Bringing your baby home from hospital is a BIG deal!

So it’s okay to feel hesitant, unsure, overwhelmed, or unexcited by the concept of visitors in the early postpartum period.

From a primitive and survival stand point, really, it’s only YOU that your baby wants and needs ✨

A baby’s first environment is their mother.

A mother is also born.

From my experience as a Midwife/ Maternal and Child Health Nurse and also as a mother, these things are great to keep in mind if you are visiting a family with a new baby.

ATTENTION TO BE PARENTS!!

HAVE THE CONVERSATIONS before baby arrives.

Think who, when, what the visits might look like and be okay to advocate your boundaries with your loved ones. You will never get this time back

• Absolutely no unannounced visitation to the new family
• Contact parents to confirm it is okay to visit on the day
• Take over a meal or two, and coffee!
• Offer to pick up anything the new family needs
• Do not expect to be hosted
• You be the time keeper, keeping your visit short and sweet
• Offer to end the visit if Mum needs to feed, babe unsettled
• Don’t ask for details about the birth/ experience… if the mother/ parent wants to discuss this, let them take the lead
• Don’t expect to have a cuddle. Sit and admire!
• Please ask the parents before taking photos/ social media use
• Absolutely no visiting a new baby or family if unwell
• Good hand hygiene practices
• This seems obvious however it needs to be said. Never kiss a baby or put your fingers in their mouth!
• Tell the parents how well they are doing!

A personal note: My baby was born the week of state wide COVID restrictions lifting. There was all of a sudden a green light for people allowed back into the home. Still, no one met our baby for 9 days as my partner and I had discussed the importance of my toddlers transition to her new sibling 💗 This ‘delay’ allowed so much for me, each member of our family and our new baby. It was heavenly

@calmbirth