Is There An Etiquette To Announcing The Birth Of A Baby?

Question

When I had my boys they had to hold me back from screaming it out the windows. lol!

Do you think there is certain Etiquette rules after you have a baby, when informing close friends and family??

Would you be upset if your VERY good friend didn't call or text you, and you found out off a virtual stranger??

Would you think that they didn't appreciate your friendship??

----Yes, Meppa, & Claire - I am still not over it.

Answer 1

inform everyone immediately

Answer 2

No point in me putting my opinion as you are NOT OVER IT regardless of what I say, lol.

Answer 3

I say yes, tell your friends and family, or get someone close to you to spread the word. I think really it depends on what you want to do though. If you want to keep it quiet, then do so. If you want to climb the tallest building you can find, run to the rooftop and shout it to the world then by all means, do so.  

Answer 4

I can't imagine why somebody wouldn't want to let their good friend know.  I've usually been one of the first to know when my best friends have been pregnant, and they were among the first to know when I started fostering.

I had the opposite situation when I got approved for foster care and certain members of my family didn't care less because I wasn't pregnant.  I guess you come to learn who's important to you, so don't sweat it.  :-)

Answer 5

After I had my daughter I just sent out mass SMS with her name and the time of birth, weight etc. Sent it out to all our friends and then relied on our parents to inform extended family (who we dont know the phone numbers of hehe). Yeh I would probably be hurt if my friends didnt let me know when they had their babies, because I am just so excited for them, I can't wait to get some news : )

Answer 6

It depends on the time frame.  If the birth happened on the day I found out about the birth, or even the next day, then no, I wouldn't be upset.  Maybe it was a long labor and the mother was just exhausted afterwords and was relying on other people to spread the word.  

However if I found out a few days later, I would be upset.

Answer 7

AAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW BABIEEEEEEEEEEEES !!! Thats so cute ! b4 i give u any advice CONGRATS :)!!!

Ok i was so interrestd by this i calld my old Etiquette teachr :) she sounds a lil old fashion but it sounds elegant enough...

She told me u shuld by classic cards mentioning all the details inviting thm to a 1rst birthday party (freaky how sm ppl think the 1rst birthday is 1 year aftr te birth !) so u could mention all the details... u could evn do this on ur computr at home... nd send it as an email :) with ur newborn's pic name...exact minut of birth...

Have fun with em nd b creative.. u could give em the card face 2 face n tell em "SURPRISE " :)!! that way u cn c their faces wen they hear the news nd still b elegant about it :)

lots of luck :)...

Answer 8

Umm.. I'm the type of person who shouts it out the tops of the roofs - i want everyone to know my joyus news ( i -well ok, ryan for me- sent birth notices to everyone i knew before i was even out of hospital!!) - so yep, i'd be pretty d**n hurt if a very good friend didnt tell me, and i found out elsewhere.

It certainly would make me feel that they dont value the friendship as much as i do.

Answer 9

3 months after finding out, and really everyone important toyou should know...  

Answer 10

Oh yes, I had the text messages and e-mails formatted while I was in labor, just waiting to be able to attach pics :)

I also had my mother, neighbor and friend, and even the synagogue's secretary on call so THEY could scream it from the roof tops FOR me, as I'm lazy after birth.

On that note, two days after Isaac was born the jaundice became worse and we had to return him to the hospital briefly for tests and then have them set up treatment at home. At the same time, I had family - loads of family- descending on us from around the globe, and our 14 month old chose that day to get her very first ear infection. At the same time I was trying to plan a bris- caterers, florists,photographer- all that,  to take place in my home-  that may or not need to take place when Isaac was 8 days old, depending on the doctor's decision that took a week to make. I was not a happy camper and one of my closest friends is *still* peevish that I wasn't taking visitors that day when SHE wanted to come. Well I never said I didn't have some ego-centric friends...but I can't even apologize for that one, I was just way too overwhelmed.  <sigh> can't win them all.

But in the middle of it all, I did manage to let people know we'd had the little guy.

Answer 11

I think it sure is common courtesy to let family and friends know! Especially as nowadays it is so easy to email and mass text, its not like its going out of your way to tell people.

This situation is worse than the average though, given it is a long awaited first baby with problems in the pregnancy and the fact that you packed up your own kids and drove down to be there for it.

I find her lack of communication very very rude. I wouldn't be over it either. Especially if she is supposed to be a friend. Hmmmmmm.

Have you given her a phone call yet? If not I would be very tempted to. Ask her what the h**l her problem is. She obviously has one.

You have gone out of your way, and she has brushed you off. "Not happy Jan!!"

Answer 12

i sent out sms to inform everyone. it's easy, rapid, sure.

Answer 13

I wouldn't be upset if my very good friend was so caught up in parenting & trying to get enough sleep that they didn't take the time to contact me regarding *anything*.  I'd feel happy for my friend & sorry that they were so busy.  I'd offer to help my friend, if i could.

Answer 14

I would be very annoyed if I found out from someone else that a good friend was pregnant. Whenver I told someone I asked them not to mention it to anyone as I really wanted to tell them myself. It didn't work for everyone but I think most of the important ppl got the msg straight from the horse mouth.

I don't think there is any set ettiquette. It's really just a matter of respecting your friendships

Answer 15

Hey Charli

When Rebecca and I had Joseph, his birth was announced in Canada, New Zealand, Wales, Holland, and probably a few places I dont know about, within half an hour of the first phone call

The FIL and proud gandpa got straight onto the email!

We had so much going on that we never really had the chance to tell people - except for pulling the grandparents out of bed at 3am. But you know about some of that..

Steve

Answer 16

I agree with you.

I guess the real question is what sort of a friend would you not WANT to share it with? I mean, I know when I had my kids I could not wait to let everyone know - I wanted everyone to share my happiness.

I would more be questionning how good a friend they really were if this is what they did.

Answer 17

I think, when a woman has just been through labour, if I didn't get a personal message to inform me I really wouldn't care - especially if the person has a lot of friends and family, really the last thing you should expect a woman to do who's just had a baby is to be thinking about ringing around telling everyone! Fortunately for me I didn't have the issue, my friend texted me just as I was going into hospital saying 'Haha you're officially overdue today' and I replied saying 'actually im in labour' - and the word just got around from him - and when I next turned my phone on I had over 100 texts from people asking how things had gone - and my less good friends all found out over facebook in the next few days. And I still live with parents who told the rest of the family themselves. Let people do the talking for you if you don't have the energy to tell everyone - unless you have any friends which are in no way connected to any of your other friends and wouldn't otherwise find out in which case sure tell them when you're back home and settled. But priority number 1. is cooing over new baby, and priority number 2. is putting your feet up and recover from the trauma of labour - everyone else comes after all that! Good luck! :-)