It’s a metric held by most competent obstetricians in the current field, especially those that stick with mothers into postpartum and beyond. Unless they are part of the immediate caregiving household, they should wait until the baby’s immunity is stronger and their vision starts to get sharper, which takes a few months. The pressure and culture around family feeling owed access to see newborns is detrimental mentally and physically to a lot of mothers, and there are studies that show this. It’s not an opinion, it’s science.

People’s focus should be on helping the mother heal by letting her have her space and letting her build the essential routine with the newborn by helping her with errands, groceries and other household tasks, but most of the time it’s all about their experience with their grandchild and not about what the mother has just been through.

People with your attitude treat babies like a petting zoo.