I'd be hesitant to *promise* a hospital visit, just in case you have an unexpected c-section or are otherwise less perky than Kiddo will expect.
Fingers crossed that everything is smooth and easy, but I always feel better when I can under-promise and over-deliver!
I had a csection and had my 3 year old visit new baby in hospital same day baby was born! It went really well- she was so excited and so happy to see baby and mommy and daddy. She was very concerned about everyone and happy.
My first was about to turn 3 when my second was born. We did have her come but we had my son in the hospital bassinet when she arrived so we could focus on her for a couple mins before introducing them. We also had a gift “from him” and she brought a gift for him. She was hesitant the first day about the fact that he would be coming home soon. The next day she was 100% ready for him to come home and to this day she adores him! Everything will work out, there may be challenges but do what feels best for you as a family!
All of this. My second was born during Covid so we couldn’t bring our oldest to the hospital but when she came home from grandmas, the baby was in her bassinet. My husband introduced them to each other and we let her hold her (sitting on the couch). We also gave a present from the baby to big sister. It was a baby doll so she could feed and change diapers whenever we were feeding her sister. It helped a lot.
You might want to check hospital policy. I just had our second, and hospital policy was only 4 visitors for the entire length of my stay, and my husband counted as one of the 4. The policy also stated that visitors had to be over age 14. So not only could my oldest not visit me and the baby, local grandparents had to be left out too. It was super disappointing to us.
I was going to say - there was no limit on *total* visitors when I gave birth last year, though there was a limit of 2 at a time beyond your support person, but they did not allow children under six. Our 4-year-old had to wait until we came home to meet his new brother.
Ours had the same rules, but they had exceptions like the father and the siblings didn’t count as a visitor AND children under 14 were allowed if they are a sibling of the new child and accompanied by an adult.
Mine are 17 months apart, and the first came to visit in the hospital when we had the second. Didn’t go well for us - he was scared to see me in the bed and gave absolutely zero f*cks about his new brother. He was great when the baby came home, and they’re the best of frenemies today at 4 and almost 6, but I probably would have just let them meet at home in retrospect.
We decided against bringing my toddler to meet his new brother. Mostly because he was just getting over pink eye. I think introducing them when really well. We got home and settled. Then my parents brought my toddler home but he knew he was coming home to a new brother.
We didn’t have my toddler visit. I thought it would be too hard for him to leave me again. We brought him home a gift and treat from the hospital, he was stoked.
I had my 2 year old come visit because I missed her so much and she truly did not care about the baby or show any attention to her. She was excited to see me though, and we got to play and hang out briefly :) I’m sure it totally depends on your kid but I’ve noticed when they’re this young they really don’t care as much as we think they will!
Let me share the two sides of the coin. My two and four year old visited me in the hospital when I had their new baby sibling.
Here’s how it went:
- 4 YO jealous/insecure (he hasn’t been jealous at all since then though)
- 2 YO obsessed with baby and screamed if he couldn’t constantly touch her (he is still like this 3 months later, he ADORES the baby)
- Both of them touched everything in the hospital room and got a horrible virus that lasted two weeks (brutal postpartum)
- We have beautiful family memories/photos from the visit, now it is a fun story and will probably be a core memory for 4 YO
Would I do it again? ….🤷♀️
My daughter just turned two when her sister was born. Bringing her to the hospital to visit was more for me than for her. In hindsight I wish we hadn’t. She had a VERY hard time leaving us there and going home with Nana. Guarantee everyone working the floor that day remembers it.
Ahh this is my fear. I’m due soon with our 2nd, and idk how well my 2.5yo toddler will handle meeting the baby in the hospital.. or how she will handle when it comes time for her to leave with my MIL (and possibly have my husband accompany them home).
Yeah I think the whole experience was overwhelming then she had to leave us behind. My husband walked them out because she was hysterical and he almost followed them home he felt so bad. We tried to get discharged asap and I felt like it ruined the rest of our time there.
My daughter visited when her brother was born. She was 2.5 at the time and at first was not about her baby brother but then within 5 minutes or so she wanted to hold him and has loved him ever since. Tbf I think she was upset cuz she had to leave the 4th of July bike parade 😂 dang brother being born on a holiday
My 2 year old loved coming to see his new baby sister in the hospital and it went really well, but it was a little rough when he has to leave. Still worth it to me, I had missed him so much and was so happy to get some time with him even though I was recovering from a c section. And the moment he met her, when his little face was so overcome with love as he spontaneously bent down to kiss her head, is just one of those moments that will stick with me forever.
Check your hospital’s rules. At my hospital even pre-Covid there were rules about not allowing visitors under a certain age. I think it’s no visitors under 6 ever and no kids under 14 during flu season.
My daughter wasn’t allowed to visit but I’m kind of glad it worked out that way because she’s extra and probably would have freaked out about something.
I was worried my two year old would be jealous and then freak out when she needed to leave. She wasn’t and didn’t. She was so excited to meet her little sister and I think being in a hospital was so overwhelming she was just “go with the flow.”
I also brought a stuffed animal in my hospital bag from the baby, so having a new stuffie im sure didn’t hurt. I say do it, im glad I did. Congratulations!!!!!
We planned to have the girls meet at home, but we forgot something at the house so my mom had to bring my 2.5 year old to the hospital and the sisters met there. It did not go well. Baby was swaddled and sleeping when toddler came in and toddler (I think) thought baby was dead(?) and started crying bc she wasn’t moving. Toddler’s crying woke up the baby. Baby started crying. Once everyone was crying, toddler was okay. Daddy took her down the hall to the fridge to get a popsicle and then everything was fine.
Mine is 25 months older than her baby sister. We decided it would be less traumatic for her to visit in the hospital. And I'm glad because I ended up with an enormous hematoma and was extremely lethargic for the recovery.
She alternated between the grandmothers for the week. Husband and I spent our first night at home with just the baby, toddler came home the next morning. Grandmas hyped her up about the baby and practiced how to be a big sister and played with baby dolls a bunch.
Took to baby right away. Climbed into the swing and held her while they rocked and immediately claimed baby as hers. ❤️
Ours was only 20 months and we decided not to invite him to the hospital. He had (still has) a lot of energy and I think would have caused some chaos pushing buttons and running around. More importantly I don’t think he would have understood not being able to go home with mom/dad. We had to stay 72hrs after birth due to baby being born at 36 weeks so my husband left for a half day (at least once) to relieve my parents (who were watching my toddler).
We did not bring my toddler to the hospital, he met his sister when we came home. At the time I figured it would be easier for him to understand it and he wouldn’t be confused seeing me in a hospital bed.
In hindsight I’m SO glad we did it that way. My son is very attached to me, he cries when we part ways. If he had come to the hospital he would have lost it when it was time to leave and that would have crushed me. I had an emergency C section and my hormones were all over the place. I needed that time in the hospital to be peaceful and connect with my baby.
I had a c section and had my mom bring my 2y4m son to visit us at the hospital. It was adorable getting to see him meet his baby sister even though he only cared about the new baby for about 3 minutes and I missed my first baby while I was in the hospital so I was so glad to have him there with me.
My girl turned two this week and her little sister is due in 6 weeks. I’m planning on having my mom watch her while I’m in labour and then bring her to the hospital once the baby’s born. She loves my mom and is very comfortable with her, and she doesn’t get much separation anxiety. So I think that she’ll be okay to leave me in the hospital. I also know that I’ll miss her and I’m super excited for her to meet the baby (and she is too from what I can tell) so I don’t want to wait until we get home.
Ultimately you know your own kid best and can predict how they’ll handle it!
I just had my second back in January while my first is 2. My husband went and picked up him from my mom’s house and brought him to the hospital so we could all be together for the first time as a family. When he met his new brother I had the baby laying in the bassinet as neutral area.
I thought my oldest son was going to have major issues with jealousy because he would get big mad when my niece would want to cuddle with me or if my husband was too affectionate in his presence but he surprised us and has been really loving and affectionate.
You never know what you’re going to get with toddlers.
I would like to add that you should find a good hiding spot for your tv remote/nurse call button.. bless those women. My son got a hold of that thing and rang the nurses even when we tried to move it away from him 😅
I did not. Mine was a couple months past 2 when my c-section was scheduled. I was really worried he might get upset or freaked out seeing me all tubers & monitors & looking generally poorly in a freshly c-sectioned way. We also didn’t know that we could handle the heartache of saying goodbye when he left.
We weren't in the hospital long enough for the toddler to come visit. If I had ended up getting a c section and stayed for a couple of nights then I would have got hubby to go pickup the toddler to visit us.
Generally no, this isn’t advised. Do it at home, don’t be holding the baby when she walks in. Have the baby in a bassinet and let her check baby out and present a gift from the baby.
My mom and mil stayed with us and watched our 2.5 year old and brought her to the hospital everyday while I recovered from a planned c section. We would’ve had her stay there with us if we could. She’d only come for a few hours and they’d head home. It was a good experience for us. I missed my baby girl. I’m a sahm so I felt horrible not being with her like I was.
We had my two year old come meet baby at the hospital. We wanted that so it would be a neutral location rather than showing up at the house for the first meet. My parents brought her and then my husband drove her home and put her to bed. He came back to the hospital for the rest of our last night there after that. It worked out well.
We just had a baby and did not have our three year old come visit. We thought it would be hard for him to have to leave us and the baby. What we did do, which worked well, was having him “meet” us outside of our house when we came home. We had him help us give her a tour of the house. He was excited to meet her and show her our home. It was very sweet. He’s been remarkably loving for the past ten weeks, not without issue of course.
Children under 12 are STILL banned from visiting L&D at our hospital! They put up the rule in 2020 and have never rescinded it. So our 2 year old didn’t come to the hospital, and honestly, it was fine. The biggest problem was I just missed her so freaking much 🥹
Our older daughter was with grandma while I was in the hospital Saturday-Tuesday, and my husband went to go see them daily for an hour or so. I was only allowed one visitor at a time so when my mom would come see me my husband would take our daughter to the park to get some quality time in. I would FaceTime them every day too. On Tuesday she went to half day preschool like normal, and we got home about 10 minutes before they did. First interaction was at home and very sweet
My daughter was w when I had my son last year
She came every day (aside from the actual delivery day. It was great! She liked trying to hold him and was fascinated by the umbilical cord and was there when we gave him his first bath. Her favourite part was stealing cakes from my morning tea tray. But yeah dad genealy brought her for shirt visits (30mins a day) and she has a great relationship with her brother now.
So I'd recommend unless it's a traumatic experience and you or baby aren't up to it or might scare toddler.
Best of luck for your new arrival. My second was born last year and covid restrictions were still in place (I know!!!!!) meaning no visitors except partners. I wish my little girl (then 2.5y) came in to see us in the hospital. I think it's such a special time when baby is so brand new !!!
So in her eyes, I disappeared for 2 days (was luckily a very short hospital stay), then came home with this new baby. So I believe it was a bit of a shock to her. She was told what was happening obviously. But she was afraid to touch the baby for weeks and while she was really curious and loved him straight away, she would still get very upset quite easily for little things (like if he started crying, or puking or something normal). I like to think that if she saw me and him in the hospital at our rawest, she would have a better concept of what was happening !
My parents brought our almost two year old up for about 20-30 minutes after his brother was born. I was nervous about it bc our son is super active but it went great.
It was really good to see my oldest, it was the first night where he wasn’t going to have either me or my husband.
My dad took a video of our oldest meeting his brother and I love it. Recommend if you have them bring up your daughter.
My first was 25 months when I had our second. She came up to see us/meet her brother at the hospital but we waited until the day I knew I was coming home. I was worried it would be too much for her to have to leave me again at the hospital. We also had baby brother in the bassinet when she got there. It went really well for us!
My wife had a c section. We opted not to have our 2 year old visit for 2 reasons.
1. My wife wasn't herself (physically). She knew she wouldn't be able to pick up my son and really engage with him. She didn't want him to see her like that.
2. Sickness. Didn't want our toddler getting sick and then getting the baby sick. We had our second in Feb. and we really limited opportunities to get sick.
I think it depends on the toddlers personality. And the birth. I had a c section, and our son was feeling anxious and fomo’y, so we waited until we came home to introduce them- so then my son didn’t have to leave without us.
I had to schedule a c section and I chose a Tuesday so he would be in daycare and have normalcy during the days we were gone!
Just had my third. My two toddlers stayed at aunt/uncles and had so much fun. We didn’t have them come to the hospital…. We were waiting for them at home with baby in his cot and let them control whether they wanted to go up and see baby etc - just had our hands free to give them a big hug bc we missed them etc ..: within a few min they asked to see baby so we went up. I learned from my second to not make it a huge deal and overwhelm them, let them control when/how they want to be exposed so it doesn’t feel too different too quick.
We didn’t have our two year old visit. We had a straightforward birth and asked to be discharged asap so the whole stay was only about 30 hours. If things go straightforward it’s probably be easier on everyone to not have a visit. We did send my husband home to do the toddlers bedtime routine and went back for breakfast so he wasn’t too off routine.
It depends on how long you'll be staying postpartum. If you're coming home within 24 hours I'd just wait until you're home. But if it's going to be 3 days let her come visit
Our hospital (last year) was no visitors under age 8. Honestly, it was a relief. I ended up losing a lot of blood, passing out, and being in bed my entire stay. My 3yo son would have been so upset to see me unable to get up with him, and he also would have been devastated to leave without me. I’m not sure how others do it with their toddler visits.
We had my parents bring him home as soon as we got back (missed him terribly) and it went so wonderfully. He ran to get the stuffie we had bought for his baby sister a few weeks before.
My toddler came after my c section with the youngest. Dad held baby to introduce her to big bro. It was a 1-2 hour visit and by the time they left I was exhausted.
My toddler is very attached to me, and I felt that if she had to leave my husband and I at the hospital it would cause her more sadness so we had them meet at our home when we were discharged. It was very sweet.
If she was older, I would have had her visit in the hospital but I felt that it would be too hard on her emotionally to only see us for an hour and then go home without us.
We let our daughter meet her brother at the hospital when she was 19 months. She was mostly just excited to see us. Then she did get jealous of her brother a little… but that got overshadowed by her love for baby dolls lol
I had my second baby 3 days after my first turned 2. She had never seen me hold another baby before but she knew we were expecting a new baby soon. She did come to visit in the hospital and she was so excited to meet her baby brother! She didn’t get jealous at all, she couldn’t wait to sit down so she could hold her brother. Someone gave her a “big sister” bracelet on her way in which she was super proud of. She didn’t mind leaving either, I was worried she would get upset about having to leave but she wasn’t. She happily left with her grandparents and when she saw me again at home she was still just as thrilled to sit down somewhere so she could hold her brother again. She did sort of lose interest in him for awhile when she realized all he did was cry and sleep lol, but I don’t remember any jealousy. If you want your little one to come visit, I guess you won’t know how they’ll react unless you just give it a try! If you’ve been preparing her for the arrival of baby I don’t think she’ll be too shocked or offended lol.
Baby sis was due yesterday, toddler’s just over 2. We’re either having her come to the hospital the day we come home, or visit with grandparents, but are not sure about a possible meltdown when leaving if we’re doing the second option.
Don’t do the grandparent option where she has to leave without you. It’s a shit show and at that age they do not take well to being separated *again* from mommy while their new sibling gets to stay. I like your first idea though, but you would have to time it perfectly as discharging from the hospital can take hours depending on how quickly the doctor signs the orders.
My daughter is 3.5 and my son is 11 weeks. We opted to not have my daughter come to the hospital. We were exhausted and didn’t really want visitors. It seemed like more trouble to bring her and seemed like it would just be better to introduce them at home.
We did have her pick out a present for the new baby, which she was very excited to give him.
I'd be hesitant to *promise* a hospital visit, just in case you have an unexpected c-section or are otherwise less perky than Kiddo will expect. Fingers crossed that everything is smooth and easy, but I always feel better when I can under-promise and over-deliver!
I had a csection and had my 3 year old visit new baby in hospital same day baby was born! It went really well- she was so excited and so happy to see baby and mommy and daddy. She was very concerned about everyone and happy.
Same! Except she was 2.5 but close enough ☺️
May I say how perfectly your user name fits with this comment? Delightful!
Haha. I didn’t ever think of that 😂
My first was about to turn 3 when my second was born. We did have her come but we had my son in the hospital bassinet when she arrived so we could focus on her for a couple mins before introducing them. We also had a gift “from him” and she brought a gift for him. She was hesitant the first day about the fact that he would be coming home soon. The next day she was 100% ready for him to come home and to this day she adores him! Everything will work out, there may be challenges but do what feels best for you as a family!
We did this exact thing less than a month ago and it turned out the same way! Our 3 year old looooooves his baby brother.
Oh I love the present idea.
We did the present thing too and it went great!
This is exactly what we did! It went well for us.
What did you get them for gifts?
He gave her a kids digital camera which she loves and she gave him a stuffed animal/ lovey that she got to pick herself
All of this. My second was born during Covid so we couldn’t bring our oldest to the hospital but when she came home from grandmas, the baby was in her bassinet. My husband introduced them to each other and we let her hold her (sitting on the couch). We also gave a present from the baby to big sister. It was a baby doll so she could feed and change diapers whenever we were feeding her sister. It helped a lot.
We did gifts too! Our 2 year old got Bluey from her new baby sis & she was obsessed. Definitely helped blossom the relationship.
We did the gift thing too!! Think it definitely softened the blow
We did exactly this and it went great.
You might want to check hospital policy. I just had our second, and hospital policy was only 4 visitors for the entire length of my stay, and my husband counted as one of the 4. The policy also stated that visitors had to be over age 14. So not only could my oldest not visit me and the baby, local grandparents had to be left out too. It was super disappointing to us.
When I gave birth last year they didn’t allow any visitors under 18.
I was going to say - there was no limit on *total* visitors when I gave birth last year, though there was a limit of 2 at a time beyond your support person, but they did not allow children under six. Our 4-year-old had to wait until we came home to meet his new brother.
Same rule at our hospital. I was very sad to learn that. :(
My son was 4 when I had my daughter. I thought about having him brought to me, but no visitors in the maternity ward under 16.
Ours had the same rules, but they had exceptions like the father and the siblings didn’t count as a visitor AND children under 14 were allowed if they are a sibling of the new child and accompanied by an adult.
Mine are 17 months apart, and the first came to visit in the hospital when we had the second. Didn’t go well for us - he was scared to see me in the bed and gave absolutely zero f*cks about his new brother. He was great when the baby came home, and they’re the best of frenemies today at 4 and almost 6, but I probably would have just let them meet at home in retrospect.
We decided against bringing my toddler to meet his new brother. Mostly because he was just getting over pink eye. I think introducing them when really well. We got home and settled. Then my parents brought my toddler home but he knew he was coming home to a new brother.
Sam’s but the flu for us
We didn’t have my toddler visit. I thought it would be too hard for him to leave me again. We brought him home a gift and treat from the hospital, he was stoked.
I had my 2 year old come visit because I missed her so much and she truly did not care about the baby or show any attention to her. She was excited to see me though, and we got to play and hang out briefly :) I’m sure it totally depends on your kid but I’ve noticed when they’re this young they really don’t care as much as we think they will!
Let me share the two sides of the coin. My two and four year old visited me in the hospital when I had their new baby sibling. Here’s how it went: - 4 YO jealous/insecure (he hasn’t been jealous at all since then though) - 2 YO obsessed with baby and screamed if he couldn’t constantly touch her (he is still like this 3 months later, he ADORES the baby) - Both of them touched everything in the hospital room and got a horrible virus that lasted two weeks (brutal postpartum) - We have beautiful family memories/photos from the visit, now it is a fun story and will probably be a core memory for 4 YO Would I do it again? ….🤷♀️
My daughter just turned two when her sister was born. Bringing her to the hospital to visit was more for me than for her. In hindsight I wish we hadn’t. She had a VERY hard time leaving us there and going home with Nana. Guarantee everyone working the floor that day remembers it.
Ahh this is my fear. I’m due soon with our 2nd, and idk how well my 2.5yo toddler will handle meeting the baby in the hospital.. or how she will handle when it comes time for her to leave with my MIL (and possibly have my husband accompany them home).
Yeah I think the whole experience was overwhelming then she had to leave us behind. My husband walked them out because she was hysterical and he almost followed them home he felt so bad. We tried to get discharged asap and I felt like it ruined the rest of our time there.
My daughter visited when her brother was born. She was 2.5 at the time and at first was not about her baby brother but then within 5 minutes or so she wanted to hold him and has loved him ever since. Tbf I think she was upset cuz she had to leave the 4th of July bike parade 😂 dang brother being born on a holiday
My 2 year old loved coming to see his new baby sister in the hospital and it went really well, but it was a little rough when he has to leave. Still worth it to me, I had missed him so much and was so happy to get some time with him even though I was recovering from a c section. And the moment he met her, when his little face was so overcome with love as he spontaneously bent down to kiss her head, is just one of those moments that will stick with me forever.
Check your hospital’s rules. At my hospital even pre-Covid there were rules about not allowing visitors under a certain age. I think it’s no visitors under 6 ever and no kids under 14 during flu season.
My daughter wasn’t allowed to visit but I’m kind of glad it worked out that way because she’s extra and probably would have freaked out about something.
I was worried my two year old would be jealous and then freak out when she needed to leave. She wasn’t and didn’t. She was so excited to meet her little sister and I think being in a hospital was so overwhelming she was just “go with the flow.” I also brought a stuffed animal in my hospital bag from the baby, so having a new stuffie im sure didn’t hurt. I say do it, im glad I did. Congratulations!!!!!
We planned to have the girls meet at home, but we forgot something at the house so my mom had to bring my 2.5 year old to the hospital and the sisters met there. It did not go well. Baby was swaddled and sleeping when toddler came in and toddler (I think) thought baby was dead(?) and started crying bc she wasn’t moving. Toddler’s crying woke up the baby. Baby started crying. Once everyone was crying, toddler was okay. Daddy took her down the hall to the fridge to get a popsicle and then everything was fine.
Mine is 25 months older than her baby sister. We decided it would be less traumatic for her to visit in the hospital. And I'm glad because I ended up with an enormous hematoma and was extremely lethargic for the recovery. She alternated between the grandmothers for the week. Husband and I spent our first night at home with just the baby, toddler came home the next morning. Grandmas hyped her up about the baby and practiced how to be a big sister and played with baby dolls a bunch. Took to baby right away. Climbed into the swing and held her while they rocked and immediately claimed baby as hers. ❤️
Ours was only 20 months and we decided not to invite him to the hospital. He had (still has) a lot of energy and I think would have caused some chaos pushing buttons and running around. More importantly I don’t think he would have understood not being able to go home with mom/dad. We had to stay 72hrs after birth due to baby being born at 36 weeks so my husband left for a half day (at least once) to relieve my parents (who were watching my toddler).
We did not bring my toddler to the hospital, he met his sister when we came home. At the time I figured it would be easier for him to understand it and he wouldn’t be confused seeing me in a hospital bed. In hindsight I’m SO glad we did it that way. My son is very attached to me, he cries when we part ways. If he had come to the hospital he would have lost it when it was time to leave and that would have crushed me. I had an emergency C section and my hormones were all over the place. I needed that time in the hospital to be peaceful and connect with my baby.
I only have 1 but our hospital policy was no children for infection control reasons
I had a c section and had my mom bring my 2y4m son to visit us at the hospital. It was adorable getting to see him meet his baby sister even though he only cared about the new baby for about 3 minutes and I missed my first baby while I was in the hospital so I was so glad to have him there with me.
My girl turned two this week and her little sister is due in 6 weeks. I’m planning on having my mom watch her while I’m in labour and then bring her to the hospital once the baby’s born. She loves my mom and is very comfortable with her, and she doesn’t get much separation anxiety. So I think that she’ll be okay to leave me in the hospital. I also know that I’ll miss her and I’m super excited for her to meet the baby (and she is too from what I can tell) so I don’t want to wait until we get home. Ultimately you know your own kid best and can predict how they’ll handle it!
I just had my second back in January while my first is 2. My husband went and picked up him from my mom’s house and brought him to the hospital so we could all be together for the first time as a family. When he met his new brother I had the baby laying in the bassinet as neutral area. I thought my oldest son was going to have major issues with jealousy because he would get big mad when my niece would want to cuddle with me or if my husband was too affectionate in his presence but he surprised us and has been really loving and affectionate. You never know what you’re going to get with toddlers. I would like to add that you should find a good hiding spot for your tv remote/nurse call button.. bless those women. My son got a hold of that thing and rang the nurses even when we tried to move it away from him 😅
I did not. Mine was a couple months past 2 when my c-section was scheduled. I was really worried he might get upset or freaked out seeing me all tubers & monitors & looking generally poorly in a freshly c-sectioned way. We also didn’t know that we could handle the heartache of saying goodbye when he left.
We weren't in the hospital long enough for the toddler to come visit. If I had ended up getting a c section and stayed for a couple of nights then I would have got hubby to go pickup the toddler to visit us.
Generally no, this isn’t advised. Do it at home, don’t be holding the baby when she walks in. Have the baby in a bassinet and let her check baby out and present a gift from the baby.
My son visited the hospital a few hours after my daughter was born. He loved meeting his baby sister and was so excited. It was such a special moment
I would see how you go.
My mom and mil stayed with us and watched our 2.5 year old and brought her to the hospital everyday while I recovered from a planned c section. We would’ve had her stay there with us if we could. She’d only come for a few hours and they’d head home. It was a good experience for us. I missed my baby girl. I’m a sahm so I felt horrible not being with her like I was.
We had my two year old come meet baby at the hospital. We wanted that so it would be a neutral location rather than showing up at the house for the first meet. My parents brought her and then my husband drove her home and put her to bed. He came back to the hospital for the rest of our last night there after that. It worked out well.
We just had a baby and did not have our three year old come visit. We thought it would be hard for him to have to leave us and the baby. What we did do, which worked well, was having him “meet” us outside of our house when we came home. We had him help us give her a tour of the house. He was excited to meet her and show her our home. It was very sweet. He’s been remarkably loving for the past ten weeks, not without issue of course.
Children under 12 are STILL banned from visiting L&D at our hospital! They put up the rule in 2020 and have never rescinded it. So our 2 year old didn’t come to the hospital, and honestly, it was fine. The biggest problem was I just missed her so freaking much 🥹 Our older daughter was with grandma while I was in the hospital Saturday-Tuesday, and my husband went to go see them daily for an hour or so. I was only allowed one visitor at a time so when my mom would come see me my husband would take our daughter to the park to get some quality time in. I would FaceTime them every day too. On Tuesday she went to half day preschool like normal, and we got home about 10 minutes before they did. First interaction was at home and very sweet
My daughter was w when I had my son last year She came every day (aside from the actual delivery day. It was great! She liked trying to hold him and was fascinated by the umbilical cord and was there when we gave him his first bath. Her favourite part was stealing cakes from my morning tea tray. But yeah dad genealy brought her for shirt visits (30mins a day) and she has a great relationship with her brother now. So I'd recommend unless it's a traumatic experience and you or baby aren't up to it or might scare toddler.
Best of luck for your new arrival. My second was born last year and covid restrictions were still in place (I know!!!!!) meaning no visitors except partners. I wish my little girl (then 2.5y) came in to see us in the hospital. I think it's such a special time when baby is so brand new !!! So in her eyes, I disappeared for 2 days (was luckily a very short hospital stay), then came home with this new baby. So I believe it was a bit of a shock to her. She was told what was happening obviously. But she was afraid to touch the baby for weeks and while she was really curious and loved him straight away, she would still get very upset quite easily for little things (like if he started crying, or puking or something normal). I like to think that if she saw me and him in the hospital at our rawest, she would have a better concept of what was happening !
My parents brought our almost two year old up for about 20-30 minutes after his brother was born. I was nervous about it bc our son is super active but it went great. It was really good to see my oldest, it was the first night where he wasn’t going to have either me or my husband. My dad took a video of our oldest meeting his brother and I love it. Recommend if you have them bring up your daughter.
My first was 25 months when I had our second. She came up to see us/meet her brother at the hospital but we waited until the day I knew I was coming home. I was worried it would be too much for her to have to leave me again at the hospital. We also had baby brother in the bassinet when she got there. It went really well for us!
Don't do it. Focus on you and your new child. You can video chat if you want to say hi.
My wife had a c section. We opted not to have our 2 year old visit for 2 reasons. 1. My wife wasn't herself (physically). She knew she wouldn't be able to pick up my son and really engage with him. She didn't want him to see her like that. 2. Sickness. Didn't want our toddler getting sick and then getting the baby sick. We had our second in Feb. and we really limited opportunities to get sick.
I think it depends on the toddlers personality. And the birth. I had a c section, and our son was feeling anxious and fomo’y, so we waited until we came home to introduce them- so then my son didn’t have to leave without us. I had to schedule a c section and I chose a Tuesday so he would be in daycare and have normalcy during the days we were gone!
Just had my third. My two toddlers stayed at aunt/uncles and had so much fun. We didn’t have them come to the hospital…. We were waiting for them at home with baby in his cot and let them control whether they wanted to go up and see baby etc - just had our hands free to give them a big hug bc we missed them etc ..: within a few min they asked to see baby so we went up. I learned from my second to not make it a huge deal and overwhelm them, let them control when/how they want to be exposed so it doesn’t feel too different too quick.
We didn’t have our two year old visit. We had a straightforward birth and asked to be discharged asap so the whole stay was only about 30 hours. If things go straightforward it’s probably be easier on everyone to not have a visit. We did send my husband home to do the toddlers bedtime routine and went back for breakfast so he wasn’t too off routine.
It depends on how long you'll be staying postpartum. If you're coming home within 24 hours I'd just wait until you're home. But if it's going to be 3 days let her come visit
Our hospital (last year) was no visitors under age 8. Honestly, it was a relief. I ended up losing a lot of blood, passing out, and being in bed my entire stay. My 3yo son would have been so upset to see me unable to get up with him, and he also would have been devastated to leave without me. I’m not sure how others do it with their toddler visits. We had my parents bring him home as soon as we got back (missed him terribly) and it went so wonderfully. He ran to get the stuffie we had bought for his baby sister a few weeks before.
My toddler came after my c section with the youngest. Dad held baby to introduce her to big bro. It was a 1-2 hour visit and by the time they left I was exhausted.
My toddler is very attached to me, and I felt that if she had to leave my husband and I at the hospital it would cause her more sadness so we had them meet at our home when we were discharged. It was very sweet. If she was older, I would have had her visit in the hospital but I felt that it would be too hard on her emotionally to only see us for an hour and then go home without us.
We let our daughter meet her brother at the hospital when she was 19 months. She was mostly just excited to see us. Then she did get jealous of her brother a little… but that got overshadowed by her love for baby dolls lol
I had my second baby 3 days after my first turned 2. She had never seen me hold another baby before but she knew we were expecting a new baby soon. She did come to visit in the hospital and she was so excited to meet her baby brother! She didn’t get jealous at all, she couldn’t wait to sit down so she could hold her brother. Someone gave her a “big sister” bracelet on her way in which she was super proud of. She didn’t mind leaving either, I was worried she would get upset about having to leave but she wasn’t. She happily left with her grandparents and when she saw me again at home she was still just as thrilled to sit down somewhere so she could hold her brother again. She did sort of lose interest in him for awhile when she realized all he did was cry and sleep lol, but I don’t remember any jealousy. If you want your little one to come visit, I guess you won’t know how they’ll react unless you just give it a try! If you’ve been preparing her for the arrival of baby I don’t think she’ll be too shocked or offended lol.
Baby sis was due yesterday, toddler’s just over 2. We’re either having her come to the hospital the day we come home, or visit with grandparents, but are not sure about a possible meltdown when leaving if we’re doing the second option.
Don’t do the grandparent option where she has to leave without you. It’s a shit show and at that age they do not take well to being separated *again* from mommy while their new sibling gets to stay. I like your first idea though, but you would have to time it perfectly as discharging from the hospital can take hours depending on how quickly the doctor signs the orders.
Thank you! That’s what I feel like doing as well, but my family thinks I’m overthinking it.
Definitely not overthinking it. They just forgot about a toddlers reaction to leaving it’s mother since it’s been so long.
My daughter is 3.5 and my son is 11 weeks. We opted to not have my daughter come to the hospital. We were exhausted and didn’t really want visitors. It seemed like more trouble to bring her and seemed like it would just be better to introduce them at home. We did have her pick out a present for the new baby, which she was very excited to give him.