when did you take twins out?
if born before 37 weeks? our doctors in the nicu recommended that they dont go to church (which we dont do anyways), go to big parties, etc. they also said that my friends with little ones should refrain from coming over for 4-6 weeks unless they leave their kids at home. bc it never really got cold here, they said RSV and flu season is still in full swing (germs didnt get killed off), and with them being born at 35w5d there is more of a risk. which i totally believe.
this morning we went for coffee and i took my son for chocolate milk and a treat and we just sat in the coffee shop for 20 min. while my husband waited in the car with the twins. (for those that dont know, they were born last thurs at 35w5d or 6d). i thought maybe it'd be okay to bring them in in their carseats/stroller and just leave the shades drawn a bit, but H was nervous about germs.
im just wondering what others did in similar situations. with my son,i took him out to starbucks after being home for 2 weeks straight. but he wasnt a "late pre-termer". i totally understand avoiding the bigger crowd situations and will probably more on the cautious side...but i thought maybe 20 minutes in the coffee shop would have been okay....but i know i run the risk every time of people coming right up to them and doing the "oh wow twins" thing...but we go to the doctor on monday where im sure there are germs and we will be there for at least 1/2 hour...i feel like 20 min. in the coffee shop would be safer!
Re: when did you take twins out?
We had January babies. They were 37-weekers, so full-term, but our dr still recommended (especially at that time of year) avoiding crowds, being careful with guests, etc., for the first 6-8 weeks. We were fine with following that guideline and I think we were overwhelmed enough the first 2 months just taking care of the babies that the idea of risking two SICK babies was strong motivation! It wasn't a big deal; I stayed home from church and for shopping and errands, I'd go by myself when DH got home from work (which was actually a really nice break!) or he would go. We also had a couple friends who each came over about once a week so sometimes DH and I were able to go to lunch together or something. We also shared a car until the babies were 10m old though so in a way that made it easier to just stay home since I only had a car when DH was home anyway.
We did go to dr's appts, of course, and I think we took them to the grocery store once or twice the second month, in the DSNG with the hoods up. No one tried to get in their faces or anything, fortunately.
Our babies were born at 35w and spent 5 and 9 days in the NICU. DH and I don't have family too close by, so we did grocery outings together with the babies a couple weeks after getting home. But we kept them in their car seats in the stroller and covered them with blankets. Many people will want to look at them and touch them, and we couldn't risk them getting sick, but I also wasn't ready to be home by myself with them after my c-section.
We waited until a couple weeks after they got their 2-month shots to take them to church, and even then, we held them in Baby Bjorns and didn't let people touch them unless using my pocket hand sanitizer. These are my first babies, lol, can you tell?
34 weekers here. Our pedi high encouraged us not to take them out into large groups of people until after March (when the flu season was gone). We had gone to Wegmans when I needed to get out but didn't stay long. This past weekend was the first time we really went out - we went shopping for 3 hours at Target with both of the babies and they were 11 weeks.
I would be completely okay with taking them to a coffee shop and I agree that the doctors office definitely has germs. Some exposure to germs is actually better for them because it will help them build an immune system, but in small doses. I think the situations to avoid are those where they actually come into contact with other people but if they're in their carseats I think that would be fine.