The time for family lunches and dinners with friends is approaching, but what to do if a child has just arrived?
And if you need to accompany an older brother or sister to school parties or a friend's birthday? The advice of family pediatricians Adima Lamborghini, member of the Study Center of the Paesena Federation of pediatricians, e Laura Reali, member of the Pediatricians for a possible world group of the Paediatricians Cultural Association.
Christmas celebrations with relatives and friends
"Let's start from an assumption: there are no rigid rules or scientific study results that can dictate what is best to do" declare Lamborghini and Reali in unison. "What must be valid is of the simple common sense".
On the one hand there is the fact that the first month of a baby's life is a very delicate moment, both because new parents and newborn are learning to know each other - and perhaps to calibrate breastfeeding - and because the little one is very sensitive to stress and is still fragile from an immune point of view, so you can get sick easily. On the other hand, however, there is the pleasure of sharing a moment of celebration with family or closest friends. Indeed, a double joy since there is also the arrival of the baby to celebrate.
Read also: Christmas with children: give more magic and fewer gamesHow then to reconcile the two needs? Using the famous common sense. "A good general tip would be to stay focused on the respect for the needs of the child. Which are, for example, being in a quiet place and not seeing his habits upset "says Reali.
Very noisy, hectic environments full of people touching, kissing, caressing and picking up can create one for the little one. emotional and psychological stress, causing nervousness and irritability that can interfere with sleep and nutrition, as well as put him at risk of contracting some infectious disease. So the party with the family (maybe not too large ...) or with the closest friends is fine, but why not find a way to keep the baby quiet?
"Just put him to sleep in a small room away from the confusion" suggests Lamborghini. And ask relatives and friends about don't hang on him too much or even more so to kiss it: a minimum hygiene rule to reduce the risk of infections. "Starting with that of influence, which generally reaches its peak of diffusion during the Christmas period ", remembers the pediatrician.
In short, even in the midst of parties there is no reason to keep the little one in the immediate vicinity of people who could pass something on, even more so if they have signs of cooling in place. "The speech is valid for everyone, from great-grandparents down, but especially for children, typical carriers of flu and parainfluenza viruses" underlines Reali. Also recalling the danger it can represent for such small children, who still cannot be vaccinated, the drop in vaccination coverage.
School parties and birthdays
Apart from lunches and dinners with family or close friends, for other types of celebrations, such as Christmas parties at school, plays, or birthday parties for friends of any brothers or sisters, the speech is slightly different.
The problem is always that ofexposure to viruses and bacteria. If in a family and domestic situation the risk can be contained, in a closed place crowded with children, protection becomes more complicated. "In these circumstances it is easier to run into some pathogenic germ. Why expose a newborn, whose defense possibilities are not yet brilliant, especially if bottle-fed, to such a risk? Better to leave him at home" suggests Reali.
For the same reason, Lamborghini strongly discourages frequenting infants in other closed and crowded places, such as shopping centers. “They are not areas suitable for walking with the very little ones: they have a concentration of viruses that would be the envy of a research laboratory. Much better the outdoor Christmas markets ".
Read also: Winter and children: why they have to be outdoors even if it is cold and the weather is not niceAnd if anyone gets scared at the idea of the cold, pediatricians are ready to reassure. "In the meantime, it's a false problem here, it's hard for it to get really cold" underlines Reali, remembering that in any case we have everything we need to cover a newborn, from padded jumpsuits to blankets to pram covers and so on. "If anything, the problem is the other way around" concludes Lamborghini: "Children too covered in overheated homes".
Read also: How to dress the newborn in winter in a pramTAG:
- first year
- newborn christmas
- christmas children
- Christmas holidays
- newborn parties
- newborn 0-3 months
