What Age to be in delivery room?

farmergirl987

we have an almost 7 year old. He is mature for his age. I am trying to decide whether him being in the room during g delivery will traumatize him?? Any suggestions or experiences?

GingerTurtles

Have you checked your hospital's regulations? 

Bigboobsmcgee

I would think 7 is old enough....

GingerTurtles

Bigboobsmcgee said:

I would think 7 is old enough....

My hospital does not allow anyone under the age of 12 in the room during delivery.

Snoflakes4eva

I do not think the delivery room is a place for a 7 year, no matter how mature.

Chichigo

What are you doing to prepare him? There's a book called Children at Birth that is dedicated to.preparing children to be present at the birth of a sibling.

Chichigo

Also, its recommended to have an extra adult on hand to deal with the older child, including removing him from the birthing room if necessary.

mrsrich3

I was in the room both times my mom gave birth. Once when I was 4, and again at 7. I only vaguely remember the earlier one, but at 7, I "enjoyed" the experience. I was happy to be with my mom and I was interested in the process I guess you could say. The birth of my littlest sister is one of my favorite memories. I wouldn't think twice about having my children witness my births.

fvolcheck

I don't see why it would be nessecary. He can be in there until the real stuff starts and right after! During seems a little to much for a child to see.

pixieprincss

We just had a home birth and our almost-3-year-old and 4.5-year-old chose to come in for the moment of delivery.  I did not want them distracting me during the labor, but for pushing I actually felt like my body would not release unless we'd invited them to be a part of the birth as previous discussed with them. We had talked about it for months, read books, done some silly (non-graphic) role playing as a family and with our midwife (like doing "lion roars" when explaining that I might be loud). The kids knew that coming in would be their choice and that grandma and grandpa would be in charge of them. They stayed for 30 minutes until I was ready to push out the placenta at which point I had them go upstairs. They came back down again after another 30 minutes to "help" with the newborn exam.

My 4.5 year old loved being there for it and talks about it with amazement and curiosity. DS2 says he's glad he came, but is ambivalent (not surprising for his age and personality).  I'd say that you know your kid best and your needs in labor. There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer.  I will say that while it was wonderful to have that experience as a family--and I wouldn't have changed it--it did distract from me fully taking in all of the newborn's first moments.

gabrielsmommy0301

mine as well usually its 12 7 is kind of young lol(:

dufferoo

My daughter was 9 when my son was born, and we allowed her in the delivery room upon her request. Overall, I'm glad we did because it was special to have our whole little family there for this monumental experience, plus it's just an amazing experience to watch a life be brought into this world, and I wanted her to experience that since she expressed interest. On the other hand, it was pretty intense/scary for her to see me in such pain, which made me feel pressure to suppress my reaction, which in turn made labor even more difficult. It's a tough scenario. I don't think any amount of discussion ahead of time can truly prepare one for what actually goes on in the delivery room. One thing I did do was have my mom there as a special caretaker for her, to help explain things when I couldn't speak, and to take her for walks around the hospital when she needed a break.

dufferoo

Oh also, yes hospitals have rules, but rules are meant to be broken Ours had an age limit of 12, but we just sweet-talked the nursing staff a little, and they were cool about letting my daughter in the room.

LIly436

You are kidding, right?

momof2beauties

My 10 yr old son(11 2 months later) was in the room when his sister was born. He was turned around until after she was born and he cut the cord. It was nice for him to appreciate what us mothers go through and to be there for such a magical moment.