Newborn Baby Care Basics
Going through 9 months of pregnancy and through the excitement of labor and delivery was a struggling excitement and now that you’re headed home to begin a life with your new baby, you begin to realize that you need more help this time. These are practical tips in helping you follow the proper way to handle your new baby.
The hospital is the appropriate place to inquire from its staff what are steps to observe in handling your newborn baby, so while you’re still in the hospital, inquire and talk to feeding specialists or lactation consultants, who can demonstrate how to nurse-feed or bottle-feed your newborn baby, and ask a nurse to show you how to hold, burp, change diapers, and care for your baby.
Your doctor can be a good source for finding information about in-home help and might even be able to give you referrals to home health agencies; otherwise, you may decide on hiring a baby nurse or hire a responsible neighborhood teenager on a short time basis.
In addition, relatives and friends are there to volunteer, especially to whom you are close with.
How to handle a newborn
Newborn babies are susceptible to infection because they do not have yet a strong immune system; therefore, wash your hands or use a hand sanitizer before handling your baby and make sure that everyone who handles your baby has clean hands.
It is important to protect the baby’s head, so cradle the head of your baby when you’re carrying him/her and support the head when carrying upright or when you’re laying your baby down.
Your baby must be securely fastened when he/she is in a carrier, stroller, or car seat, and try to avoid from activities that could be too rough or bouncy.
Bonding and soothing techniques
The most pleasurable aspects of infant care is those bonding moments between the parents and the baby, and it is through bonding with each other where parents establish a deep, emotional connection with their infant. Bonding can be done in many ways, like cradling your baby, gently stroking him/her during feeding time, such that there is a close physical connection, or massaging gently your baby.
Another way to bond with your baby is through vocal sounds, such as: reciting poetry and nursery rhymes, singing nursery rhymes, babbling and cooing while you’re rocking your baby gently in a chair.
Kinds of baby baths
Things to take note in bathing your baby: the baby should be bathed 2-3 times a week for the first year and sponge baths take place when the umbilical cord falls off and the navel heals completely, about 1-4 weeks, or when the circumcision heals, about 1-2 weeks.
Sponge baths are introduced when the baby’s head still needs to be supported, but once the baby can now sit well on his/her own, you may now start introducing him/her into a tub bath.