When you have a new baby, it's an exciting time for you and your partner, and it's only natural that friends and family want to visit you and your new addition at this special time. However many new parents can completely overwhelmed by the steady stream of visitors coming and going, particularly unannounced ones, and this can also eat into precious bonding time with your new little person.

Photos: Cassowary, Wikimedia Commons
Say no, but say it nicely
Obviously, the time will come when you will be glad of having visitors come to see you and your baby, but it just might not be within the first hour or so of getting home from the hospital. You might be happy with your closest family visiting you, but more than that you might just want to stay indoors and get used to having a new baby in your household. Here are a few tactics you could employ:
1) If you're letting people know your news by text, or email etc (as is often the norm), you could add in a sentence at the end, that says 'we'll let you know when we're good for visitors' which will signal to most people that unannounced guests aren't expected.
2) Make a sign. My friend had been home from hospital for less than an hour and had already received 10 visitors. She quickly noticed her previously chilled out baby was getting quite anxious at literally being passed around from person to person and when her last visitor left, she decided to make a sign. The hastily made signage was hung on her front door and simply said, 'Mother and Baby are sleeping, so sorry to miss you.' This sign stayed up a good 24 hours so that the family got to spend some quality time bonding.
3) Ask your partner to go on door duty. If you get unannounced visitors that you just aren't ready for, have your partner play 'door staff' and ask him to give your apologies.
You're not being mean, you're just wanting some quiet time as a family. Friends and family will understand, and as a better approach moving forward, you can arrange suitable times for your visitors to come so they don't all arrive at once and so that you aren't having to play hostess when you should be concentrating on being a new parent. By knowing in advance when your friends and family are going to descend upon you also means that you'll have time to have a shower, tidy up and have your baby dressed in their cutest of outfits.
And don't forget....the best visitors bring cake!
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