Parents in law staying for a week: when is best?

[Alexandra07]

My parents in law leave abroad and they want to come and stay with us for a week after baby is born (due date end of November). They are both lovely! I expect them to be understanding and out of the way, although that will mean we will have to cook for 4. This is my first pregnancy, their first grand child and probably only one. I understand that they want to come and visit as soon as they can, the trip is long and they want to stay for 1 week.

When is the best time to tell them they can visit?

I was thinking that during the first 2-3 weeks it would be hard to have 2 more people staying in the house and anyway the baby will be sleeping most of the time, right? Any advice??

If you have to book now, 6 weeks after the due date. Anyone staying in the house will have to cook for you all and help chuck a load of washing on, plus not be grumpy about being woken up in the night and understand that you might not be up to chatting all day long and might want the baby very close. You might have to be a bit blunt, my lovely dad came to visit frequently in the early weeks and was chatting away while I was falling asleep sitting up in bed, I had to tell him to stop!

We live about 300 miles from both sets of parents but would like them to meet the new baby fairly soon (It's our first and we are excited!) which means if they come to visit they need to stay over. However, both sets of parents have been Pre warned that visiting is dual purpose; meet their new grandson and provide assistance with meals/cleaning/washing. They all seem happy with this and understanding. I would talk to your in laws OP explain that you'd love them to visit and that's partly because their support would be really valuable for helping with meals etc. People love to feel useful!

My DH's parents flew over when our DD was ten weeks old, it would have been too much for us before then, feeding was established, they did expect us to leave DD with them for evenings or a day to babysit, but I made it clear that she was breastfeeding on demand and this wouldn't happen. I also ensured I did what suited DD and not run around after them too much.

Unfortunately a hotel/b&b or travelling around uk for a few days is not an option for them, because of the cost. We have a 2 bedroom house and since the baby will be sleeping in our room at the beginning, they could either use the nursery or the living room, but using the living room would mean I would have problems accessing the kitchen as we have an open plan kitchen... It just occured me that this would be a problem if I don't manage to breastfeed!

I celebrate Christmas but having them over for Christmas would mean that they would have to prepare a meal for us and I think that I would feel the pressure to have the house decorated, even if they don't mention anything. If they don't come for Christmas, nobody will know if I don't manage to have any decorations!

You are right, I will have to wait for the baby to arrive, or they can book maybe 8 weeks after due date if they want to book now!

As people have said you might be overdue and have to stay in hospital a while. You might have problems establishing breastfeeding. I had a c-section and feeding problems and the last thing I would have wanted was overnight visitors. I think they either book in for january or wait and see after the birth. Don't be bullied into accepting them earlier than you want.