Adopted a baby - meeting family

[ROHnotok]

Hi everyone, I’ve just adopted a one year old baby. We are a week in and it’s going really well so far. Just wondered why people views are on how long before she should meet members of the family. Obviously we are not planning to have anyone in the house for some time but wondering what people’s thoughts are on meeting parents for lunch (with strict instructions that they can’t hold her etc!)

Normally you are not expected to meet family members. Unless your circumstances require it (e.g. foster to adopt). Or do you mean the foster carer family?

Sorry! I clearly misread your message. You mean your own family members. I think ideally you would wait 2-3 weeks before starting to introduce family members gradually and in a relaxed environment. We adopted a 1 year old as well and have waited over a month to start introducing new people, to ensure the baby has an attachment to us.

Let little one settle for a few weeks. Lots of 1:1 time with you. Once you feel happy and ready.. introduce away.

Congratulations on your new arrival.

We introduced our LO to family based on who would we rely on to provide emergency childcare and left some people several months before they meet but we do both come from large families.

We recently adopted a 10 month baby and we waited a month until they met anyone else and then it as while they were in pram for a walk in a local park.
That 1:1 time is so important right now and whilst you should def meet friends/family for coffee etc for a break if you can, from my experience following the advice of limiting visitors for as long as possible is definitely worth following. When we did start we noticed changes in behaviour at bedtime etc so were careful for a while! Even now they are older we notice he gets overwhelmed if we introduce to many new people over a few days...
Best of luck!

We are 11 weeks into placement with a now 16 months old. We started introducing family at about 1.5 weeks in. She handled it brilliant and loved meeting her big cousins. I think it very much depends on the child though.

I’d go carefully, keep baby close to home and to you for a few weeks and then gradual introductions to other people, a walk with the pram is ideal. The problem with lunch is that if they aren’t coping it’s harder to get up and leave, whereas you can always cut a walk short.

Remember your little one has had a huge amount of change in they’re little life, and have a whole new home and new parents to adjust to. Taking it slowly now will pay dividends in the future.