Baptism

H

happyparents

Registered User
To all,

Does anyone know the "right" time to baptize a newborn baby? My wife's due date is on next Feb and I've heard from friends that it is possible to baptize a baby after 2 days coming out from the mother. Has anyone evr done this?? Also, is it safe for the baby?? Thx.
 
Why not get some rest and enjoy your "baby moon"? I'd think a month or two would be preferable. My son was 4 months old when we baptised him, and our church back home didn't baptise until the baby was six weeks old at least.
 
happyparents:

Please talk to the particular church and priest you'd like to have christen your baby. We're Catholics, and according to the Catholic(old) belief, your child must be baptized before s/he could travel. Our son was born in February 2003, and we were planning to fly when he was 4 weeks old. So we talked to our priest about the concern, and he said it's okay to have the boy baptize after that. In the old days, they were afraid that the baby might nor survive the long (ship) journey, so they had to be baptized before they set off (so that if they didn't make it, they still got to go to Heaven).

Junior's christening was when he was 3 months old. Most of our friends have their babies baptized at between 3 and 6 months old.


Hope this helps.
 
You can have your baby baptized any time you want. However, I'm going to hazard a guess and say that you'll be far too busy, sleep deprived and overwhelmed caring for a newborn to rush straight off to the church and hold a party!

I thought I knew what tiredness was after pulling off 18 hour days during exams/busy periods but I soon realised that I didn't know what real tiredness was until I had our daughter!
 
Thx everyone for your replies. This is going to be our first baby so we want to be prapared for everything.

I talked to my Parish Priest who also did also our wedding and also suggested that I do it after a few months. He also mentioned that nowadays, parents also baptize thier babies after 3 months - unlike when we were young when our parents immediately were eager to baptize thieir babies.

So, I guess this also goes for circumcision, right.? Our baby will be delivered in Kwong Wah Hospital and the staff said that outside doctors are not allowed to do the circumcision. Any comments??

Thx.
 
Routine neonatal circumcision is quite a controversial topic. I believe that is one that parents should make an informed choice about and not just assume that it is necessary.

Here are a couple of links that might be of interest to you.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: Circumcision Policy Statement
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;103/3/686

The Case Against Circumcision
http://www.mothering.com/10-0-0/html/10-1-0/10-1-circumcision85.shtml

Protect Your Uncircumcised Son: Expert Medical Advice for Parents
http://www.mothering.com/10-0-0/html/10-1-0/10-1-protectuncircson103.shtml

Some private doctors in Hong Kong do perform circumcisions and others won?t. I think it depends on their personal believes as the medical evidence is not clear on the subject If you want to find a doctor who will look in the Geobaby resources under pediatricians.
http://www.geobaby.com/resources/Hong_Kong/Health/Doctors/Pediatricians/index.html

Best wishes,
Barb
 
Those links are great! Also keep in mind that people are choosing to circumsize less and less these days. If you choose not to, don't worry about your son being "different". The rates went from 20% not circumsized in 1990 to 40% not circumsized in 2001! This is largely due to the fact that most insurance companies in the US do not cover medically unnecessary circumsicions - it really is elective to circ right after birth.

This is your choice! And a private one at that! But my (circed) husband and I chose not to circ' our son, and we're very happy with that decision. He had a bit of redness once (we just washed it a bit more carefully), but other than that it's been totally maintenance free. The foreskin will retract on its own eventually.

My MIL was very upset with us because she said it would cause poor hygiene and infection if we didn't circ. She absolutely would not accept that circumsizing is a personal and cultural choice and that the vast majority of men in the world are not circumsized. Her generation was told in no uncertain terms that circumcision was medically necessary. Just my two cents! You are the parents and you know what's best - just thought I'd give you our experience if that helps you at all.
 
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