One of my friends gave birth to a little girl last week, after a very difficult pregnancy and birth due to the mother's health issues. The little girl is the first child for the couple and for a long time it was doubtful they could even have kids.
Although baby is healthy, she has jaundice and needs 'blue light treatment' and, as such, 24 hours after mum and bub were discharged, baby was re-admitted to start treatment. Bub will be in hospital for a while, depending on how many 24 hour treatments she needs.
The parents are coping well, but mum is obviously quite emotional as she is recovering from a Caesar, visiting hospital and dealing with the fact that she hasn't had any real home time to bond with her daughter. She is also contending with the fact that whilst most people are supportive, some are making comments like 'At least you'll get her home soon- xx weeks is nothing and baby won't remember', or 'it's just jaundice- not like baby is really sick'.
The problem is that all these comments are generally meant to be well meaning and mum doesn't know how to respond without offending these people who we genuinely trying to be helpful! I was hoping ehell could give me some good responses I could pass on to friend? Also, just for discussion purposes, what are some well meaning things you should never say to parents of blue light or ICU babies?