rose27

Hi,

A close relative in my family recently had a baby who is almost 4 weeks old. There are already small children in the family (ages ranging from 1 to 4 years). Apparently, the new baby's pediatrician says the baby should not have direct contact with other children (even if they are healthy) until 6 weeks even though all the other children's pediatricians said visits with healthy kids was perfectly fine. In fact, with every newborn child my family has known, their pediatricians agreed that visits were okay.

I was wondering what your take on the matter is. Has anyone shared a similar experience with their child's pediatrician? It's so sad that the other kids in the family want to see and play with their new cousin but aren't able to.

LilSisShelly

I've heard some silly stuff in the past yes, mostly linked to vaccinations. Docs who try and make sure you vax as early as possible by scaring you into living like a hermit until the kid is stuck for the first time.

What they don't tell you is that they don't protect for the first round-that coverage isn't achieved till the second or third shot. That's a long time in the house...

We had my sister out at a few days old. We were sensible, but that was it.

nina

I was out and around 1 to 2 days after I came home from the hospital. If the people you are going to be around aren't sick, I don't think you should worry. Of course, my doctor agreed with me on that, so I was lucky.

Mommy2Five

The doctor is probably fresh out of medical school and has no children of his own! Either that or there is some kind of concern for this particular child. If there aren't any unusual health issues, then there should be no reason why he or she can't be around other children. Of course, illnesses tend to be contagious before we have any symptoms, but the baby should have mom's immunity for a while anyway. I always made the precaution of not allowing other children to "get up in the face of" one of my babies. (Siblings excluded on that rule, of course.) And I would have the children wash their hands good or use hand sanitizer before touching the baby.

As I am writing this though, it occurs to me, that maybe the mother has just made that excuse because she is nervous about her baby being exposed to stuff. If that is the case, then respect it. It is her baby, after all. If it is her first and/or if there were complications then she is probably being overprotective. Let her be.

That said, I do have a friend whose son was born 2 months pre-term and had alot of health issues. He was not allowed to be around other children (he is an only) until he was 6 months old because of it. Even now, at nearly 2 years old, he gets sick pretty easily and stays sick for a while.

bunbun

I agree, barring any complications or concerns there is no reason to keep the baby away from all children until 6 weeks, thats a bit much. I mean its probably not going to make that big of a differnce to the baby, but I think asking the pediatriacian why they made that suggestion could be helpful.