New Born Baby Information
The best way to handle the first six weeks with a new baby is to be prepared for how life will change. Understanding what baby will look like, what her needs will be and how to comfort her will go a long way towards both the parents and the baby making it peacefully through this phase in the child's life. Many parents describe the first few weeks at home with a new baby as a time of being in survival mode--and the key to survival is preparation.
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Size and Appearance
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A healthy newborn baby will generally weigh between six and nine pounds at birth. Not all babies fall within this range, but most will. If the mother had gestational diabetes, the baby's weight may be higher, and a baby born before thirty-seven weeks will often weigh less. The length of the newborn baby generally falls between eighteen and twenty-two inches. At birth, the baby is covered in something called vernix, a creamy white substance. He is slightly swollen and puffy and will lose approximately ten percent of his birth weight the first week. The umbilical cord stump is thick and slightly slimy until it begins to dry up.
Reflexes
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Newborn babies are born with many reflexes. Most disappear as the baby grows and learns to do things by choice. The most important is the ability to root and suck. As soon as anything touches a newborn baby's lips, she will begin opening her mouth and try to latch on and suck. This reflex allows a newborn baby to nurse and be nourished. She also will use her tongue to push out foreign objects, a reflex that protects the baby from choking. A baby cannot eat solid food from a spoon until this disappears, because her instinct will be to push the food and spoon out. From birth a newborn also has a grasping reflex, and will grab onto a finger and hold on tight. Babies respond to loud and unexpected noises with a startle reflex. Newborns also have a few reflexes that do not appear to have any useful purpose, although they are cute to see. For example, a newborn baby held upright with move her feet as though she can walk.
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Sleep and Feeding
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Sleeping and eating are the two basic parts of the newborn baby's day. In fact, it seems that he is always doing one or the other. Babies have tiny tummies and get hungry quickly. They sometimes eat as often as every hour and a half and rarely go longer than four hours without a meal. A nursing baby will sometimes nurse for thirty to forty minutes at a time. He is not eating the entire time, but rather fulfilling a need to suck. A bottle-fed infant will often only take one to two ounces the first few weeks. Newborn babies often fall asleep while eating and do not finish the meal, which leads to waking up sooner and hungry again. Parents can encourage longer stretches of sleep by waking baby to finish the meal. A newborn baby with a full tummy may sleep as long as four hours if the parents are lucky. A newborn will also usually sleep a long stretch during the daytime and wake more often at night, which can be frustrating to new parents. Most babies begin to figure out day and night between six and eight weeks old.
Hygiene
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Newborn babies are generally given a bath right after birth. After that, a baby should not be given a bath until the umbilical cord stump falls dries up and falls off the belly button. Until that time, baby can be given a sponge bath with warm water and mild baby soap. Unless the pediatrician gave specific instructions, the umbilical cord does not need any care at all. Diapers are the other important aspect of a baby's hygiene. Newborns should be changed after each feeding or any time the diaper is dirty. Baby will need a new diaper anywhere from eight to twelve times a day in the first weeks of life.
Care and Comfort
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Newborn babies take time to adjust to life outside the tight confines of the womb. Parents can help the baby stay calm and comfortable during the adjustment by tightly swaddling the baby, which mimics the tight feeling of being inside the womb. Before birth, baby was constantly rocking as her mother moved around; after birth this feeling can be continued through rocking in a chair or the use of a baby swing. Babies can only communicate through crying, and they tend to cry often. When a baby's needs for food and a clean diaper are met, the baby may just be cold or uncomfortable. Some babies need a constant change of scenery and some need to be held often to know that the parents are close by. A baby sling is a great way for parents to comfort a needy baby while freeing the hands up to take care of older children or other tasks.
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References
- Photo Credit the newborn image by Sergey Galushko from Fotolia.com
