Quakers do not have a formal ceremony such as a christening or baptism, but we do cherish the opportunity to welcome a new baby into our meeting. One such event is described here by William Fisher in QF&P 10:09
"We were meeting in the long sitting-room, and the floor-space was as usual filled by the children. The room was pretty full. Then Sophie’s father came and put her in her carry-cot on the floor. She was very young, and we hadn’t expected to be greeting her so soon. I looked around the adults, wondering which of us would minister.
At the other end of the room Cathy, aged three, slipped down from her mother’s knee. Slowly, carefully, and mostly upright she clambered in and out, past all the other children. She reached the carry-cot and peeped in at the baby. Then she turned and gave everyone a smile of pure delight. Still smiling, without a word, she returned to her mother.
Nobody else spoke either. Sophie had been welcomed into meeting."
At meeting for worship relax and let your baby be with you; my small daughter called it ‘the best cuddle of the week’ when I couldn’t rush off and do something busy.
It’s not easy for the parents to believe that their child’s gurglings actually help the meeting rather than interrupt it. Nonetheless, that is true, and you shouldn’t give way to the temptation to take a happily babbling child out of the meeting.
Quaker Faith and Practice 2.50
"Our lives have recently been transformed by the birth of a baby daughter. Nothing we read or were told could prepare us for the total revolution in our lives which the arrival of this beautiful spirit into our midst has brought. I feel that I am living on a new plane since the muffled kicks and hiccups of pregnancy were revealed to be a perfect and wonderful human being…
That moment of timelessness and joy was like a glimpse of heaven, seen through the miracle of birth … with the endless possibilities for discovery, growth and love for all three of us."
Quaker Faith and Practice 22:52