Visitors

Your first goal will be to get to know and care for your newborn baby, as well as to take care of yourself. It's fun to celebrate and share your joy with visitors. Yet it's important to create bonding time and get enough rest.

The nurses will need time to educate you about caring for yourself and your baby at home. Most of the time, nurses will arrange the teaching sessions around your visitors. But it may be necessary at times to ask visitors to wait until the teaching sessions have been completed.

Consider these tips about visitors:

• Plan ahead about how you want to handle visitors during your hospital stay. Perhaps you would like to select a few of those important people to visit you.
• Don't be afraid to ask visitors to leave if you are feeling exhausted or aren't comfortable nursing in front of company.
• Your nurse also will help you manage the number of visitors and length of stay. Let your nurse know if you would like a "quiet time" sign on your door, requesting visitors to check in at the nurses station.

Additional guidelines for birth center visitors:

• All visitors should be in good health, with no signs of infection or illness, such as rash or skin lesions; fever; sore throat; cold; diarrhea; vomiting; or any known exposure to mumps, measles, or chickenpox.
• During high rates of seasonal illness, visitors are restricted.
• All visitors, including birth partners are asked to wash their hands before holding or feeding the baby. This is important not only for the safety of your baby, but also for other babies in the unit.
• Children of any age may visit. However, they are the responsibility of the adult who brings them, and they must be supervised at all times.
• Larger groups of visitors can use the TV lounge or lobby area as they wait their turn to see you and your new baby.