Niksik

OK, so we are regular folks, FOBs sorta, been in the US for many years now but were born back in the country where every Taufiq bhaijaan, Daanish unkil jee and Farzana aunty, came to visit us when we were born and held us in their arms and sang to us and commented how much hair we had...

Now I do understand that parents here like visitors to be free of germs and communicable diseases. I totally agree. I would never go see a newborn if I had a cold or cough or if my kids had fever or pinkeye. Not fair to the kid.

I am generally a clean person and when I go visit a close family who has come to our home many times and has seen how we keep our place nice and sparkly clean they should expect and know that I am going to be careful about my hygiene, especially because I have kids of my own who were once that age...

So today we went to see their month old baby and they asked us to wash our hands as soon as we entered. Frankly I was a bit taken aback... oh well, I understand, first baby and all...but I was never like that. I let anybody and everybody hold my babies. But I'm a bit too extreme I guess.

Khair, I do understand but I was also a bit put off. Bad?

khawateen

i remember there was a thread bout this a few months back..

i think its stupid to think ure child will never be in touch with germs... the more u sterlize their environment, the easier it will be for them to get sick...help your child build a strong immune system..

i let anyone and everyone take my baby when i had him.. just not ppl with colds but then no one with a cold would come close (if they had common sense)... and no kids holding the baby either. but otherwise.. asking ppl to wash hands before holding the baby is going too far.

i think parents these days think WAY WAY too much about what can go wrong and trying to prevent it (paranoid thinking), rather than positive thoughts.

Mehnaz

i'm one of those parents .... if i see someone putting their finger in my son's mouth (it has happened, you will be surprised how many people do it and see nothing wrong with it), then yeah, my guard is up and i tell them to wash their hands. fortunately, most of the time, i have not had to do this.

if anybody is travelling on public transit, the same expecatation is there. wash your hands. especially with all this swine flu business, public transit is a very quick and easy way to pick up all sorts of germs.

you would wash your hands anyway when you come home right and hopefully before eating anything with your hands? so you can wash your hands before touching my kid or sticking your finger in his mouth. now he has teeth so think again cause he'll bite.

khawateen

ppl put fingers in ure baby's mouth!!!! ok that defies commin sense. no one touched my baby's face.

somegroovychick

maybe they're just excited and over-cautious cos its their first time around?

i went to see a friend's baby this weekend and they had one of those "please remove your shoes" signs that real estate agent's have during open houses. now that i found funny!

khawateen

hahaha groovy... man.. once the first baby thing does down and parents settle into a routine with their first born.. they drop their defences like mad.. all that paranoid thinking like washing hands a million times before getting close to their baby, or sterlizing anything that touches anything other than teh baby's mouth.. it all goes outta the window.. or it did for me.. actually i never sterlized something just cuz it had fallen to the floor.. just rinsed it and it was back into the baby's mouth..

somegroovychick

^ haha i didn't realize the 3-second rule applied to baby soothers too!
but seriously though, how else is your baby supposed to develop immunity to anything if you put them in a bubble?
although random people putting their fingers in baby's mouth is kinda gross and uncalled for...

Sara516

i've heard kissing a new born is a no-no?

Ira

Niksik, i am sure you remember how the hormones are running around when we are new parents and all? I think being a first time parent, people usually are overcautious, atleast in the begining. Even though we never had to be this forward with anyone, we used to keep hand sanitiser in plain sight, if anyone wanted to use it. Mostly people were very cautious adn washed their hands themselves. If i were you, i wouldnt be offended but rather try to remember the time we were new parents and how paranoid we were about every little germ. I am sure they will get better with time too.

Meem

It's gross that some people put their fingers in babies mouths or give them their hand to suck on. I get really annoyed but what do you tell auntys? I try to take my baby away from them. I hate how they think that just because they did things with their kids they can do it with yours too and if you say anything they get offended.

Niksik

OK see I would never kiss or put my finger any kid's mouth. Just carry in my arms and return the baby soon enough. Little babies are so cute and you get this urge to hold them...

hareem01

just don't stay for too long when you go to see a new baby.

Niksik

Yup, we left in less than half an hour.

Muzna

LOL....reminds me of when Noor was born. She hadn't been out of me for 24 hours when we had some close family friends drop in at the hospital to see her. Don't get me wrong.....I was thrilled to bits that they came.....but they brought a 5 year old with a runny nose and hacking cough with them.

I didn't realize it until hubby mentioned it after they had gone. He was surprised that the nursing station had not stopped the child altogether.

I was never very careful. Never sterilized anything. Never told anyone else to be careful either.

hareem01

^You did the right thing. It doesn't help much to be very careful, the more you care the more often baby becomes sick.

same

very true

agree wtih muzna

Niksik

I think I was way too easy going...but lucky as well because my kids never really got into any major problems...

hareem01

^may be because you were easy going that's why.

I was most careful with my first one and he's the one who had to go through most problems like eye infection, eczema etc.

CorruptAngel

I wouldn't make my guests wash their hands before holding my baby but I wouldn't mind if someone asked me to do it either.

MIAinVA

Niksik... its the flu season na, maybe thats why they asked you to wash your hands. You know how overboard they're going in US with the wash your hands theme these days.... its crazy out there.