Anticipating the arrival of your baby can be exciting. From buying shampoos to clothes, you might be prepared to welcome your baby. But once that little bundle of joy arrives, you might face many challenges. We have discussed a few tips to help you care for your newborn.
Seek help from your partner
Talk to your partner. Take turns to rock the baby at night so the burden doesn’t fall on only one parent. Ask your partner to change their diaper sometimes. Ask your partner to take time off work to help you with the baby.
Like new mothers, new fathers might also have some reservations while caring for their babies. Many first-time fathers might hesitate to take care of their babies for fear of doing something wrong. It’s time people understand that parenting is a job that’s mastered through trial and error. So support each other and ask for help whenever you need a break.
Go for regular checkups
Regular medical checkups are extremely important for babies. It helps in keeping track of your baby’s growth and health. There are certain activities that they can do at a specific age, such as rolling around or gripping objects. Medical checkups ensure your baby is healthy and help detect some medical issues that might go unnoticed until it’s too late. Many medical conditions, such as Cerebral Palsy and congenital heart defects, can be detected early on during medical examinations. This helps in starting treatment as soon as possible. Once detected, you can ask your doctor to explain what it entails and how to tackle it. There are also certain websites that you can visit to learn more about these disorders. But be sure the website you visit is credible.
Set a sleep routine
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, newborns sleep around 8 hours during the day and 8 hours at night. Although newborns might sleep the entire day, they wake up to feed. In most cases, babies do not start sleeping continuously for 6 to 8 hours at night until they weigh 12 to 13 pounds or until they are at least three months old.
However, this phenomenon varies in every child. This makes parents, especially mothers, suffer from sleep deprivation because the only goal new mothers have in their minds is to take care of their babies. They constantly fuss over their babies throughout the day and get exhausted at the end. So sleep when the baby sleeps because that’s the only time you’ll get any rest.
Generally, babies are confused about daytime and nighttime. Therefore, they tend to sleep more during the day and less at night. In this case, you can wake your baby if they sleep for more than two hours. Since they will sleep less during the daytime, they will automatically sleep more at night, and you’ll get more time to rest.
You can also start a bedtime routine with your baby. You can start by changing their diapers and clothes, nursing them, singing lullabies, or swaddling them. This gives the baby the idea that it’s time to sleep.
Imitate the womb
You might feel frustrated when your baby starts to cry at the top of his lungs. The key to soothing a fussy baby is to imitate the womb. Swaddling has been the go-to technique to soothe a crying baby for decades. Swaddling recreates the sense of security babies feel inside the womb; therefore, they calm down when swaddled. It also makes them sleep better.
Babies also wriggle their arms a lot while sleeping, which startles them, and they tend to wake up. Swaddling helps in keeping their arms secure so they have a peaceful sleep.
Parents need to understand that babies don’t need complete silence to sleep. Since they constantly hear the sound of blood flow in the womb, they might also sleep in a noisy room. Try making shushing sounds in your baby’s ear. This sound recreates the feeling of being inside the womb since it is similar to the whooshing sound of blood flowing in the arteries. It makes babies fall asleep faster.
Whenever an expected mother moves, it creates a swinging motion for the baby in the womb. Therefore, rocking the baby or using a baby swing can help soothe them and make them sleep faster since the rocking motion mimics the movement babies felt inside the womb.
Nursing
Nursing might seem like the easiest task in the world, but it can often prove to be the most difficult and overwhelming task. New mothers face a lot of challenges while nursing, so don’t feel ashamed to ask for help. Ask your friends and relatives for nursing tips. If your baby is having difficulty latching on, ask your pediatrician for a lactation consultant. In the hospital, you have a team of doctors and nurses at your disposal so ask them for advice when feeding your baby.
New mothers often forget to take care of themselves. But you must take care of yourself first if you want to take care of your child. So increase your water intake, eat frequently, and have a healthy diet. If you have blocked milk ducts, try using a heating pad, a warm compress, or a warm washcloth. It helps ease the flow of milk. Heat may help if you have engorged breasts and blocked ducts, but what to do if your nipples are always sore after feeding the baby? Try putting an ice pack on them to ease the pain.
Some mothers might feel intimated when their baby has a poor latch, or they have a low milk supply. It might take some time for babies to get the hang of the feeding process so use a breast pump and a bottle to give expressed milk to your baby. You can even use formula milk but ask your doctor for the best formula for your baby.
Conclusion
Parenting is not a smooth road. It is filled with trials and tribulations. It takes time and patience to tackle the challenges parenthood brings forth. You might be sleep-deprived because of the irregular sleep cycle of the baby, or you might want to cry when you cannot soothe your child. No matter how exhausted or frustrated you are, it’ll all be worth it once you see a smile on your baby’s face.
