If you go to church on a regular basis

MrsSR

when will LO start to attend service with you?

I want to start LO asap, because I want her to be used to it by the time she gets a little older.

DH is worried about having a baby with us during Mass. 

However, if we don't take her, either we will have to take her to the sitter (which means having to pay just so we can worship) or go to Mass at seperate times, so we can both go.  I don't like either of those options.

Not going to Mass is not an option.  When I return to work, I'll go once a week with my students (Catholic school), but I want to attend on Sunday as well.  I think it's silly for DH to have to attend himself and I enjoy going with him.

So, what are you doing?  Most likely, I'll "win" and she'll come with us, but I don't know when I can/should start taking her.

shakes

We were talking about that too. We have decided (so far) that we will wing it and bring him with us every Sunday (Catholic mass also) and if he gets fussy one of us will step outside into the foyer with him. I want him to learn early to behave in church. As time goes on I am sure we will revisit the topic but for now this is where we are at! A

shakes

We were talking about that too. We have decided (so far) that we will wing it and bring him with us every Sunday (Catholic mass also) and if he gets fussy one of us will step outside into the foyer with him. I want him to learn early to behave in church. As time goes on I am sure we will revisit the topic but for now this is where we are at! Our church is prett patient with young kids so I feel pretty at ease with this decision for now.

championmama

Do you not have a tended nursery?  Our church has a children't Bible Hour during the service that is for ages 2-5 (or 6).  DD1 goes to that.  We start the service w/ singing, then communion and Bible Hour starts when the minister gets up. 

DD2 goes to the nursery, but I've been bringing her into the service and taking her to the nursery when DD1 goes to Bible Hour.  I'm trying to get her used to sitting in the service for the short time, b/c when she turns two in March , she'll have to sit about 30 minutes until Bible Hour starts.

I've already decided #3 will go straight to the nursery for the entire service for about a year and then we'll do the transition thing.  My DH is not a regular church-goer and I can't handle all 3 alone.  Other families around like to hold the little ones and all, but they don't make them behave, either.  My dad goes to church with us, but he's not much help, either.

For us, there are lots of young families there and everyone is used to the little ones.  I'm not Catholic, sounds like you are?  Is it maybe a more formal service?

kemeshiwar

I think as long as you're willing to politely excuse yourself should she interrupt the service, it shouldn't be a big deal to take her. Your church family will probably enjoy seeing her as well! My friend takes her infant and she just makes sure she's fed and changed before they go in to reduce the chances that she'll get fussy.

TwinMama83

This is our first pregnancy and we are having twins so it might be a little different situation... but we are going to wait a few weeks until the babies get on a more predictable schedule (and hopefully on the SAME schedule).  Then we'll be able to plan an outing like that and know exactly when someone needs to eat, etc. to avoid loud crying.  Also our church has a "cry room" so if one of us needs to leave the service with a fussy baby, there is a place to go.  Plus our church offers a Saturday night service, so if we find that evening is a better option for taking the babies out then we might try that instead but it's a more "contemporary" service and we much prefer the traditional Sunday morning service.

~Kat~

I think it depends on what the norm is where you attend. With DS, we didn't go to church at all until he was about 5 months old and then he went straight to the nursery since that is what everyone else with babies was doing. This time, I think I will try to keep the baby with us as soon as I start going to services again. I plan on taking him to church for the first time when he is about a month old. All of my friends who have had babies recently have had them there when they are really tiny. Fortunately we have the option of the nursery if the baby starts to fuss.  I like the idea of going to church as a family.

swenie1234

We took DD right away and will do the same. DD always slept through church even after she turned 1.. now she sits pretty well, the only thing she does is yell the pastors name when he is preaching because she absolutely loves him.. She is constantly yellling hi Peter..until he smiles at her.. then it stops, we have taken her out a few times but other than that she sits nice.

pam1005

We took DS from 1 month on.  If he gets fussy we just walk out and keep him there until he calms down.  We don't have a church nursery, so that is not an option for us.  I remember being nervous about it, but once we started going with DS we noticed more babies in service.  

ilovetolaugh

LO will go with us pretty much right away.  We go to a church that embraces having children/babies in service with the adults until they are old enough to go into Sunday School, so it's an easy decision for us.

brown_bride07

I'll tell you to "practice" church at home. That's what my mom did with me. She played tapes/videos of a church service (or one on TV) and we'd play church. I think I thought it was a game for awhile and it worked. We will be taking little one around 8-10 weeks and probably every Sunday thereafter. We do have an option of using the nursery but I hope to keep LO with us until they can go to children's church.

GL!

lily225

This is our third child and we've taken both of our girls to church from the first Sunday that I felt comfortable enough to sit in the pew for an hour, which meant 1-2 weeks after giving birth. We take them to church with us every Sunday and I would never even give thought to not taking them. We know some people who have nurseries you can put them in for the whole service, but I would never do that. I feel that they need to hear the service as well and get used to being in church and sitting nicely and quietly.

LuckyLizzie

We are waiting 3 weeks and then taking LO every Sunday to church service. There are many babies at our church and the don't mind  a little cooing and the occational wail from a baby. Thankfully they provide a special room just for moms in the building and have the service piped in on the over head speaker we so don't miss anything...very nice.

ScottiesLilHottie

I'll probably start going to church again about 2 weeks after LO is born, depending on how I'm feeling. And LO will be coming with us. There are lots of parents that bring their babies into the service with them -- there is nursery available, but it seems that most parents tend to wait until their kids are a little older to put them in childcare.

VandRicky

ilovetolaugh:

LO will go with us pretty much right away.  We go to a church that embraces having children/babies in service with the adults until they are old enough to go into Sunday School, so it's an easy decision for us.

This! We will most likely go when he is a week old!

knorton

DD has gone to Mass with us since one week old. I go about once a week on a week day with her too. We want her to grow up being familiar with the Mass.

alicorl

ilovetolaugh:

LO will go with us pretty much right away.  We go to a church that embraces having children/babies in service with the adults until they are old enough to go into Sunday School, so it's an easy decision for us.

 

I wish this was the case where my husband and I go. They do not give parents the option to have their children at the service with the parents. This is a huge issue for me. I feel like my back is up against a wall and I don't like it. If the nursery was an option for me I'd probably choose it, but because I do not I am not happy at all...

pixy_stix

Probably after a month, maybe a little bit longer.  We'll see how it goes and adjust from there.

chicagoshannon

He'll go with as soon as I return at about 2 weeks old.  It's a great time to starting bringing baby to church because they'll sleep through it mostly.  We do have nursery at our church though but he'll come to service with us until he's probably about 3 or 4 months old at least.

jazzyexpo

She's going with me from the start.

taratru

DD2 started going when she was 2 weeks old. 

tiggergirl0325

We're planning on bringing baby to church with us as soon as I'm up for it--depending on when in the weeks she's born, probably her second Sunday (around 2 weeks old). She'll stay with us for the first few months. If she gets fussy I'll either feed her or one of us will go and walk with her while the other stays in the service. 

We alternate weeks with my church (Brethren) and DH's church (Catholic). My church has a nursery with only a few kids to the two attendants on duty, so we'll probably start leaving her in there when she's a few months old. DH's catholic church is MUCH bigger. We go to the only mass with nursery services and leave DS there (if he doesn't have family faith formation classes), but it's much busier with quite a few kids, most in the toddler age and I think we'll probably wait until she's at least 6-9 months to leave her in there. The nice thing is, since it's such a huge parish, the mass we usually attend always has quite a few babies and smaller toddlers in the congregation, so it's not a big deal if she gets a bit fussy.

Church is a family thing for us, so we take the whole family and make it work for us however we can.

Amberzxoxo

 We are also catholic and chuch is important to us. Where we attend mass we have a 'crying room' which has a glass window so we can observe the mass and speakers so we can here it. I would not worry about a fussy baby at church. With declining numbers it means alot to the preist that familys come crying baby and all. On of the preists said he even embraces bringing things to entertain children durring mass. Like books as long as they are Christian literature. (To apply later of course).

MeanMommyLady

In my religion families attend church together and service is three hours long.  There is a nursery (for children 18 months - 3 years) and child/teen classes for the last two hours of that time, but families attend the first hour of service together, babies are welcome and I would never consider getting a sitter for CHURCH (and I wouldn't be able to find one anyway as all of my sitters attend my church!).

We took DS1 to church for the first time when he was 10 days old.  DS2 will go on Sunday, he will be 14 days old.  Our family attends church, TOGETHER (whenever possible, as DH is active duty Navy and gone a lot) and that includes our children.

VTSKIBUM

DD was around 8 weeks old when we first took her to church...she sat with us for a while and when she was a little older then we started putting her into the church nursery. We will do the same with DD #2. Does your church have a nursery where you can leave your DC during worship?

greenmishpacha

I waited two months. Mainly because I didn't want little one exposed to loads of people at one time so early.

Is there not a nursery or take the baby to and sit down and listen at? Call the church office and see what is normal for new parents. When are you having the baby christened? Sometimes this is a indicator on when to bring baby.