My child was born on May 11th and still hasn’t met her grandparents uncles aunties great grandparents etc. my wife says it’s due to her not having her shots yet and wants to wait until my child gets them which would be around 2 months. I disagree with this decision and I think as long as we take all the precautions it’s very important for her to meet her extended family. There have been issues in the past between my family and my wife but I feel as if my child should not have to suffer because of these things. I expressed to my wife that my family is upset with me and hurt about not meeting my daughter as she is almost a month old now. I’m very close with my family and it’s damaging the relationship I have with them severely. My wife and child is priority of course but I don’t think it should at the expense of my relationship with my close knit family. I need help. Any advice???
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Your child won’t ‘suffer’ she literally won’t know that it took her two months to meet extended family. Your wife just went through an excruciating 9 months and a delivery, and is still recovering both physically and mentally. Especially if there has been conflict before you need to not push this. And your relatives need to respect the child’s mother in order to have a relationship with her. Also, google ‘lemon clot essay’
Congratulations on your new baby!
Firstly, the baby doesn’t know or mind and its neither here nor there for the baby if they meet or not.
Secondly your family care very, very much. They would be desperate to meet the baby. Would they be willinf to follow precautions that make your wife comfortable- hand washing masks, covid tests before hand etc? Or does your wife know she is about to get steam rolled once again and they will do as they please and take over.
Thirdly, the shots argument is questionable – the 2 month shots aren’t protecting against much. Certainly things that threaten a baby at this point aren’t going to be protected against at 2 months. (RSV/Covid/colds/etc) …
This one is on you. You need to really understand your wife’s concerns. Convey clearly any boundaries to your family and enforce them when they visit. Or she has every right to bail and not play the game.
You have every right as the co-parent of this child to introduce your baby to family. She’s being unreasonable. As long as the Adults are immunized the baby will be fine. If she’s really paranoid she can request they wear a mask as a compromise but not letting grandparents who haven’t done anything wrong meet a new baby is wrong.
It’s your child too, and people’s families usually see the kid right after they’re born. A lot of families go to the hospital.
Does your wife impose these same restrictions on everyone or just your family?
We have a newborn (11 days old) and I could not imagine keeping him from our families. Our families visited the hospital and have been over to our house to drop off food and visit a few times already. Everyone has their own comfort level with visitors early on but with proper precautions I believe family should be an exception, especially as a month as gone by since your baby was born. This is important to you so hopefully you can reach a compromise.
I can’t imagine not sharing my baby with loved ones. When I brought my oldest home, handed her straight to my dad, while he was on his horse and he took her for a ride.
With my youngest 2, stopped at my husbands work and let everyone in the shop hold them before we even got home.
Remember, this is your child to, I hope y’all can have a peaceful compromise.
You guys I appreciate all the advice and pointers. We were able to compromise and We are going to have my daughter meet my family members with a few precautions. Masks, no holding the baby or touching the baby. We will be brief and not stay at everyone’s house for long but it’s definitely worth it all. Thanks so much everyone I appreciate this very much.
Well, couple of decades back wheny lil brother was a new born our friends and family visited. One of them were sick and didn’t tell my parents. My brother got super sick from the cold and his fever shot up. Doctors told my parents that they should prepare for the worst. if his fever doesn’t go down during the night then he could have brain damage as the temperature already reached 106°F.
Luckily it worked and he pulled through.
If you wife is cautious, then let her be.