Hi, my wife and I are both Christians and are very involved members in our local church that we've been attending for the last 5 years. The church has about 200 or so people across two services but we only regularly interact with around 50 or so.
My wife recently gave birth to our first child and we now have a 2.5 month old, very healthy, baby boy who is a delight to our lives. Because of the pandemic, we both work from home but currently, my wife is taking an extended leave of absence from her work to care for our baby while I have gone back to work full-time (still working at home, though).
We've been having some discussions lately as to when to return to attending church. We've both been cautious throughout the pandemic and haven't caught COVID (or anything for that matter) yet (knock on wood). We always wear N95 masks indoors and still socially distance from people as best we can even when we were attending church.
However, with a newborn on our hands (who shouldn't mask until at least 2 years old) and because they have new/naive immune systems we are unsure how and when to return to attending church again as a family.
Our baby already had his first round of shots at 2 months of age and is breastfed so he supposedly has his mother's antibodies. However, my wife especially (and I as well, albeit to a lesser extent) is very worried about exposing him to others at this young age. We will go out to the park and such for walks but taking him anywhere indoors (i.e. supermarket, convenience store, church, museums) is still off the table.
Our church family love us very much and would be excited to see the baby and since COVID has become endemic across the US, many of them have stopped masking and we are worried that when we return, we'll have a horde of people crowding around us, breathing on, touching, trying to interact with the baby (regardless of whether we have him in a car seat or a carrier). Our church building is fairly old so the corridors and hallways between the sanctuary, classrooms are narrow and there are often a lot of people shuffling in and out, talking to each other, etc.
We originally planned on returning around the time he got his first shots (2 months) but have since agreed that maybe 3 months is better since it is supposedly the end of the "fourth trimester." However, now as we approach 3 months of age, my wife is thinking maybe we wait 'til 4 months so that he gets his second round of shots. Or maybe even waiting 'til 6 months for this 3rd round of shots and that he'll be more developed and have a better immune system then.
I know that the Bible commands not to neglect meeting together and worshipping together but she tells me that when the other church people are breathing on and touching him, that if he does get sick it is devastating at his age. They aren't going to be the ones having to go to the hospital and watch as he's hooked up to all these tubes in order to save his life.
So, all that being said, does anyone have advice or experience that they can share and how to best navigate the decision of when to return to church?
My wife recently gave birth to our first child and we now have a 2.5 month old, very healthy, baby boy who is a delight to our lives. Because of the pandemic, we both work from home but currently, my wife is taking an extended leave of absence from her work to care for our baby while I have gone back to work full-time (still working at home, though).
We've been having some discussions lately as to when to return to attending church. We've both been cautious throughout the pandemic and haven't caught COVID (or anything for that matter) yet (knock on wood). We always wear N95 masks indoors and still socially distance from people as best we can even when we were attending church.
However, with a newborn on our hands (who shouldn't mask until at least 2 years old) and because they have new/naive immune systems we are unsure how and when to return to attending church again as a family.
Our baby already had his first round of shots at 2 months of age and is breastfed so he supposedly has his mother's antibodies. However, my wife especially (and I as well, albeit to a lesser extent) is very worried about exposing him to others at this young age. We will go out to the park and such for walks but taking him anywhere indoors (i.e. supermarket, convenience store, church, museums) is still off the table.
Our church family love us very much and would be excited to see the baby and since COVID has become endemic across the US, many of them have stopped masking and we are worried that when we return, we'll have a horde of people crowding around us, breathing on, touching, trying to interact with the baby (regardless of whether we have him in a car seat or a carrier). Our church building is fairly old so the corridors and hallways between the sanctuary, classrooms are narrow and there are often a lot of people shuffling in and out, talking to each other, etc.
We originally planned on returning around the time he got his first shots (2 months) but have since agreed that maybe 3 months is better since it is supposedly the end of the "fourth trimester." However, now as we approach 3 months of age, my wife is thinking maybe we wait 'til 4 months so that he gets his second round of shots. Or maybe even waiting 'til 6 months for this 3rd round of shots and that he'll be more developed and have a better immune system then.
I know that the Bible commands not to neglect meeting together and worshipping together but she tells me that when the other church people are breathing on and touching him, that if he does get sick it is devastating at his age. They aren't going to be the ones having to go to the hospital and watch as he's hooked up to all these tubes in order to save his life.
So, all that being said, does anyone have advice or experience that they can share and how to best navigate the decision of when to return to church?
