when is it ok to take a newborn out the house?

[NattyTurkeyAndEggnog]

i had a conversation with my friend today, who said that she doesnt take her new babies out of the house until they are 2 weeks old, and that she was shocked at how early i take mine out.
no one told me that you are "not allowed" to take a baby out of the house in the first 2 weeks, i took mine out at 3 days, and 2 days, and plan to take my baby due in july out at around the same age.
im talking trips to supermarket, or quick trip to the park for DS when i had DD as he was going stir crazy in the house.

so does anyone know if there is actually i "proper" time to take a baby out of its house?

er, you can take them out as soon as their born, why not? as long as they are warm, they won't even notice, surely!

My goodness, I would go stir crazy indoors. WIth dd I was in hospital for 3 days but was out and about every day when I got home. WIth ds I was out after 12 hour and was up and out the next day. Both were summer babies though, and I do think that probably makes a difference.

don't know if there is a proper time, i took my ds out at 3 days- back to hospital and then not again til 5 days and i took my dd out at 2 days

most babies are out on day one or 2 in their rip home from hospital, and I don't think short trips out are any different to that.
But then I would have gone nuts if I stayed in the house for 2 weeks

no idea, i just took mine out when i felt ready myself, they were definitely less than 2 weeks old though, in fact dd2 was 3 days old when we flew back from ireland with her (she was born there by mistake )

you can take it out whenever you like.

I took DS out after 4 days. I was going mad. The MW called round while I was out (mum was home) and did seem a bit that I was out and about though.

yeah both of mine were summers babies, and so was one of my friends, the other was born in jan.
i can understand it if its really cold or something, but not at all for 2 weeks? i suppose luxuary for ppl who have someone to do shopping for them!!

DS is 9 tomorrow. I had him the Fri night, and on the Monday we took him into DH's office to show him off, before buying him a CHristmas present (he was early and being my PFB I wanted to buy him something!) So we went out at 3 days old - would have done it sooner if not been at the weekend!

I think in days of yore, it was traditional to keep new babies out of general circulation for a few weeks. Just to reduce the chances of coming across some nasty bugs I guess. If said baby is breastfed, theoretically s/he should be covered for that, but even so, I left it a few weeks before taking the DCs to crowded places.

I suppose it would depend on the time of year, in winter, with all the sneezes and snot flying about, probably less desirable to take your LO into crowds of people whilst still really young.

Well thank god im not the only one!
i was begining to feel like a really irrisponsible parent for putting my baby at some sort of risk.
i am pleased because it will be summer, and i wouldnt want to keep my other 2 DC coped up in the house all day for 2 weeks.. my god!

My baby was 3 weeks prem and after being in neonatal, we were both transferred to a special ward that makes sure everything is ok before discharging you.

Anyway this ward was full of prem babies and babies that had needed some extra help after birth and their mothers. They encouraged most of us to take the babies out of the hospital for a walk so we as mums didn't go stir crazy. They even had a pram in the ward we shared for such purposes.

My baby was 3 days old when they encouraged me to go for a walk and have a coffee somewhere. So if it is good enough advice from specialist neonatal nurses then I reckon it must be absolutely fine.

You can take them out as soon as you want.
I took my DC's out at 3 and 4 days. In fact I was in John Lewis getting DS's hand and foot prints done when he was 5 days old.
If you're worried about the baby catching a bug etc I personally think you have more chance of avoiding that if you dont play 'pass the parcel' with the baby when people visit you. I mean how many people actually wash their hands before handling a newborn....not many.

bansee, that is a great post, thank you xx

Well ds2 was born at 07.30. At 10.30 hsopital told me I could go home if I wanted ( I had already told them I wanted home as soon as possible)

Had to wait until 11.30 before dh got back to hospital with ds1, then we went home.

So he was outside 4 hours after he was born, and out and about most days after that.

My ds was born on saturday at 12pm i was home by 6pm (same day) i walked with dp, ds and dog to mil about half hour away on sunday morning. My mum and mw went loopy with me about wind taking his breath away??? he was in a proper pram laid down with raincover on!!

so my ds was less than 24 hours old and was fine as was i! Although op is your friend worried about bugs and nasties? I was obbessed with hand washing, nobody was allowed to touch him unless they had washed their hands!

we were out of hosp after 2 days then out and about every day. at 11 days old dh went back to work and me and dd had to go to horses every day (november) thank god for snowsuits!

both mine were winter babies (in cold Ireland) and we were wrapped up and out and about at day 10. Would have been out at day 2 or 3 if they had not both been CS.

DS was a home birth and the GP was supposed to do a home visit for his newborn check but called to say she was running late, could we go to the surgery instead? So he was out at 27hrs old, in January.

As there isn't an underground passage from the hospital to my house, I took DS outside at 7 days when we were (finally) discharged. We went to the supermarket that afternoon, and for a walk, a couple of miles, the next day. It was warm Septmember though, but I was stir crazy after a week in hopsital and nothing would have stopped me going out. The amount I went out, and what I did was limited only by CS recovery.

VOTE WILF

Dd was 2 days old when I had to go to Wilkinsons!

Ds was also 2 days old when I had to take dd to a birthday party at McDonalds! Even bigger

Once they're out, they're out, I reckon

My cousin has me beat, admittedly. She had her youngest at 9am & was down the pub, with baby, by early afternoon...

(OK, her mum runs the village pub & it was a brief drop in on the way home from hospital, but still, good effort there I feel.)

Both of mine had been to the pub by the time they were a week old. DS was only 2 days old when we popped in for a warming drink on the way back from the park.

I had a cs with DS1 and was in hospital for 4 days. By day 5 I thought |I was going to go mad, so went for a 2mile walk.

DS2, got hopme on day 2, he lay in the pram whilst I DID SOME LIGHT GARDENING.

woops, sorry for caps.

There is something about being in hospital that makes you feel as if you've been in a time vacuum, resulting in a a bizarre craving for fresh air!