After nine long months, you finally welcome a beautiful bundle of joy into the world. If this is your first baby, you probably feel two things – elation and fear. Just remember that new moms typically worry about many things simply because of the unknown. The good news is that today, you have thousands of opportunities for learning through books, videos, and online resources. Of course, there is always the option of talking to another mom for advice.
One of the most frustrating aspects of bringing a new baby home is all the family and friends who want to handle him or her. While you want people, especially family to enjoy your baby, you also feel yourself becoming stressed as you see this little baby being passed from one person to another person. The problem is to know how to handle this type of situation.
While you could just tell people not to hold the baby, that does not seem very friendly but the alternative is having the baby manhandled. Although everyone has good intentions and only wants to be involved, too much handling is not necessarily good for your new baby. For one thing, people carry germs. Therefore, even the limited few that you allow to hold the newborn should wash their hands first. Second, baby’s have sensitive skin, which means all the passing around can make him or her sore, thus cranky.
The truth is that letting people know NOT to handle the baby is hard. After all, your goal is not to hurt anyone’s feelings but you will have to be strong for the sake of your child. One of the best ways to handle the situation is only to allow close family and perhaps one or two friends visit within the first two to four weeks of the child’s life. Even after this time period, keep the handling to a limit by nice asking. This is your child and as a new mother, you will have to make some tough decisions, such as manhandling your newborn.