Newborn Care
Having a newborn can place a lot of stress on a family. Infants sleep a lot, eat frequently and often cry. Every new parent has a lot of questions and even experienced parents need a refresher. The following will be a review on basic newborn care.
Bringing your baby home: You must have an infant car seat properly installed in your car. Infants less than 1 year must ride in the back and be rear facing.
Feeding: Breast feeding is recommended. It is best to take a class before the baby is born. After the birth your doctor or a lactation specialist will help you successfully breast feed. If you are feeling discouraged be sure to talk to your doctor before giving up. If you choose not to breast feed or cannot breast feed than use an infant formula. Most infants do well with a milk based formula. If you are breast feeding, avoid using a bottle in the first few weeks so the baby will maintain a good latch on the breast. We will let you know if you need to supplement based on the infant's weight. Often a syringe with a plastic tip can be used to avoid nipple confusion. Breast fed infant's will require vitamins with extra Vitamin D at around 2 months of age. Formula fed babies eat every 2 to 4 hours. Breast fed infants may need to feed more often (every 1-3 hours). It is normal for the baby to lose some weight in the 1st week of life. Your doctor will let you know if too much weight loss has occurred. Usually, they regain that weight by week 2. In general, your baby will breast feed 8-12 times in 24 hours or every 1-3 hours for the first few weeks.
Sleeping: Newborns sleep most of the day for 1 to 2 months. They sleep 1 to 4 hours and are awake 1 to 2 hours. Most babies begin to sleep for 5 to 6 hours at about 3 months. Be sure to place babies on their back to sleep to decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Your baby should sleep on a firm mattress with a fitted sheet. There should be no pillows or blankets in the crib. Dress your baby in comfortable, temperature appropriate clothes. Do not over dress.
Bathing: Bathing once every 2 to 3 days is fine. Use sponge baths until the umbilical cord falls off.
Crying: Crying is normal in the newborn period. Call our office if it seems excessive.
Illness: If your baby feels warm, then take a rectal temperature. If it is 100.4 or higher than call our office immediately.
Diapers: After the first few days, wet diapers should occur every 3 to 4 hours. After the meconium, the black sticky stool, your baby should have 3 to 8 yellow, seedy, soft stools per day. If your baby does not urinate for greater than 6 hours than call our office. It may be a sign of dehydration.
For many mom's it is normal to feel tired and stressed out after your baby is born. Some moms may develop post partum depression which may occur weeks to months following the birth of the baby. Call our office if you feel depressed and are having as hard time caring for your infant.
Taking your baby out: It is OK to go out for walks once Mom's doctor gives her the approval. Be sure avoid sun exposure and dress your child appropriately. Do not use sunscreen in the first 6 months of life. Avoid crowds and ill contacts, especially for the first 6 to 8 weeks. Be extra cautious in the fall and winter months.
Skin Rash: Rashes are very common in the newborn period. Call our office if you have concerns.
Doctor Visits: The first visit will be 2-3 days after you are discharged from the hospital, then a 2 week check. The next well child checks are at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 24 months. Then yearly.
Vaccines: We follow the recommended schedule by the American Academy of Pediatrics. For the immunizations schedule go to www. aap.org.
Call our office immediately if there is a temperature greater than 100.4, vomiting or diarrhea, excessive crying or irritability, jaundice (yellow skin), difficulty breathing, no urine output for 6 hours, redness of the skin around the umbilical cord.
You may also call our office for any other questions or concerns.
Circumcisions may be done in the hospital or in our office. If you are undecided whether you want your child circumcised or not, please discuss this with your doctor.