Hellobee Boards

It depends on baby, I think. DH's SIL A had a horrible experience kind of like that. Baby had met most of her family, not DH's. (they're two hours from us). Anyhoo, her hubby's 40th birthday was two weeks after baby was born so they decided to combine the two things, have everyone over the same evening. It didn't work out. Everyone insisted on holding/ feeding DS. He got more and more pissed off as it went on, so everyone insisted on sharing their opinions on how to settle him, or indeed tried to settle him themselves, then hand him back to A when their method didn't work! Poor baby was just so wound up and over stimulated, nothing was going to work except peace and quiet. In desperation, A snuck out of the house with her sister H and made H drive for about an hour and a half, round the block, (middle of nowhere, five mile block) until baby calmed down.

That was last July and she's still quite bitter about it. She said at one memorable point she had 9 women telling her what she should do with DS. And she already had an older son so she did have a fair idea what to do herself. She doesn't get to meet his family as often as I do so isn't as at ease to fight with them.

Sorry long story there! I think if people are willing to take it easy on LO and not spend the evening passing the child from Billy to Jack, then it could go ok. I can see the merit in getting it out of the way, so to speak. Do wait until after delivery to decide, tho- if your recovery is difficult you might not feel up to it either.

We had people come to the hospital (just told them when visiting hours were over and let them decide when they wanted to drop by).
We only have 2 relatives (families) that live locally, so they dropped by when they could/wanted to.
If I had my LO in CA where we have tons of friends and family, it probably would have been a different story. I think having one day as a meet the baby day would be good.

My first reaction is that it would be better to spread it out, but I see the benefits off just getting it over with in one fell swoop! I think a "meet the baby" gathering is a great idea.

We spread it out with both babies; I like it better that way because it's less overwhleming for me since I get a little anxious with too many people around.

Our families are all about 3hrs from us. My parents came and stayed the weekend after we came home from hosp, my sibling (and extended family) didn't meet LO until she was about 2 weeks old when we were at my parents for a wedding shower (she pretty much slept through it so not very traumatic). DH's family didn't meet her until she was 18mo (despite DH's efforts for it to happen sooner). We did have lots of friends come to meet her but they came one family at a time the two weeks after she was born and always brought a meal.

I think 1 day set aside is a great idea! I wish we'd have thought to do that. My husband took 1 week off after our LO was born, and there was not one single day in that entire week that we didn't have visitors. It was exhausting. It would have been so much better to pack it all in one day!