Taking newborn out and about? - Page 2

[Kmama2]

Originally Posted by BlueEyedLady

Well, maybe I'm the odd one out, but we don't stay home. I can't - I'm prone to depression in the cold/wintertime anyway, and getting out helps that tremendously. If I stayed home all day every day by about 3 days in I'd be a nervous, crying wreck.

What I DO do is be selective about where we go/who we see/when we go/how we handle being out. I generally wait until DH is around and then we both go and I leave him and the kids in the car while I run into the store. Or, I get out just enough to run through a drive through for a cup of coffee. With DS, when we went out I would take him out of his carrier and carry him (he hated being worn). With DD, who also doesn't like being worn, I've been leaving her in her carrier to discourage people from touching her. If she needs to eat, instead of finding a bench somewhere and taking her out of the carrier, I go back out to the car and feed her there. I also wash my hands and DS' obsessively and carry hand sanitizer with me and use that often too.

Me too... I can't just stay home with 2 kids by myself all day every day. I will go insane!!!! We go places... I don't bring my kids to the grocery store and haven't brough ds ( who was born at home) to a doc yet. we just hold ds in church etc.

[pjs]

I'll add that when I had just one little one, it was much easier to deal with the colds/sniffles/illness. But now that I have 3, with #4 on the way, having to deal with the illness as it travels (usually) from one to the other to the other is simply no fun. Last winter I alternated between my sons' beds- holding the bucket while they took turns vomiting. The idea of throwing a newborn into that mix (and possibly myself) is just so unappealing, I can't do it. I'm a believer in getting exposed to germs to boost the immune system, just not this winter with a newborn and three other kids to take care of.

[threadbey]

I'm being cautious, but not staying totally away from people. DS and DH leave the house to go to work and school every day, so there's no way to totally protect our house, anyway. DH and I just got the seasonal flu shot and I plan to get DS that, too. And we will all three probably get the H1N1 vax when that's available, too. I figure the greatest risk to my newborn is someone in the family coming down with the flu, not just passing contact with strangers. Vaccines stimulate the immune system to develop antibodies against dangerous illnesses without actually risking infection - it's a natural process in my humble opinion, though I know others feel differently.

We're also taking our vitamins and trying to get enough sleep.