Baby blessing/christening ceremony

lellymine · January 2014

If you're having/had your baby blessed or christened how old were they? Did you wait until all their vaccines were complete? How many people are/did you inviting?

dmahanWed170597 · January 2014

We had our christening for DS at around 3 months. We plan on doing the same for our next baby.

bebemac · January 2014

Pardon my ignorance, but is this the same thing as a baptism?

lellymine · January 2014

bebemac said:
Pardon my ignorance, but is this the same thing as a baptism?

Kind of. DH and I don't love the idea of the baby needing it's sins washed when it's newly born so we're just having it blessed and giving thanks for its arrival. Plus, I don't want to make commitments on her behalf so when she gets older and understands then she can make the choice to be baptized.

temursgirl · January 2014

We will baptize. Traditionally it's done around three months, which is my plan, and that should (I think) accommodate the vaccines. I'm flexible, so if the pediatrician said wait a month I'm fine with that, but for us it is something you do earlier rather than later. Since the baby will be born in June, that would put it end of September/October, which is also generally the best weather here. We've just started thinking about the logistics, but I think it would be about 50 people plus kids.

nunzchucks · January 2014

DD's baptism was when she was 2 weeks old. We had only grandparents, siblings and nephews. It was 9 people.

bebemac · January 2014

lellymine said:

bebemac said:
Pardon my ignorance, but is this the same thing as a baptism?
Kind of. DH and I don't love the idea of the baby needing it's sins washed when it's newly born so we're just having it blessed and giving thanks for its arrival. Plus, I don't want to make commitments on her behalf so when she gets older and understands then she can make the choice to be baptized.

Got it - makes sense. Thanks!

LindsayDesigner · January 2014

DH blessed DD when she was a month old. We did it after church but typically it is done during our congregational meeting, sacrament meeting. She was born in August so we weren't worried about cold season.

MrsP419 · January 2014

We do the Presbyterian Baptism. We actually had our first two baptized at the same time (DD was 2 and DS was 6 months- our views about baptism were different when DD was a baby). It was at a large regular church service with an after party with about 30 people in attendance. I think because it will be close to Christmas when my twins are 6 months, we may shoot for Septemberish.

hjl050308 · January 2014

We're also catholic so this baby will also be baptized. DS1 was baptized at 10 weeks, we had a party after at a restaurant. DS2 was baptized at 9 months, we just did a small late lunch/early dinner afterwards.

misscarter87 · January 2014

Yes DD was 3months old

kjef11 · January 2014

I was baptized at 6 weeks and I baptized my DD at 6 weeks also. We had immediate family only. For this baby I might wait a little longer because of the Godparents. I need to make sure they will be able to make it and they live 1200 miles away.

MrsCase1 · January 2014

We had a blessing/dedication. I want to say he was 9 months. We only had my parents and siblings because nobody else in DHs family was interested in attending. We went out to eat afterwards.

kbellizio3 · January 2014

lellymine said:

bebemac said:
Pardon my ignorance, but is this the same thing as a baptism?
Kind of. DH and I don't love the idea of the baby needing it's sins washed when it's newly born so we're just having it blessed and giving thanks for its arrival. Plus, I don't want to make commitments on her behalf so when she gets older and understands then she can make the choice to be baptized.

This is how we will do it too, I believe when the baby is old enough to understand what baptism means is when he/she can decide whether to be baptized or not, but DH was raised catholic and his dad will be ordained as a deacon in May so he asked if we considered him doing a baptism. So we're in the process of figuring out what to do/how to not offend anyone. (For the record DH has not been a practicing catholic for years)

And we'll probably do whatever dedication/baptism in August because my sister (who's going to be the godmother) has to go back to college. But we are toying with possibly waiting til December when she's home on winter break.

chickpea912 · January 2014

M had a Jewish baby naming at about three weeks. There were a good number of people around, since I work for a synagogue and it was held where I work.

kgyorgy · January 2014

I'm confused about the vaccine question. Is it because a baptism is usually done with lots of people around, and therefore lots of new germs? I never really considered the vaccine schedule in determining when to baptize, as I will more than likely be bringing baby to church several times before she is baptized.

My first thought was germs in holy water, because I know some faiths don't believe in changing out/purifying the water regularly. But then I thought that might be silly...?

arekeweg · January 2014

LO will be baptized sometime before school is back in session so that my sister, BIL, and nieces and nephews can come out. So that'll be within 1.5 months old.

We are Lutheran and my sister will be a sponsor (same as Godparent) so she must be able to make it. The church will do a cake and punch reception following service an then we will come back to our house for a meal and visiting. It'll be grandparents, my siblings, nieces/nephews, the pastor and whomever DH chooses as a sponsor from his side. So around 15 ppl or so.

kbellizio3 · January 2014

MegK82 said:

kbellizio3 said:

lellymine said:

bebemac said:
Pardon my ignorance, but is this the same thing as a baptism?
Kind of. DH and I don't love the idea of the baby needing it's sins washed when it's newly born so we're just having it blessed and giving thanks for its arrival. Plus, I don't want to make commitments on her behalf so when she gets older and understands then she can make the choice to be baptized.
This is how we will do it too, I believe when the baby is old enough to understand what baptism means is when he/she can decide whether to be baptized or not, but DH was raised catholic and his dad will be ordained as a deacon in May so he asked if we considered him doing a baptism. So we're in the process of figuring out what to do/how to not offend anyone. (For the record DH has not been a practicing catholic for years)

And we'll probably do whatever dedication/baptism in August because my sister (who's going to be the godmother) has to go back to college. But we are toying with possibly waiting til December when she's home on winter break.

If you don't plan on raising your child in the Catholic faith, I wouldn't go with a Catholic baptism. When you do so, you and the godparents are promising to bring the child up in the faith and educate them in the faith (not just as a Christian but as a Catholic). Unless you are okay with promising that, then go for it! Also, if you have your child baptized in the Catholic church, one of the godparents MUST be a practicing Catholic and I've heard of some parishes and/or dioceses that require both godparents to be. Not trying to dissuade you, just want you to give you some info.

------------
Interesting. I didn't know that about the godparents having to be Catholic. DH's church is more on the liberal side though so idk what their rules would be regarding catholic/non catholic godparents. We did get our marriage acknowledged by the Catholic Church so I think that's why FIL asked if we were planning a Catholic baptism too (besides the fact that he can perform it). My FIL just has a tendency to throw a fit when he doesn't get his way and he berates DH and takes it out on him usually and I think that's why DH isn't fully committed to saying "no" to avoid that drama. (DH said "no" to his dad during the wedding planning and his dad didn't speak to him for weeks, it was ridiculous)

kbellizio3 · January 2014

@MegK82, DH and I are making our decision by Easter (next time we'll likely be at the same place at the same time) so we can sit and talk about it then. Because I'd really rather not do it over the phone.

Also, I love your profile pic. Hercules is one of my favorite Disney movies!

FAWKES81 · January 2014

FTM but being a fairly newly converted Episcopalian (from Baptist) I'm looking forward to the Baptism of my son. I plan on doing it around 3 months from what I understand this is traditional time. I'm already looking at Christening outfits! Typically in our parish baptisms are done during/as a part of the service with church members reaffirming their baptismal vows. A light reception will likely follow the service. All in all probably 60 or so people in attendance.

becomingmommyagain · January 2014

MegK82 said:

I'm pretty sure that ALL Catholic churches will require at least one godparent to be Catholic as they promise to raise and educate the child in the Catholic church and they HAVE to have celebrated Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation in the Catholic church. I don't think there's any way around that, I'm pretty sure it's church law. And as I said above, they expect them to be practicing Catholics in good standing with the church (i.e. valid marriage and/or not cohabiting).

I promise you, your FIL is going to expect you to continue to raise your child in the church and once you agree to baptize your baby, will probably be on you to continue on with educating them so they can make their First Communion in 2nd grade. If you're going to say no to him, now would be the time.

We're non practicing Catholics. My aunt & uncle are the God parents for my kids. When they were baptized my aunt & uncle had to do a training with their parish on what a God parent is expected to do (this was their parish rule) and then their parish priest had to submit a letter of recommendation to our Diocese for approval - I dont know if this was standard or just the rules of our parish & diocese. My aunt & uncle were unable to attend the baptisms too and had to have a special dispensation to allow a member of our parish to stand in for them.

k2k2tog · January 2014

@lellymine We have a very different understanding of baptism in our church - it's not actually considered a decision a baby can make, since it's a covenant from God, not to God. So, we'll be baptizing quite early - looking at around 1 month old.

lest12 · January 2014

@MegK82 has given some really good insight I am Catholic but DH is not. We are baptizing but have had many conversations about what he is and isn't comfortable with as far as having the baby in the church. You want to be comfortable.

We will be baptizing the Baby in August... Inconveniently for us, the church only does baptisms on the 3rd Sunday of the month, and neither September nor October work for my family (sister's wedding, grandmother will not be here). Otherwise I would have rather done it at 3 months... November seems too far away.

I wasn't even thinking of vaccines. I have no idea what vaccines baby has/needs by 2 months.

This also reminds me that I need to find out if my church allows for one of the godparents to 'not' be baptized in the church. I get very torn about this (the GODparents should believe in God!) but I also want DH to feel like he has someone from his family standing up with us as well.

ETA - We'll probably have 40 people :rolleyes:

hollygb22 · January 2014

we baptized DD 1 when she when she was 5 months old. Probably shoot to do it uner 6 months for #2.

We chose to just have our immediate family (maybe 20 people)..siblings, grandparents, and local aunts and uncles. Just my preference...friends have invited us to their childrens' christenings and I just don't like it when it's this huge overblown party. I wanted it smaller. I had a hard enough time juggling a baby and keeping her from meltdown mode, nursing her etc. so I was happy to have it on the smaller scale

coffee89 · January 2014

My DH wants to baptize ASAP. Meaning, he would do it at a week old if I let him. I want to wait until I feel up to having visitors and know the baby is healthy. I have no problem waiting 3 months for it to happen.

We are moving within a week or so after the baby is born though so it will wait until we get settled and find a church. I haven't even thought about the God parents issue. I have finally convinced my DH that I won't be having anyone but my sister in that role (he thought it should be his best friends since they were talking about making us the God parents of their second child.) but it's going to become a church issue with my husband being Catholic.

lellymine · January 2014

kgyorgy said:
I'm confused about the vaccine question. Is it because a baptism is usually done with lots of people around, and therefore lots of new germs? I never really considered the vaccine schedule in determining when to baptize, as I will more than likely be bringing baby to church several times before she is baptized.

My first thought was germs in holy water, because I know some faiths don't believe in changing out/purifying the water regularly. But then I thought that might be silly...?

When we bless her we'll have family come to a dinner after and since I know she'll be passed around I'm feeling more comfortable with her having most of vaccines done as a just in case. Especially with the all the pertussis cases happening.

AnnaKaie · January 2014

I'm not sure. It will correspond with shots and when I join the church. DH is already a member, I want to join before we have baby sprinkled. They do it during church.

chloephoebecali · January 2014

My kids and I are Episcopalian, but I am a former Roman Catholic. Dh goes to church with us, but has officially made the move to be Episcopalian from RC. We had dd baptized around five weeks. It was stressful for me with all the postpartum hormones. We had immediate family all over after to eat and it was just really overwhelming. I decided I would never do one as early again so I can at least enjoy it. Ds was baptized just about five months. I was definitely able to enjoy it more and it once again was lunch/dinner at my house afterward. I might have DD baptized in November on All Souls Day. Like pp mentioned, our church does baptisms during regular masses for the entire congregation to witness (and support). The mass is typically formatted for the baptism. If I find there are too many baptisms going on that day, I might ask to have it a separate Sunday. I've got a little bit of pull with my priest as a leader at my church. The only other concern I have is ensuring dd1s baptism gown fits dd2. It is gorgeous and it was fairly expensive so I might have to work around that. I really want her to wear it. As far as shots go, I surprisingly wasn't worried with dd since no one different was holding her. All the people that held her were people that would have held her by then anyway. This time around we are probably going to do a big baptism party and just rent our church hall. Godparents are a whole other problem! Anyway, where I got ds' outfit was https://www.affordablechristianproducts.com. I'm more into traditional versus little boy tuxedos. The prices were some of the best I could fine and the stuff is gorgeous. I got DD's gown at Nordstrom. It is a longer style (more traditional). I had trouble finding longer gown styles in stores at the time.

curlylocks3 · January 2014

Ideally it will be around 3 months but I guess that will depend on a few things- our niece is getting baptized on the other side of the country in August so I think August is out for us. Also we have settled on 3/4 godparents none of them live locally so it will depend on when they can be here.

It will probably also be fairly large. We'll have to go somewhere for the party- not enough space in our house.

Want a personalized experience?

Baby blessing/christening ceremony

Re: Baby blessing/christening ceremony

Choose Another Board

Search Boards