Child Visitors with Preemie?

nvoyles82 · June 2012

I will have a late term Preemie at 35weeks. Should I allow friends that have child, bring the children to visit.. that is, if my son will be healthy enough not to be in the NICU, etc. Im really afraid about germs, and dont want him being passed around like a hot potato!

How do I go about letting my friends with children know if we decide to not let children visit in the hospital or at home? (When we have two children 4 and under at home ourselves). I just dont want to be a b**ch about things, but protecting my son is # 1.

ijustcantthinkrightnow · June 2012

I would talk with your doctor about this as well as the visitors policy at your hospital. It would depend a lot on my baby's health BUT I personally don't think I would want any young children visiting just after having a baby, with the exception of my own. That's just me though.

ashleybritton · June 2012

I delivered at 34 weeks 4 days. My pedi said no children for two months. She also said parents of young children could look, but not touch and definitely no holding. Once he's received his 2 month shots she's okay with him being around kids, being held, and going places.

sroddy12 · June 2012

NICUs do not allow child visitors unless it is a sibling of the baby. I was told not to let my son be around a child for three months but it was RSV season so that was a huge issue. I would ATLEAST wait till your babies due date to allow children in your home. I kept bottles of hand sanitizer on very end table, counter and coffee table in our house and people got the message that they needed to wash their hands or use sanitizer before touching my son. I'm not a germ freak at all. This was not to be mean, it was to protect my son who had premature lungs. They cannot handle colds and germs like full term babies can. My friends preemie got a cold a month after discharged and the baby had to be intubated as soon as she got him to then ER

JnS2011 · June 2012

Our NICU did not allow children under the age of 12 at all. That was back in January, so I'm pretty sure it was just a winter/cold season precaution...but those rules are put into place with good reason -- kids are full of germs!

Use the hospital/your doctor as an excuse. Say they strongly urged you to have no children under a certain age around your baby for a certain amount of time. And don't worry about coming off as a b**ch, you are absolutely correct that your son is #1 and honestly anybody who doesn't understand that...well...

jcsntms06 · June 2012

I would first talk to the doctor and if the baby gets the old, use your discretion. If say your friends child is sick, they shouldn't be allowed to come over to visit. You can also request that any and all visitors use hand sanitizer.

As for visitors in the NICU, our hospital had a policy that, friends and family could visit, but no children, only siblings.

lilmejo · June 2012

our LO was born at 35 weeks, and spent 14 days in the NICU, hospital suggested 2 months of limited visitors we intended on following this and even hid the fact that he was home from neighboors two kids as they spend alot of time at our house, but after about 3 weeks, we realized that it was very hard on us (not having anyone over and our families to not see our LO), I have a 3 year old nephew so we just made sure that anyone that came over was free of any illness and washed hands etc. Still to this day we make sure that if someone is sick that we limit or avoid time with them all together. It's just going to be a decision based on what you feel is right and what your MD reccomends, We have friends who also had a preemie who stuclk to their hospital reccomendation of waiting 5 months before allowing visitors but he was a very early preemie.

crystaleyes39 · June 2012

I wouldn't just to be cautious. The doctors highly recommended not having other kids around them for the first couple months (that was during flu season though). If you're not comfortable just tell your friends the doctors advised you not to have any kids around the baby yet. They can't argue w/ that.

Child Visitors with Preemie?

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