Tips for visitors with newborn baby?

[mangolover]

Done to death I'm sure. We're having a baby next week (elcs).
How have people managed family & friends visiting?

What's worked really well?
How have people managed pushy or selfish family members whilst keeping the peace?

How can you politely say when enough is enough?

What did people find useful or worked well?

Don't really want the stress as it's our 4th but people are pushy already and I didn't think it would be like that this time. The last thing I want is any family drama.

It's always a minefield & personal choice. I had visitors too soon the first time & was actually really unwell. This time first visitors were after the midwife visit when I got home. That was my parents & they stayed for a couple of hours. In general I was knackered so only could do a couple of hours as I wanted to then get back to bed & focus on establishing feeding.
That said, you will always have someone who will insist on staying the whole day which my MiL did. In that case I just took myself & DD up to bed after a couple of hours as
We were having feeding issues & needed some time out.
My advice would be to not make any firm plans before & tell everyone that you will contact them after the birth to arrange visits as you need to see how your recovery is going.

Whoever’s side of the family is being a pain, that person (you/DH) needs to quietly tell them that it’s been a difficult day/night/whatever and while you can’t wait to see them again soon, mum and baby need quiet time now.

My first baby is 7 weeks old and this really caused me a lot of worry in pregnancy. My dad has told me he’d booked the whole of January off work and I had visions of him coming to stay for weeks as soon as baby was born! In fact no one was pushy and my worries were for nothing, everyone was understanding that we wouldn’t want a crowd and we didn’t have any awkward conversations asking people to leave. Rather than worry, just wait and see, people might surprise you. Good luck!

How have people handled visitors that want to make themselves comfortable and stay for ages?

How have people handled visitors that want to make themselves comfortable and stay for ages?

"It's been so lovely to see you but mum and baby need a rest now. Let's make a time for next week." And hold up coat if need be.