unvaccinated cousin sleepovers?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have 9 nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 2-11 years old, 4 of whom are not driving distance from us; all of whom will be in camps this summer with various levels of masking. We have a 2.5 year old and I am due with DC2 in early August. We have not seen our siblings who are not driving distance since October and November 2019.

Would you be comfortable having nieces and nephews stay with you?

Does your answer depend on their ages?

Does your answer depend on whether they would need to fly or drive to visit?

If yes, would you ask them to be tested before/after they arrive?

If yes, would you ask them to mask inside until they are tested?

Does your answer depend on if they visit before or after the baby is born?

How long after the baby is born would you want to wait to have visitors stay with you?

[Anonymous]

Any good pediatrician would tell you not to expose a newborn to a bunch of school aged children even before COVID.

[Anonymous]

Assuming you've been vaccinated, your newborn will probably have better protection against COVID than your unvaccinated nieces/nephews through antibodies you've passed on via placenta and breastmilk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any good pediatrician would tell you not to expose a newborn to a bunch of school aged children even before COVID.

I'm also due to Aug, my 4 and 2 year old will both be in school and my nephews (8 and 11) will be visiting for their fall break and staying with us assuming rates in their area continue to be low. If we're in some big spike I'll of course re-evaluate. Same if they have any illness symptoms. I will not have them test or mask. I just think the probability is very low of a bad outcome given rates are low, their schools have precautions, their parents are vaxxed, even if they were exposed its unlikely they would be both asymptomatic yet transmitting, and babies aren't typically very impacted

I worry more about the flu at this point honestly given its more likely to have a negative outcome for babies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any good pediatrician would tell you not to expose a newborn to a bunch of school aged children even before COVID.

+1 If your baby were a bit older yes, but I would be wary with a newborn. You're not supposed to have a lot of people around them in general until they get their first shots, and we're in a pandemic.

[Anonymous]

OP Here - so would you be fine with having family come and stay after 2-months/first shots? The Covid vaccine won't be available yet, at least for under 6 months, but overall their immune systems will hopefully be more robust at this point. Other than grandparents, with my firstborn we asked our siblings to wait 2 months to visit, but she was born during flu season. This was my initial instinct for this time too, I'm just starting to waffle because (1) October will be 2 years since we'll have seen siblings' families and (2) there's a chance that Covid rates will be higher/variants will be scarier/there will no longer be a federal mask mandate on planes that will make siblings flying in to visit more of a risk in October/November.

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine dealing with a sleepover with multiple cousins that he doesn't remember ever meeting, riling up a toddler who is still adjusting to a new baby, before said baby sleeps through the night.

I'm also pretty covid cautious, but I can't really get past the rest of it.

Any chance your siblings could do like a Air BnB and just come during daytimes? Kids could wear masks, play outside, and less disruption to your sleep? Solve both issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine dealing with a sleepover with multiple cousins that he doesn't remember ever meeting, riling up a toddler who is still adjusting to a new baby, before said baby sleeps through the night.

I'm also pretty covid cautious, but I can't really get past the rest of it.

Any chance your siblings could do like a Air BnB and just come during daytimes? Kids could wear masks, play outside, and less disruption to your sleep? Solve both issues?

This. 9 kids, plus their parents, is way too many people in my house with a newborn. They can visit you, but need to stay elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the confusion - They definitely wouldn't all come at once. It would be one family of 4 (2 parents, 2 kids) at a time. Just wondering when to tell them to visit since will need to book flights. The ones who are driving distance (one family of 5 - super close, can do day visits; one family of 4 - close enough to drive down for the weekend on short notice and fine staying at a hotel, would have their own car, etc.) are much easier to plan visits with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for the confusion - They definitely wouldn't all come at once. It would be one family of 4 (2 parents, 2 kids) at a time. Just wondering when to tell them to visit since will need to book flights. The ones who are driving distance (one family of 5 - super close, can do day visits; one family of 4 - close enough to drive down for the weekend on short notice and fine staying at a hotel, would have their own car, etc.) are much easier to plan visits with.

Can the away families go stay with the driving distance family and then come see you for the day? Then you can decide on masked/unmasked and indoor/outdoor at that point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I have 9 nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 2-11 years old, 4 of whom are not driving distance from us; all of whom will be in camps this summer with various levels of masking. We have a 2.5 year old and I am due with DC2 in early August. We have not seen our siblings who are not driving distance since October and November 2019.

Would you be comfortable having nieces and nephews stay with you?

Does your answer depend on their ages?

Does your answer depend on whether they would need to fly or drive to visit?

If yes, would you ask them to be tested before/after they arrive?

If yes, would you ask them to mask inside until they are tested?

Does your answer depend on if they visit before or after the baby is born?

How long after the baby is born would you want to wait to have visitors stay with you?

Are you vaccinated? That's key information - I'm also pregnant and due in August, and while I got vaccinated, I know a lot of pregnant ladies who opted to wait until after baby is born. If you are unvaccinated, I would say no visits until baby is born and is 2 months old.

The other key piece of information is where these people are coming from. The DC area has crazy low case loads right now. That's true in many (even most!) places in the US right now, but not all. Wyoming and Colorado, for example, still have slightly elevated numbers, that would be a no from me. And there are some others that are judgement calls.

But assuming you're vaccinated, all other people 12+ in your household are vaccinated, and these people would be coming from low-case rate states:

Yes, I would have visitors up the wazoo right now. I would have them stay with us, assuming all the adults are vaccinated and the only unvaccinated people are those under 12. I would allow this whether they needed to drive or fly, though I would request that they mask on the airplane and in the airport (which I think is still required anyway). I would not request any testing, nor would I request any masking inside my house. Risks are just super, super minimal given the parameters I laid out.

Post-birth, it's a tougher call. We're taking a "wait and see" approach right now when it comes to unvaccinated kids around the baby for the first two months. We will certainly invite vaccinated adults to come and visit the baby. We'll also probably take the same precautions we did for our first for the first two months (although our first was born in flu season) - the baby will not go on public transit or in crowded public places, nor will we bring him to huge gatherings where people will want to touch him (like our offices) - for the first two months. But small groups of (vaccinated) visitors in our home? Sure. Unvaccinated kids once the baby is two months old? Sure (assuming rates stay low). But I think we're going to have to wait and see what case numbers look like before we make a call about unvaccinated kids in those first two months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here - so would you be fine with having family come and stay after 2-months/first shots? The Covid vaccine won't be available yet, at least for under 6 months, but overall their immune systems will hopefully be more robust at this point. Other than grandparents, with my firstborn we asked our siblings to wait 2 months to visit, but she was born during flu season. This was my initial instinct for this time too, I'm just starting to waffle because (1) October will be 2 years since we'll have seen siblings' families and (2) there's a chance that Covid rates will be higher/variants will be scarier/there will no longer be a federal mask mandate on planes that will make siblings flying in to visit more of a risk in October/November.

How about do visit with sibling's family pre-baby's birth, and then they can meet the baby around the holidays, if you can arrange another visit then.

[Anonymous]

If everyone who is eligible to get a vaccine did, then I would allow family visits. I would keep the newborn away though or get help from siblings.