There are few things in life more heartwarming than meeting a newborn baby for the first time, especially if that baby is the son or daughter of a dear friend. But for the parents who have just had a baby, there are also few things that are more stressful and exhausting. The new mom or dad have probably not had more than three consecutive hours of sleep. The mom’s nipples are probably sore and bleeding. And neither have had time to eat a real meal. This post is dedicated to the etiquette of visiting new parents. I hope it doesn’t offend anyone. It shouldn’t. I definitely violated these rules before I had a baby. This is meant to simply help friends understand the needs of a new parent.
1) CLEAN YOUR HANDS: When you arrive for your visit, the first thing you should do is wash your hands and let your friend know that you are washing your hands. You want to give your friend the peace of mind that when you touch his/her new baby, you are doing it with the cleanest possible hands. And ask if there’s any hand sanitizer for you to use. I guarantee there’s probably a couple gallons of it around the house. Newborns have fragile immune systems and you don’t want to be the reason the baby gets sick at such a young age. Believe me, parents keep tabs on who may have made their baby sick— they may resent you forever. This brings me to rule number two:
2) IF YOU’RE SICK DON’T VISIT: This may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people seem to think it’s ok to visit a newborn when they have a cold. Even a minor cold could make the baby sick. So just wait till you are back to full health before you visit.
3) COME EARLY, DON’T STAY TOO LONG: This is probably the most important piece of advice. You probably think your friend wants to have some adult company after spending days alone doing nothing but changing diapers and burping a baby. That’s true. But unless you’re the kind of person that knows how to handle babies and can give mom or dad a break to go shower or sleep, don’t stay for more than an hour. Moms need to do things like breastfeed, or pump milk, or put the baby to sleep in a quiet environment. It’s not easy to do any of these things with friends around. Try not to stay past 6 PM. New moms and dads will be trying to go to sleep as early as possible and they need a little while to get things in order before they can take a snooze ahead of a long night of interrupted sleep.
To read the rest of this post click here.