Freaking Out About Taking a Newborn to a Crowded Public Place

I took my kids out the day after they were born, and every day after that, and passed them around to all kinds of people. I was never one for sitting around. It's possible that she could get a cold, but she will get through it. But the likelihood is she will be just fine.

She will be fine. Lots of moms have to pick up the older child at school everyday and have no option but to bring the baby. You are doing great.

I would have left MIL and the baby at home or left them both in the car.
She'll probably be fine but this flu going around is a nasty one and has really hit younger kids and the elderly badly this year.
Freaking out after the fact isn't going to do you any good.

stop freaking out.
really.
take a page from your sensible MIL.
my babies were off and running right out of the gate. grocery stores, service stations, barns and then daycare from a few weeks old. i guess for some staying isolated for 2 months is a reality, but for most of us it's just a lovely fantasy.
your baby will be fine.
khairete
S.

this is your second, right? It'll be just fine. A LONG time ago I took a medical terminology class taught by a nurse. She had a lot of pet peeves and shared them often with us. One was swinging your child around by the arms-she saw a lot of kids in ER with dislocated joints. Another was bottled water, antibacterial soap, and hand sanitizer (relatively newer trends at the time) she swore that in order for our body to build up immunity we need to be exposed to germs. Makes sense, right?
Unless your MIL was spinning the baby around by her arms you're good. Now, don't go taking her to a chicken pox party-but out and about is good for all of us.

Huh? Don't take your kid in public for 2 months? My first was 2 days old when we drove to the airport 2 hours away to pick up my sister. We stopped to eat on the way there and the way back.

Please stop freaking out. You've already done this once so I'm a little shocked at the "first parent syndrome" when it's your second. You know what you did with the first and he survived...breathe. It's fine. Your baby is fine. Your MIL did NOTHING wrong. No one did anything wrong.

Unless your baby is sick or has some valid reason to not be in public at all, she's fine.

Hmm, I don't know. I took my babies to a place full of diseases, bacteria and viruses, when they were only a few days old. And then again at four weeks. And then again at six to eight weeks.
And we kept going.
The pediatrician!!!
Seriously, who stays home? I was at Target and the mall and the grocery store and everywhere else within days.
Unless your baby has an auto immune disease or something, what's the risk?

Was your baby born in a hospital?

Isn't a hospital one of the most germ infested public places?

And the baby is ok?

You need to let the school thing go.

Take normal precautions..wash hands...keep known sick people away...

Congrats on the new baby!

Breathe. DEEP INHALE...BREATHE!!!!

You are freaking out. STOP. Your daughter is FINE. BREATHE...

My oldest son was 6 weeks pre-mature. He was in the NICU for a week after he was born. When he was released from the hospital? We went to the Outback for dinner. He's now 14.

The doctor was cautioning you. Stop freaking out. She will be fine.

Funny how this varies by pediatritian....and experience.
With our first, our ped TOLD us to go out in public immediately. Don't wait, get him outside and live your life.

And then you have your second...and realize that life can't stop for a newborn.

What ridiculous advice.
Keep them away from people that are sick as best you can. Apart from that, life goes on.

Don't let the fear mongers get to you.

Your baby is getting a lot of antibodies through your breast milk. Be aware of the fear mongers and germaphobes.

With my second baby there was no keeping baby at home. I had to go everywhere my three year old went and baby had to go everywhere I went. Practice good hygiene, breastfeed baby and hope that enough people were responsible enough to have themselves and their children vaccinated. Who can put their whole live on hold for two months? I'm sure your MIL had the sense not to let a bunch of kids touch the baby or cough an sneeze on the baby

I took my youngest to the library for story time at 4 days old. You have to keep those older siblings busy. Your baby will be fine. The 2nd one really needs to go with the flow. I can't imagine staying in the house for weeks with an older sibling.

I am just so surprised your pediatrician would give you such outdated advise! You live your life and, for now, baby is along for the ride. Obviously tending to baby's needs (feeding, changing, etc) take precedence, but you live your life. I would have gone insane if I had to stay cooped up for even a couple of days!

On the way home from the hospital we stopped at the grocery store and went out to lunch. When my youngest was born he had to deal with our oldest's schedule. Our lives didn't just stop because he was born. He was just along for the ride.

Look at it this way, your daughter may have been exposed to more germs, but she has also developed more antibodies now. She will be just fine!

Unless your child was born with an immunodeficiency, things will likely be just fine.

Lots of babies are in daycare before they are 2 months old. Isolation for two months simply isn't an option for many people.

Breastfeeding passes along some of your immunity to your infant.

Think about those infant checkups. If any place is a cesspit of germs, it is the waiting room of a clinic. Your kid has already been exposed to dozens of things, just by virtue of her medical care.

Your toddler is also a walking germ heap, and I bet he has shared plenty with his sibling by now.

What's done is done. Don't freak out about something that's now out of your control. Keep an eye out for signs of a cold, etc. Chances are your baby is going to be just fine.

For what it's worth, I took my daughter to Kmart when she was 3 days old. Had to go, had no one to watch her, you do what you gotta do. She didn't get sick. She's now a healthy 12yr old.

There are going to be many, MANY opportunities for you to "freak out" about your children. Try not to. Try to just take each experience as that, simply an experience. Be proactive, certainly, but don't live your life worried about each decision you may or may not have made about your baby.

When did we decide that babies needed to be in a bubble for the first two months? I have heard this more and more lately and I find it silly really. I get there is a flu outbreak in many places, and people in THOSE places need to be a little more cautious, but people are being nuts about it. When I had my first child we lived in UK, which is more relaxed anyways about many things, but I was never told to avoid people. My son was 10 days old his first trip into London, where he sat on Santa's lap at Hamleys toy store (oh the horror and germs!), and then we met with several friends and family members for dinner at a pub full of people. He was fine. My advice would be to relax a little or you will drive yourself mad before they reach adulthood.

My son is 8 and in third grade, we had a baby in October who was full term but a peanut. We had to continue at life if we where going to keep things consistent for my son. I always ask if someone has been sick before they hold and cuddle the baby. If the baby is your average healthy infant going into a school is not going to get them sick. You always have the option of leaving the baby at home for short periods of time between feedings. While not optimal it can be done. As far as going out, just be smart about what you do, wash hands when you get home or before you handle the baby, etc.

It's going to be okay. It's true, some people don't take the newborns out in public until they're months old.

You do realize if you were a working mom you'd be putting your infant in child care next week right? To go back to work? So just let it go.

You're fine. It's not like your home is a sterile "clean room" (no offense) and now she's been out of the bubble. If MIL didn't pass her around or let any kindergarteners kiss her, she is not likely to get sick. I mean you and your husband and son leave the house and come back right? You all bring in anything that is "out there" anyway. You just make sure to clean up before touching her, so as not to "transfer" anything. Sounds like there were not any opportunities for transferring germs.

Next time leave the baby home with your MIL. If MIL is around to babysit, you are very fortunate, so I would let her stay with the baby for short trips like this one. If you brought baby along because you feared you might need to feed her -- if you are breast-feeding, pump and let others learn to feed her (and let her learn to take bottles of breastmilk from others who are not mommy -- it good for her and for you too and helps her bond with her dad and grandparents). Not sure if that applies to you or why she and MIL came with you.

While yes, the baby will be fine, and freaking out does not do anything positive but get you worked up after the fact when you can't change anything, I do think it's good to avoid crowded places and especially to avoid crowds of young kids - for adults as well as infants. I didn't take our daughter anywhere until she was six weeks old and then it was to church, where everyone knew not to come up and be all over her.....Someone noted below that this year there is a flu strain that is different from and worse than previous years, and I know that in our area, heavy colds are rampant right now (nursing homes and some hospitals have announced no-visitor policies). So I would not just dismiss your concerns, but for this ONE outing the odds are low that the baby will get sick since MIL had her the whole time and wasn't letting kids touch her, right? And those kids were moving through the hallway and away, and not lingering to stare and cough over and try to touch the baby. So this outing's over and likely wasn't an issue.

Since you have two young children, put your focus on keeping yourself and the adults who are around those children as healthy as possible -- the likeliest source of illness for your infant is another family member.

I don't think you should waste your energy by "freaking out".

My daughter was born at the end of December and I was out walking within a week and she was with me for all of my errands, shopping, etc. She went on our date night with us a few weeks starting around 3 weeks until we found a sitter we liked for date night.

Our pedi never told us to keep her isolated. That is not possible for many people. We don't drop everything in our regular lives and routines just because there is a newborn!

She is a very healthy 20yr old right now.

You'll have plenty of "freak out" moments in years to come when you teach her to drive, she starts dating, she gets her heart broken, etc. For now, chill out and enjoy your baby.

The reason for keeping newborns out of public places is because at this point your newborn depends on the herd being vaccinated against things to keep her from getting them. She's at a higher risk for things until she starts to get her shots. My main worry would have been for a cold or flu so I probably would have opted to leave mil home with the baby and run up to register quickly on my own.

She's more than a month old, and she wasn't being handled by a bunch of people, just on a bench where people were passing by. She's fine. Your pedi is playing it safe, but you can be secluded from the world. You're doing fine.

First, your baby will be fine. Now a days, pediatricians make that recommendation. The recommendation does not mean something bad will happen to your baby. Pediatricians also say that the baby's immune system is strong when newborn because they still have their moms. The idea of staying out of crowds is to limit exposure to germs. I suggest your son's soon to be school is not a public place. The suggestion is to stay away from crowds where there will be sick people with the possibility of contagious illness such as flu. Schools have rules against sick kids coming to school.
DI'd anyone with a cold hold the baby or sneeze on her? Not likely.

Second why are you freaking out? It happened and there is nothing you can do now. The pediatrician is telling you to be cautious; not to stay home when you have something to do. He recommends staying out of crowds. Crowds are the mall during busy times where you're bumping into other shoppers. Don't take baby to the movies where you're confined with many people.

You're a new mother and new mothers often over react. I understand that. Perhaps it would help you to talk more with the pediatrician about guidelines. Or talk with an experienced mom. You do have a 5 yo. He grew up to 5 with no difficulty. How to care for a baby is not a black and white situations. You keep on living your own day by day life using common sense.

My daughter was 3 weeks early and lost weight soon after birth. I had to take her to the doctor every week for 3 weeks. We would always stop at the store after her appointment and she did just fine. She had her first experience in a restaurant at 3 weeks. She was 2 weeks with her first trip to Walmart. She was born in late November so it was already flu season and she was fine. Don't worry.

I don't know if this will help, but when my LO was 10 days old we had to go to a family funeral. It was December and very cold and nothing bad happened. Then when he was 5 weeks we went to DH's grandma's HUGE birthday party. Nothing bad happened after that either. It's easy to worry, but unless your baby has a special condition that requires seclusion, I think everything will be fine. Good luck with your sweet babies!

Uh...you're being a little crazy ;-)

My youngest was born in January, on a Thursday. We were at a party 2 days later. He stayed in his little car seat thingy the whole time and people oohed and aaahed over him, and a few people held him. All good.

My kids went shopping, to church, and here, there and everywhere from birth. I have 4 kids, and the two oldest were already in school by the time the 3rd was born. There was no way I could have kept my babies from going out, or have prevented their siblings from bringing germs home.

Your baby will be fine. And when she gets her first cold, she'll weather it. Relax.

Ah, the frightening newborn feelings. Don't worry. It is OK. I took my newborns out immediately and the doctor never said otherwise. I had my first at a huge family birthday party when she was 2 days old. All kinds of little kids were kissing her on the face. We live in a VERY conservative area without any anti-vaxers. Most likely all the kids swarming around your baby were vaccinated. Even if not, breast feeding is the most powerful defense against illnesses. It is extremely rare for serious sicknesses to strike newborns and if your baby is sick you will know it and your hospital will be able to help.

But she isn't.

Breathe and relax. Worrying now will do you no good. I see newborns out all the time. Please do not worry. I never heard the 2 month thing. That's a little crazy. I was home alone with mine and had to take them to the store and stuff all the time. You can't be house bound for 2 months??!

I was never told not to take my newborn out. I was out in the supermarket within 2 weeks, and tons of people were at the house when i got out of the car coming home from the hospital.

All those people weren't touching and carrying and breathing on the baby. The baby is breastfed and getting antibodies. And babies, even if they get sick with a cold or flu, rebound quickly. The school requires vaccinations against all the serious stuff (measles, etc.) so the risk of something major is practically nil. There are people "in public" skipping vaccinations for some reason, so I'd steer clear of them in this day and age, but I think the school is okay. But the 2 month cut-off doesn't apply there anyway so have a good talk with the pedi about the vaccination schedule.

It's really okay.

I think you and your husband need to have a talk with MIL and anyone else about what the pediatrician recommends, and figure out some boundaries. What's intuitive for her, based on her preferences and just her experience when your husband was an infant, may not be what today's realities are. But that's going to be a discussion you need to have anyway, about both kids, when it comes to food, discipline, structure, etc. You already have one healthy older child so you know that they flourish despite the risks in life - so try to relax about this baby. You can't go into a cave - you have to have a life.

I took my daughter to an outdoor music festival when she was six weeks old and no harm came to her.

Sorry to tell you that I made the mistake of taking my first out at one month and he ended up with a cold and a stomach "thing". He and I were both messing our diapers at the same time. Yuck! I rued the day I took him out and didn't do it with my younger son until he was 2 months old, and that was to day care because I had to go to work.

I hope very much that your little one won't catch a cold. I also hope that you can keep from taking her out again for a while. Flu season is upon us and it's really important that you don't expose her.

She's probably fine. My daughter was with us at a wrestling tournament when she was 4 days old.

My doctor told me the same with our last baby born 16 1/2 months ago. "Don't take him to public places, schools, outside, etc"...is what she told me. She knew I had 3 other kids in school. My 3rd child was starting pre k and his first day of school started 5 days after my 4th was born. I took him with me and husband anyway to see my son start his first day of pre k. I wasn't missing it. My baby did fine. I bundle him in his car seat and threw a cover over him, enough where he could still breath. I had to walk in and out of the school to pick my son up from pre k and had to bring my baby with me at 6 weeks old when my husband went back to work. Didn't want to but had to. We packed him outside a week old at the soccer field to sign up our other 3 other kids for soccer. He did fine. :)

Did anyone touch her? Probably all is fine