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Our daughter is 8 days old right now. Depending on to whom we speak (doctors and nurses and friends) there are various opinions as to when to go for a first walk.

How long should we wait before we take our child outside?

PS. can't create tag yet. Add "stroll" or "walk" please.

Valkyrie
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Dariusz
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  • Assuming you don't live in a spectacularly polluted or dirty area, and air temperature is tolerable with proper clothing, I don't see any reason against going for a simple walk. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Nov 14 '13 at 19:57

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It depends on where you are planning to go and how many people you will come into contact with. Our pediatrician wanted us to wait three weeks with our daughter (full-term) and two months with our son (preemie & in NICU for a few weeks), to allow their immune systems to develop sufficiently to be able to handle most of the germs they'll come into contact with.

So for a stroll around the neighborhood, with no interactions with other people anticipated, you could go out sooner. For a visit to a family reunion, wait a while.

Anecdata: we had to take our daughter at 3 days to get formula (poor planning on our part!) so we wrapped her up so she was basically a bundle, and zoomed in and out of the store. No interactions with people wanting to touch and kiss and hold the newbie.

Valkyrie
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