Staying Indoors Post-Birth

[DRW]

I bring my BB out about 2 weeks after birth and we've went to the doctor in the island hospital for check ups every weeks as my baby has jaundice.
We lived in island so in the afternoon we went for a bit walk. And most all old woman saw our BB with shock, coz he only a few weeks old and they kept telling me how bad it was to bring your baby out when he was very small.
Untill now some of them still remembered how small my BB was. And at that time I couldn't out too long coz I wasn't confidence with myself feeding him at public places.

In my origin country the tradition is not allowed mother who just given birth out from home for about 40 days and not allowed do any household jobs (and put those long tummy belt so your tummy will back to original state). Which I didn't do after I've my BB. Maybe next time will ask my mum to come over to help me out :wink:

 

[SyL]

40 days at home is also what my tradition asks for, but my mom wasn't able to follow it. From my experience, staying home for more than 2 days can drive me nuts, but maybe things will change once the baby's born.

 

[asiababy]

I took both my children out 10 days after birth. But we were either in the car or just going for a short walk. my babies were jaundiced so doc said take them out to get some sunshine. in taiwan, i put my little one in a maya wrap in public places or everyone touches her. if people come too close or we use the elevator, i can cover her with the sling. it's also good for nursing. it's really hard fir me to stay indoors so the walk was good for my mental health

 

[JennyB]

We had to go back to the hospital for day 5 checkup at Queen Mary. So the hospital are obviously not expecting people to stay indoors!

If you don't want strangers touching your baby (and they will), pop baby in a sling such as the Mayawrap. It covers most of the baby up, so that people hardly notice you are carrying a baby.

 

[capital]

If you are breastfeeding your baby it is actually ideal that the baby is always with you. When you encounter a germ your body will start to make specific antibodies for that germ. If the baby is always with you there is no chance that the baby encounters a germ that you don?t. Thus your milk will have all the antibodies to all the germs the baby comes across.

I agree

I went out (other than the dr) after about 2 weeks, but That was less abut the baby and more about me. It is hard to get yourself organized with 2 children by yourself, and BF and move around with a 3 degree tear, all by yourself. Many times I attempted to get ready to go, but had to give up and try again another day.

 

[Kimmi]

I exclusively breastfeed my baby and he still caught a horrible chest infection and an ear infection and ended up in hospital. I really thought that my breast milk would have protected my baby, it just shows you doesnt it.

 

[cyberashlee]

It was interesting reading about your views on staying indoors or not after brith. Aside from germs, it seems that a consistent routine especially while breast feeding, stay in a calming quiet environment, all the while allowing your body to heal and dealing with this new person seems to be the way to go. I am just about 4 months along myself, so I will see when I get there.

Also, I just have to ask, who keeps touching your babies?? Is this a cultural thing here in HK? How do you all handle it without seeming like a crazy new Mom? People need to keep their hands off!

Good Luck Moms!
AshleeRae

 

[JennyB]

The touching thing is definitely cultural. Something about lack of personal space boundaries. It is even worse in mainland China. Same issue in the hospitals: medical professionals sometimes come and prod you here without announcing who they are or what they are going to do.

I was in a shop the other day and my baby was fussing so I took her out of the sling to have a look around. Somebody next to me in the shop, without making any conversation with me, tried to disentangle a hair from my baby's hand!

You can go one of either two ways, (a) keep your baby covered up (in slings, or strollers with mozzie nets/rain covers on), and try to anticipate situations where people are going to want to touch your baby, or (b) go with the flow, accept they can catch germs from the air and sitting next to people even if they don't touch them, and they will gain something from the social interaction. I veer between the two depending on what mood I'm in.

 

[DRW]

That's sometimes I hate when they touch my baby without concern. But I just cannot tell them not to touch him. So what I did was asked my hubby to carry our baby and he was really straight told them not to touch the baby!!! A bit extreme I knew but we told them as well it was for hygiene. It was like paranoid but that was when he was very small.

I followed like JennyB (a) n (b) option. Just see the situations when I used those options.

 

[joannek]

i stayed indoors for 40days as per chinese doc recommendation. (except for the doctors visit, where i was covered up head to toe (literally), it was the coldest time of the year. i was struggling with bf-ing for the first 4 mths, so i had to stay at home where it's peaceful to keep myself sane, plus my baby was crying a lot. whenever i brought her out, she'd cry. i finally brought her out when she was 5 mths, to go where there were fresh air & not a lot of people. i was paranoid to let people touch her even when my friends were visiting me at home, so when we went out i didn't lt anyone touched her (a little crazy looking back). If someone would approach me, i would step back, or bring baby way. thank God she's now 19mths & people still wanna touch her, so i just wipe her ace/hands/wherever with disinfecting wipes afterwards.