Nishkramana is the 6th important Sanskara out of 16 important Sanskara mentioned in Vedic scriptures. First outing of the child outside home is know as Nishkramana and is performed at an auspicious time after looking into Panchang. The time for performance of this Sanskara varies from 12th day to the fourth month after birth. It is common practice to perform this Sanskara at the time of name giving ceremony. If it is not performed during Namakarana then it can be done in the 3rd or 4th month.
Notes: All timings are represented in 12-hour notation in local time of Columbus, United States with DST adjustment (if applicable).
Hours which are past midnight are suffixed with next day date. In Panchang day starts and ends with sunrise.
All time intervals are categorized into three
Following considerations are looked into while taking child out of the house the very first time -
Nakshatra: Movable Nakshatra Punarvasu (7), Shravana (22), Dhanishtha (23), gentle and friendly Nakshatra Mrigashira (5), Revati (27), Anuradha (17) and all short Nakshatra i.e. Hasta (13), Ashwini (1), Pushya (8) are considered auspicious for Nishkramana.
Tithi: Dwitiya (2), Tritiya (3), Panchami (5), Saptami (7), Dashami (10), Ekadashi (11) of both Shukla and Krishna Paksha are considered auspicious for Nishkramana. Apart from these Tithi, Shukla Trayodashi, Purnima and Krishna Pratipada are also considered auspicious for Nishkramana Sanskara.
Days: Except Tuesday and Saturday, all other weekdays are considered good for Nishkramana.
Lagna: Kumbha (11) and Meena (12) Lagna are avoided and rest Lagna are considered good for Nishkramana.
Nishkramana being the first journey of the child, all considerations related to Yatra Muhurta should also be considered. During Nishkramana, the child should sight luminous objects e.g. Surya, Chandra or Agni, etc. and visit the temple.
In modern times, delivery is done at hospitals. In normal delivery, mother and child makes journey to back home after 3rd or 4th day and in case of cesarean delivery mother and child makes journey to back home after 10th or 11th day of delivery. Hence, it is advisable to consider this Muhurta (to some extent possible) while coming back to home from the hospital. A more elaborative Nishkramana ceremony can be performed later while the child comes out of the house the very first time.