Are anxiously waiting by your phone for the call that your new twin nephews have entered the world? But wait! Pause before you rush out of the door and head straight to the hospital to hold those newborn babies!
You might be surprised to see what the new parents hope for visitors to understand.
Friends and family want to flock to the hospital to cuddle newborn babies and shower new parents with gifts, love and hopefully some food.
While some hospitals have guidelines to help new families manage visitors, others won’t. But it is important to know the do’s and don’t’s of hospital visits before you rush over and potentially overwhelm new and exhausted parents trying to navigate their new life.
Here are the thoughts that we compiled after both experiencing some great and not-so-great hospital visits and some insight we gained from our readers!
The Do’s and Don’ts Of Visiting New Parents After Birth:
DO
Call before you go.
Understand what the new family is hoping for and expecting from your visit.
Show up on time.
Check to see when would be a good time for your visit or if the family is even accepting visitors that day.
Keep it short.
Be ready to cut the visit short. Recovering from birth, learning to breast or bottle feed and getting to know new babies are emotionally taxing on families. Simply said…know when it is time to go!
Offer to bring food.
That sandwich your friend has been craving throughout her whole pregnancy and can now devour? Bring it! ALWAYS, ALWAYS bring food…or at least offer.
Maybe leave the gifts and flowers for a visit once the family settles in at home. Leaving the hospital is a haul and families have a lot of things to think about when they are packing to head home. Extra gifts and flowers only add to the stress of discharge. When the dust settles, consider sending some diapers a few weeks or months after birth.
Leave your little ones at home.
Generally, hospitals have strict rules about bringing small children to visit newborn babies, but as a general rule, they are best left at home.
Be respectful.
Wash your hands thoroughly when you enter the hospital room, even if you don’t plan on or get the opportunity to hold the babies.
DON’T
Never linger or overstay your welcome.
The last thing new parents want to do after a long night of labor is have to ask you to leave so they can rest a bit. Read the social cues, but a shorter the visit is USUALLY better.
Expect to hold the babies right away.
Let the new parents ask you if you would like to hold them. Hopefully you will get that chance. However, there could be several things happening after delivery in a hospital room at one time. Kangaroo care, feeding, nurses coming to take stats…whatever it be, it’s not always convenient to hold the babies right at the moment you are in the room.
Come with a sniffly nose.
If you are sick or have been sick recently, all new parents would ask that you stay away from their new babies until you are healthy.
Our Two Came True community is awesome. We asked you to chime in on what you loved or disliked about your hospital visits with your newborn twins. Thank you so much for sharing your responses to help us create this post!
