by Laura Falin posted in Parenting

When I had my first baby, I remember being torn. First, here were all these things his doctor and baby books told me to do. But then there were all these moms who already had kids who kept looking at me condescendingly and saying things like, "I remember when I was that paranoid with my baby, too."
I felt like they looked down on me for trying to follow what I'd been told was safe for my newborn. I hated it.
I vowed that no matter how many kids I had (turns out, it was four), I would never belittle a new mom for doing what she thought was best for her baby. And I've tried as hard as I could to stick to that, because I still remember how humiliated I felt.

One of the first things I remember being teased about was germs. My husband and I kept our baby boy home for two months because he was born in the winter, in the middle of flu season. We didn't have to take him out, and we didn't see any good reason to risk it. People thought we were overboard. When they did come over, they were pretty thoughtful about washing their hands but we kept plenty of soap and antibacterial gel on-hand in case they needed it. It turns out, being vigilant about having people wash their hands around your baby isn't overreacting. It's keeping your baby safe. This post by BabyCenter experts backs that up -- hand-washing is the single best way to prevent the spread of illness, and newborns are especially vulnerable. It's okay to be a stickler on this.
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