When is too soon to host in laws after first baby?

My inlaws visited at day 2 🤣
If you're good with them, I'm sure 4-6 weeks would be fine. Not saying you definitely wouldn't be a hot mess, but it'll be much easier than the first week xx

My mother in law came and stayed for 2 months (over from London), from a week before baby was born. We get along very well and she was a godsend. Plus her and my mum get along very well. It was still very overwhelming and kind of detracted from that baby bubble bonding time.

I don’t think that’s too soon, as long as your husband is in charge of hosting them (ie picking them up from airport, make their beds, coon dinner, showing where things are etc) so you can focus on yourself and the baby. Should be fine as long as they know they will come for support and don’t expect to be entertained by you. Will your husband be off work?

If you're comfortable with them seeing baby attached to your boobs almost 24/7 then it's not too soon.

Use them. They want baby time, and you get a nap ... win win.
Beware the unrequested advice (not just inlaws .. everyone)
You 100% can take baby back at any moment. Just hold out your arms and say "I need my baby".
Smile and nod for good advice and advice you don't intend to take, so they can't tell the difference. People get funny when you dont want to do it the way they did. Also, they ARE going to have some cool tips and tricks.
"That interesting"
"I might try that"

My MIL (she awesome) came and stayed for a week when bub was 2 weeks old, my mum also lives 5 mins away. It was a little full on because everything is full on to start with but I don't regret it at all. All the help was welcome xx

Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful to hear others experiences. My husband will be working from home so around a bit. But when they visited last May, I did most of the work for hosting them. Also boob attached all the time (as the comment above said) is a concern for me as my father in law will be there and culturally I should be a little private about breastfeeding or at least cover myself well. FIL also needs to be cooked for 😕 Though I’m sure MIL can do that and my husband too is an excellent cook. I’m just conscious that I might want my space. We have a small 3 bed house and only one bathroom. Baby might be up all night and keeping them awake too?

I’m from India and I was so grateful for my parents with me after my first. My mum took care of everything for the baby. There were nights when she wouldn’t stop crying and my mum sat with her all night and told me to go sleep. I had a traumatic birth and was not coping and am so grateful for that extra help on those nights. I was a hot mess and therefore I needed that extra help. It’s not about hosting them,, sit back and recover and accept the help. Anything extra with regards to making them comfortable, your husband can take care of. Their needs are not your priority, your health, your baby is. They’ll help with filling the gaps on days when you need it most.
Don’t worry about hosting mama. They won’t hold it against you during this time I promise. 💕

thanks. I do think it’s different though having your own mum help as opposed to mother in law. We get along well but I do feel pressure in front of her to show I’m doing a good job at hosting and looking after baby well. I wouldn’t feel that pressure if it were my own mum. Just have no idea at this stage how hard those early weeks will be and whether I want someone looking over my shoulder at that time.

I’m currently on week 5, going into week 6 and even my maternal health nurse said these are THE MOST challenging weeks.

I was prepared for sleepless nights, lots of laundry, not having time to cook or clean. But in all honesty the things that are the most mentally challenging and exhausting are the things that you completely overlook before you have the baby.

Primarily in my experience it’s been breastfeeding. As stated above, your boobs are OUT OUT around the clock. Some days it’s a wonder why you even bother putting on a top. It’s really important to be doing skin to skin too. I’ve found having any visitors or attending any social event very challenging because of this.

I also thought you could just ‘cover up’ but my little one has a tongue tie and breastfeeding position and latching has been interesting to say the least. It’s not as easy as discretely popping them on the breast when you’re using nipple shields, pumping around the clock every 3 hours etc.

thanks so much for sharing your experience Hannah. Very helpful to hear. Hope things get easier for you from here on out 😊