There are lots of people (and pets) with whom you will want or need to share baby. But only you can know when you're truly ready to do so. If you feel a need to fiercely protect your time with baby, especially in the first few weeks home, you shouldn't be made to feel like you're being selfish. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to create a cocoonlike home atmosphere for the first few weeks home. Not only will you have some fantastic bonding time with your new baby, but you'll also limit any opportunity for the spread of germs that could make your baby sick.

Waiting until the baby's immune system kicks in can be essential to helping protect your baby from illness — and in those first weeks, that's one less thing to have to worry about.

If you work outside the home and have the luxury of being able to take an extended maternity leave, plan to do so. Since your baby's first days, weeks, and months can represent a time of enormous growth, you won't regret the extra time you get to share with this incredible new little life.

Later, when you decide you're finally ready to share your baby with others in your circle of family and friends, you'll find that your baby is even more adaptable due to the warm moments of building love and trust with you.