Introducing to Family

My husband and I don’t wish to have a christening for our baby. Yet we want to introduce her to family and friends. what did you do?

Our Mommy MD Guide’s reply: My husband and I come from different religious backgrounds. Rather than having a christening, we had a baby naming ceremony. Our baby wore something fancy that looked a bit like a christening gown. We invited all of our family and friends, and we spoke a bit about what it meant to us to have this wonderful new person in our lives and why we chose her name.

We held the ceremony at a restaurant, so we didn’t have any household work either preparing for the event or cleaning up afterwards.  The baby naming ceremony was a wonderful way to introduce our baby to the people we care for. 

—Ann V. Arthur, MD, a mom of a nine-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son, a pediatric ophthalmologist in private practice at Park Slope Eye Care Associates, in New York City, and a blogger at www.waterwinetravel.com