Staying Indoors Post-Birth

[SyL]

I hope there are some women that have gone out with the newborn shortly after birth. What is your experience and how long did you stay indoors before going out?

[Kimmi]

I was all for taking my baby out just after 2 weeks and we did but now I think you should keep you baby at home for as long as possible as my poor little baby caught a nasty chest infection at such a young age. There is so many horrible things to catch out there an HK is so crowded and polluted.

[carang]

i know that it's a chinese thing to stay inside for a month, but i had a dr friend in canada(an OBGYN) who said, if you take the baby home from the hospital, then he is already exposed to loads of nasties.

it doesn't really make much difference.

i never wanted to leave my son, so he came everywhere with me, including back to teh hospital when my incision got infected.

[willmoms]

Well to be honest I kept my baby at home for a months. We went out to visit Dr and U.S Ambsy (passport issue) but nothing more... he always stayed inside. But I saw lots of mums these days already exposed their newborns baby in the malls,Mc donald, cafe and the beach--here in stanley . Suprised me they're fine with that.

[SyL]

Thanks everyone. I agree with Carang's OBGYN and since I won't be hiring a nanny, the baby will have to go out with me, but I'm afraid that long exposure may lead to a chest infection. Now I see the benefits of having the in laws stay a while....

[barbwong_130]

When I had my last child she was quite ill and in the SCUB and pediatric ward for the first eight days. I asked the doctor the question, “Should I keep her in more than I did with my other children?” But he misunderstood me and thought I was asking to go out that day. So he gave me a form to fill in and asked that I be back before his evening rounds.

I was surprised that it was fine to take her out for the afternoon as she was still a patient at the hospital but we went to the Galleria at the Peak, ate ice-cream and her older brother played in the playground there.

I must admit that a Chinese man I spoke to there was horrified that I had a week old baby out and about so I choose not to tell him that she hadn’t been discharged from the hospital yet.

[LLL_Sarah]

If you are breastfeeding your baby it is actually ideal that the baby is always with you. When you encounter a germ your body will start to make specific antibodies for that germ. If the baby is always with you there is no chance that the baby encounters a germ that you don’t. Thus your milk will have all the antibodies to all the germs the baby comes across.

When the baby is separated from the mother it is possible that the baby comes across other germs. This is most serious for small premature babies kept in the hospital (hospital germs are usually much stronger than normal household germs). In fact some doctors recommend that the mother lick such a baby’s skin. This allows the mother to come in contact with the germs the baby has encountered and so make the specific antibodies for those germs in her milk.

Best wishes,
SARAH

[fly]

We kept our son home for about a week, and them had him out with us for short spells. I think it just may be a case of being careful where you take him (you can avoid MongKok or Causeway Bay, for instance) and keep the trips short and sweet. I don't subscribe to the theory to keep them home for months on end, the germs outside are no different than the ones inside, or the types he'll have to face up to eventually.