One day old baby in pub

[Frenchie01]

So family member gave birth to first baby yesterday afternoon, she's a very young mum only 17 , normal delivery but episiotomy, baby good weight healthy. Was discharged home today and a couple of hours later was at the local pub not drinking alcohol just showing baby off and eating a meal , but am I right in thinking a day old baby baby is really too young to be in a pub or anywhere really , also worried she should be resting as obviously will be sore. Other family members have said I'm being old fashioned am I.

It's how it was for you. There's no universal experience

Lol older than me then. Shame my mum not about to. Ask her. Didn't you have to stay in hospital longer then anyway?

No, but it was generally a thing that baby was taken home, not to be isolated in a bubble locked inside, but to be with the immediate family for a short time, before resuming normal routine. I don’t think many stopped at the pub or supermarket on the way home ! It’s not abnormal to want baby to yourself for a bit, to enjoy it- it’s a special time.

10 days for the first, 6 days for the second! A welcome rest! Can’t imagine it now, but it was useful for supporting new mums to learn how to bath baby , breast feed etc.

Totally agree!

This is what I have been trying to say all along regardless of ether decade people gave birth. People getting things twisted and thinking lock yourself away don't go out don't speak to no one.

My first was born in 1993. The 4th in 2002. I very much enjoyed being out and about, from day1. Being indoors would give me cabin fever.

When I left the hospital with my second they were having a new parking system put in, so we walked to my MILs house with our newborn in a pram about a mile away before having lunch with her and then driving home.

In those days it was a ‘domino’ delivery. In and out in hours if possible, so he was about 11 hours old when we left.

Walking is actively encouraged these days to reduce blood clots. Most hospitals have women birthing in compression stockings and then up and about ASAP, including C sections. ‘Laying in’ is fairly antiquated and not considered good practice unless there are medical reasons.

You can go anywhere and do anything with a newborn, socialising is actively encouraged to reduce PND likelihood. You can even swim before first vaccinations nowadays.

It's a special time either way and you can also enjoy it either way. I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had the baby 'to myself' for a bit but others are the opposite.

Hospital must've been better then as they certainly rent restful these days

It was a military hospital, and certainly efficiently run!

Well that's a bit different to the majority

Was that a hospital for baby soldiers? 😁

😁😁😁

My nights in hospital following the birth of all 4 of my children are some of the worst experiences of my life. I was post c section with them all, on a ward where nobody came when I pressed my call button and I was left, post operation with a newborn, exhausted, to fend for myself. Special times indeed.

Because a baby is not a toy, a 1 day old baby is a tiny human being with needs: sleep, a hygienic place for nappy changes, a peaceful surrounding. A pub offers none of that.

Of course it does. Are you imagining somewhere nappy changes would take place on a sticky table top inbetween half drunk pints or something?

where in hospitals is it hygenic for nappy changes? more than in pubs

If a 1 day old baby has a sibling, home isn't going to be peaceful anyway. Hospitals also aren't peaceful.

At a pub, baby can sleep in a pram or in mothers arms. The pub will have a changing area. During an afternoon, it is unlikely to be super busy too.

I didn't say the mum has to stay home, going out is fine but choose locations wisely. Crowded indoor spaces are risky. I took my 4-day old baby to my elder son's birthday party, it was outdoors and kept the baby away from the crowds, but we were out and socialising while minimising the risk of the newborn being infected with anything. A pub, which is usually badly ventilated with stale air, is higher risk. Incidentally, so are most GP clinics with their tightly shut windows so that everyone breathes in the exhaled viral particles of infectious patients... Ventilation is super important!

Babies have to go to crowded indoor spaces all the time. My first 2 were born on a monday so for their 5 day checks we had to take them into hospital on a saturday as the midwives only did home visits mon-fri. Waiting room full of other monday-born newborns with a couple of adults each and all the germs that entails. This was pre-covid so you can bet no-one was hand sanitising or wearing masks. Not much difference to a pub.

The sort of pub serving food on a weekday in the UK can't be assumed to fit the dank, stale aired stereotype either. Especially not on a warm day when people may well have been sitting outside anyway. I was in a similar pub that week and the windows were all open!

There's also no reason to imagine a pub will automatically be crowded either.

I had DC2 in the early hours of the morning and then later on that day had a houseful of visitors I couldn’t escape from that I had to provide coffee and biscuits for. In between the birth and visitors turning up I also had to negotiate central heating repairs and stick the hoover round. I’d rather have gone to the pub too in hindsight

I’d love to know when some people on here last went in a pub 😂. The ideas they have are hilarious.

It’s like their only frame of reference is the ‘Queen Vic’ from EastEnders!

But hospitals should not be badly ventilated! They have a duty for infection control and should be safe spaces, not places where we are put at risk of catching illnesses. We shouldn't have to worry that our newborns will fall ill as a result of a well-baby check.

Speaking of which, here's a petition calling for better infection control through clean air measures in hospitals. Did you know that in Wales (the only UK country tracking this), on 13 April 2025, at least 81% of inpatient Covid cases were the result of hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection? There's plenty of evidence that applying ventilation and HEPA filters massively reduces airborne viral spread in hospitals. It's shocking that nothing is being done to mitigate risk for people visiting hospitals and healthcare settings, who have no choice but to be there.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700304

@AussieManque

so a beer garden would be ok then?