Pregnant mom’s rules for meeting her newborn went viral on TikTok—because they’re PERFECT

Being a pregnant mom or brand-new to motherhood is such an overwhelming time because so many things are out of your control. Better to prepare for the things that are in your control, right? According to this pregnant mom who went viral on TikTok, that would be a resounding YES.

Maisie Crompton, a 20-year-old pregnant mom-to-be recently shared her list of rules for when her newborn arrives in a viral TikTok video posted last year. And, we gotta hand it to her, it’s perfect. It makes sense, it doesn’t contain anything out of the realm of reasonable, and it’s designed to do what it should do—protect mama and baby’s well-being.

“I’ve seen a lot of people do rules for when I have a baby,” Crompton says in the video, “but I’m actually pregnant, so I thought I would do mine.”

@maisie_crompton Seen so many of these videos… here’s my “rules for when I have a baby” ✍🏻👶🏻#pregnancyjourney #rulesformybaby #trending #mumsunder21 ♬ original sound – Maisie

Maisie’s rules are as follows:

1. Please don’t kiss the baby.
2. No unannounced visitors. (I really don’t think I’m gonna be up for socializing when a baby has literally just come out of me.)
3. Don’t announce our baby has arrived until we do, on social media or in person.
4. No photos posted of the baby until we do.
5. Do not come if you’re sick. (I don’t care if it’s just, like, a small cough.)
6. Wash your hands before holding them. (You’ve probably touched loads of stuff.)
7. Do not ask to see the baby if you haven’t spoken to me or asked how I am throughout my pregnancy. (Just, no.)
8. If our baby cries please hand them back to me or their dad (because I do not want to watch my baby cry from a distance).

If you’ve ever had a sick newborn or known a sick newborn or read an article about a sick newborn, you know that even something like a “small” cold can be deadly to them. As someone who has dealt with this in not one but both of my newborns (one of them even landed in the hospital for three days), I know you can’t trust other people to do what’s right or best for your baby. You have to be the one to do it.

I also know what it’s like to have someone you’re not close to make a birth announcement and share a photo of your first child before you do, so if you’re asking yourself if these rules are really “necessary,” I assure you they are!

Many fellow mamas were on board with Crompton’s rules in the comments section of her video, but this person summed it up so perfectly:

Another commenter brought up a good point—since visiting guests may not automatically know what to do, a list like this can be really helpful.

If you plan on visiting a newborn in the near future and the pregnant mom in your life doesn’t have a list in place, it’s probably not a bad idea to keep these rules in the back of your mind anyway!

A version of this story was originally published on June 8, 2022. It has been updated.