out of my control than I thought LOL...the night we brought him home my 2 Y/O started that barking cough indicative of croup took her straight in to the pedi and got meds, but of course the virus went to 2 of the older kids as well! I've been unbelievably viligant about hand washing and separating the baby (my hands are actually peeling from being washed and sanitized so much!) but the baby has stayed healthy so far!
I guess the least of my concerns now visitors, it's the siblings!!! Luckily though we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I think it's all past us now!