Newborn mask wearing

[firstpregnancy1]

I'm currently pregnant and due next week with my first baby!

I have quite a big family who live in various places in the Uk, mostly the south, none in the stricter lockdown areas.

I've been umming and ahhing for a long while about how it's going to look after baby is born and how /when/logistics of family visiting and I've very much been 'let's wait and see'. But that time is ever approaching!

My query isn't whether or not to let family meet the newborn, but rather should I request people wear masks when they're holding him/close by? All of my family and friends who visit are mask wearers in shops etc so no one with any medical exemptions or any other exemptions and I'm sure all would oblige. (Some may oblige whilst I raising their eyebrows or jokily call me precious but would oblige nonetheless as they would respect our choices).

In terms of risk, my partner works in central London and will only be having 2 weeks off work paternity leave before going back to the daily grind of commuting on the train and the tube and then working in a role which is mostly office based but regularly coming into close contact with members of the public in situations which don't allow for social distancing/mask wearing, depending on the circumstances.

So the liklihood is that he will be coming and going from work, in central London, and he won't be wearing a mask around the baby so does that make us a bit hypocritical to then ask others to, as chances are he will be back at work before a lot of our family will have had chance to visit.

For clarity, we wouldn't be breaking the rule of 6, people would be visiting either on their own or with their partner, and nor would it be different visitors every day of the week, were probably talking both sets of grandparents and both sides sibling within the first few weeks and then wider family in dribs and drabs in the following few weeks.

If you're personally choosing not to have visitors for your newborns at all, that's your choice but please dont hound me for our decisions to allow visitors, the query here is about asking relatives to wear masks or not.

Thanks

Daughter had her first a couple of weeks ago. Close family have held the baby but always with a mask on and well washed hands.

It's sensible, not precious.

When your DH gets home from work, shower and clothes change. He should also mask up as much as he can at work - people will understand,

Hope it all goes well!

Just because your husband can't reasonably wear a mask at home constantly, that doesn't mean that others shouldn't. Also, despite the rule of six you are still meant to keep 1m + apart. In essence I would only allow grandparents to hold the baby whilst wearing masks.

But we’re talking about a tiny vulnerable newborn baby @Lockdownseperation ?!

I really don’t get it. They’re the ones we should be trying to protect. I don’t think people realise how vulnerable babies are. I’ve never met anyone with a cold or other contagious illness hold my newborns in pre-Covid times.

I'm due my second soon, in Scotland. We're not allowed to visit indoors at all here and I doubt it will have changed by the time my baby is born

I agree that babies are vulnerable to anything when tiny. My little girl caught a cold at one week old and nearly died. She was in high dependency for 3 days struggling to breathe.
As they get bigger it is really important to see faces, but for those first 6 weeks I'd be cautious.

If the choice was meeting grandchild and wearing a mask or not wearing mask therefore not meeting grandchild, it's a no-brainer

Under 5s are twice as likely to die from Flu than Covid, so I would think you were very precious and a bit bonkers privately. I would wear a mask though.

A mask can protect the baby from flu too and we're now in flu season.
Personally I wouldn't want a tiny newborn even catching a cold if it can be avoided

@3WildOnes but who the hell wants to go through COVID with a new born? How is it bonkers?

How are you dealing with social distancing @firstpregnancy1?

Hands washed too!

There’s no way I would let anyone hold a newborn at this moment in time. Very close family can see baby from a distance outdoors.

We are in a middle of a pandemic not a jolly.

Masks are completely fine. But there should be no touching or holding the baby by visitors.

I've got a 4 week old. We've only let grandparents and aunt and uncle hold the baby and they've all washed hands and worn a mask. No ones complained and even if they did its your baby and you need to do whatever you feel is right in the current circumstances.

There is so much lunacy around.
I haven't had a baby for 17 years now.
But if I had one, I'd be fussy about a PFB (though not fussy enough to insist on anyone wearing a mask to hold them)
Subsequent DC would be taking their chances. And they would be absolutely fine. There's no way I'd be laying down the rules for grandparents, unless the grandparents chose to do this for their own reasons.
I am so very sick of all the Covid hysteria.

FWIW, vipers, I remember my mum washing her hands before she held any of her grandchildren. Because people were a bit sensible Before Covid, too.

There’s no way I would let anyone hold a newborn at this moment in time. Very close family can see baby from a distance outdoors.

We are in a middle of a pandemic not a jolly.

This! They wouldn't even be coming in the house. My friend had a baby just after lockdown and everyone, including grandparents, had to see her through the window or from a distance. Absolutely right.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable request and friends as well as family might even be expecting it. My sister has just become a grandmother (God that makes her sound so old! She's only 55) and she wears a mask.

I might need to brush up on the rules, but I thought the rule of six had been replaced and the latest was that you shouldn’t be socialising with anyone outside your own home now.

@Covert20

But we’re talking about a tiny vulnerable newborn baby *@Lockdownseperation* ?!

I really don’t get it. They’re the ones we should be trying to protect. I don’t think people realise how vulnerable babies are. I’ve never met anyone with a cold or other contagious illness hold my newborns in pre-Covid times.

@Covert20 Sorry I wasn’t clear. I completely agree with you and I’ve been following the guidelines. I haven’t been in someone else house since early March and only in a handful of shop. DH was shielding so we’ve needed to be extra careful.

But judging by most of the comments of here other people are just thinking ‘fuck it. I’m alright and I don’t care about others’. It’s all about people’s rights and nothing about their responsibilities to follow the current guidelines.

@AKissAndASmile

There’s no way I would let anyone hold a newborn at this moment in time. Very close family can see baby from a distance outdoors.

We are in a middle of a pandemic not a jolly.

This! They wouldn't even be coming in the house. My friend had a baby just after lockdown and everyone, including grandparents, had to see her through the window or from a distance. Absolutely right.

Not absolutely right. Absolutely bananas.

New mothers need RL support. They don't need to "show their babies off" through windows. Their babies need to be held and cuddled by the other people who love them. They need to feel them and smell them. The mothers need to know, viscerally, that they are part of something bigger than their own four walls. Anything else is completely shit.

• sorry I meant inside your own home. Or are you meeting people in public places that have distancing procedures in place.

Perfectly reasonable request.

I’m a midwife, we are advising postnatal women to ask visitors to wash hands, not visit if unwell and avoid prolonged contact with newborn.

@Florencex in Scotland and lockdown areas in England no socialising is allowed. Outside of those areas the rule of 6 of no more than 2 households still exists.

Goodness, I too thought you meant putting a mask on your newborn! 😂

No YANBU to ask people to wear masks.

All visitors to any newborn should thoroughly wash their hands.
With Covid 19 I would expect them to wear a wash and have clean clothes.
They must NOT kiss the baby!!