Covid and newborn visitors

kam174

Hi all! Just wondering (and can’t sleep thinking about) how everyone is handling / plans to handle having a newborn and visitors during covid times 😕 my in-laws have declared that they are not getting the vaccine 😑 which of course makes things a bit more difficult. Will you allow visitors as long as they wear masks / wash hands? Are you not allowing visitors for a certain amount of time? Does anyone feel totally comfortable having visitors unvaccinated and without masks? Has anyone asked their doctors about this and willing to share the response? Thanks in advance!! 💕

mbradfo2

I would -not- feel comfortable with unvaccinated visitors inside your home right now. If you want to meet up outside and everyone wears masks, it would be relatively low risk. 

That said, newborns should mostly be homebodies until their first set of shots so if they push back against you not wanting unvaccinated people around the baby, you can say, "Her doctor says that she can't be allowed to see anyone outside her immediate family until she has her first shots."

I hope someone convinces your in-laws to get the vaccine. It's better to get injected with whatever poison/gps tracker/fetal cells they imagine are in the vaccines than to get covid. And while the vaccine isn't perfect protection, none of the trial participants (in moderna's at least) developed severe covid symptoms or required hospitalization  if they did contract the virus. NONE.

wildrainbow

Our baby was born in June,  right in the middle of everything.  I can say that my family didn't meet him until Christmas. He was 6mo old. He was a preemie,  which is different,  but I still took no chances.  My FIL still hasn't met him and he's about to be 9mo old. So,  I took a hard line,  which may be extreme,  but I couldn't run any risks.  If you keep the communicating lines open,  you can hopefully prepare family and friends on your stance. That said, you can always remind your in laws that you are baby's parents not them and they need to respect the boundaries you set.  Setting them before baby is born is easier than after.  Definitely make sure baby is a homebody for sure.  If they refuse to see reason, you can do a look see where they come and you can show them baby at the window. Hopefully they will listen to you and heed your boundaries.

mbradfo2

Yeah, I had a patient last year -- 4 month old -- who got covid from a relative visiting. Not worth it.

kam174

Thanks all! Good suggestions! I honestly don’t know why my in laws are against it - my MIL actually tested positive back in April but had no symptoms .. maybe she feels she’s immune or something 🤷🏼‍♀️ I plan to ask my doctor her thoughts at my next appointment. I’m assuming she will resonate with what you’ve all said - and then I can blame her for the “no visitor” rules lol 

@mbradfo2 wow that’s so heartbreaking! You’re absolutely right - not worth it. 

mtpbadger

My son is 4 months old and no one has met him from our families. We are in a bubble with another daycare family and they have seen him (still outside and masked). Me and DH are vaccinated and my parents that live out of state are as well and we are biting the bullet and flying to stay with them (we are also house hunting bc we are moving). I actually feel more comfortable flying than driving 17 hours which would require numerous stops and an overnight somewhere. 

cashewchicken

I had my daughter in August 2020 and we had family gatherings a few times with my husband’s side since her birth and I regretted them. We haven’t gotten sick thankfully and now all of us (except for the kids) are vaccinated. But I still don’t feel comfortable mingling indoors even with the vaccines and masks. With so many variants cropping up, the vaccine may not be as effective, and I haven’t kept up with the latest research but I don’t think we know definitively that vaccination prevents transmission. The vaccines are quite effective against severe Covid 19 symptoms and that’s good but you also want to make sure that the vaccinated individuals don’t pass on the disease. And your MIL skipping out on vaccines since she already had Covid is probably not a smart idea as there are cases of people getting infected multiple times. 

And masks. 99% of people wearing it are not wearing it correctly. This is true even with physicians and nurses which boggles my mind. Nose exposed, people adjusting their masks constantly, and who knows how frequently people wash their reusable masks (ew). 

[Deleted User]

So happy to see the faces pop up here!!!!

I also had an Aug 20 baby and very few family have met her. 🤷 FWIW, I wouldn't put much stock in vaccinated / unvaccinated, or masking / not masking.  You stay home with baby, and the sheer number of visitors stays very low right now.  That's all there is to it.  MIL, FIL, SMIL SIL and her family - basically as immediate of family as our normal pre-outside baby bubble - was who saw her.  We've expanded our bubble more with what we personally feel comfortable with, and no one can tell you what that means for YOU.  But personally vaccines / masks are irrelevant in my book. 🤷. Both have questionable efficacy so... You kind of just need to default with what feels right for you. ❤️