What are doctors telling new moms about taking newborns out in public?

I have seen this and have asked the women why their new born baby is out shopping with them. And they all say the same thing, I need to get out I'm bored. It is nice to see what kind of mom they will be.

It is best for the baby not to take them out.

Oh my God! If I had a newborn and had to run out to walmart and had noone to watch them, you bet your ass I would bring the baby with me. But if they're just going out and about bringing their baby everywhere, that's a different story. Who WANTS to leave the house after just having a baby anyway...I didn't!

my son is 8wks and my doctor still tells me not to take him out to shopping malls and such

my doc never told me that there was any restriction or recommendation for going out with my baby. of course he told me to be cautious and not let people touch her, but honestly, i have a family to keep going. it's totally unrealistic to stay home for 2 months. i'd go crazy, but besides that, there are things I have to do that just cannot wait until my husband has a day off, and by the time he gets home at bedtime, I'm ready to crash, so you can forget about him taking the baby for a while so I can shop. There's no reason a new baby can't go out as long as they're pretty healthy and you're careful about who you get around them. My baby will be 6 weeks old on Monday and we've been out shopping and visiting people and to church since she was less than a week old. I just don't let anybody touch her. Now if my doc said she had a weak immune system or something, i'd definitely be more careful.

My doctor never said that to me either. Just to not let people touch him. I think it's retarded to stay locked up in the house for that long with a newborn. Come on.

I was told that as long as the baby is getting mommy milk, his immune system is strong enough to be in public. JUst do ot let people touch the baby.

It's one thing to be careful with a newborn about letting people touch/get close - - but it is completely unreasonable to expect every new mom to stay locked up at home with a new child for 2 full months. If you baby is healthy, there is no reason that you can't take them out into public as long as you are taking precautions to keep them healthy. I am in the same boat as the pp who said that she had a house to run and couldn't always count on DH to be able to watch the baby while I ran errands - not to mention that if I DID save up every errand for when I could go by myself, it would take me more than a few hours and then we're talking about missing feedings, which at that age I was not ok with introducing bottles and even if I were I would have been in pain from missing a feed. On top of that, I have a toddler running around who CANNOT be cooped up int he house all day just because she has a new little brother.

Where did you look it up? Our pediatric practice says nothing about keeping them in unless they have a medical issue. You use the usual precautions. How old fashioned and archaic.

I took my daughter out all the time in the first 2 months. Its completely unreasonable to stay in your house for 2 months. My cousin kept her baby at home for the first 3 months and the first time she took her out she picked up RSV. Her daughter is literally always sick. She stayed in for the first 3 months, she was breastfed, everything else they recommend

ALL babies are born with weak immune systems.

The flu, colds, and RSV are all airborne diseases. People don't have to touch the baby. Germs are even carried by ventilation systems.

I didn't realize moms didn't know about airborne diseases and thought babies could only get sick if people touched their babies. Do moms know about RSV? The death rate from RSV is 10 times that from flu in a typical year.

Moms are worried about H1N1 but don't know basics about protecting their babies.

If doctors aren't telling moms then how can parents get the information that should come with babies: booklets from the hospital, info on TV, posters in stores. Other ideas?