13 Best Do’s And Don’ts For Your Newborn
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Apart from joy, your baby also ushers in a great deal of responsibility. There is more than coddling that you must do on a typical day with your newborn. All you need to do is get your bearings around what you should do and what you shouldn’t with your newborn. Here’s your manual on the things you simply shouldn’t ignore doing:
1. Ask For Help
You don’t get help unless you ask. There are very few who would volunteer to help. Just get vocal about it. And you deserve it too. Call family or friends or neighbors to help you with your regular chores or share their valuable experience with regard to baby care.
2. Handling The Baby
Know how to carry or hold your baby. A first-time mom might have gone fidgety around this one unless she has had laid her hands over the velvety soft babies of friends earlier. You will know then how to ‘scoop them out’ of their places. Always hold by the neck with your palms covering the circumference of the head and your other hand placed under their bottoms. Usually, the head must be held to your left. Your baby must also be held close to your chest to give the warmth and a feeling of security. Alternatively, you could always rely upon the sling position close to your bosom and arms.
3. Burping Avoids Colic
It’s one of the best past-times of fathers, some bearing the coveted burp-expert tags. It gives you time to relax and attend to other things, but you need to remember that while burping isn’t mandatory after every feed, it can get rid of the colicy state your baby might invite otherwise. So, yeah, ask daddies to get ready for some spills on their backs. Make sure there is an interval between every feed and the baby nap time.
4. Washing Hands Before Touching Your Baby
If you’ve seen those hand sanitizers that doctors use before they touch your baby, you know why. It’s a good idea to have one of those with you handy in your car or at places where you can’t reach out for a hand-wash with a disinfectant soap. Don’t carry germs to your baby. Hand sanitizer will keep a lot of other health worries at bay.
5. Immunization
Stay tuned to when your doctor asks to bring your baby for the next shot. Keep the immunization history safe with you. Know what shots your baby has already been given at the hospital and which ones are pending.
6. Making Your Baby Sleep On Its Back, Not Its Tummy
You don’t have to mimic a poster baby that sleeps on its tummy while their body is still developing. Help it develop the correct sleeping posture as opposed to sideways sleeping. Until your baby is ready enough to toss and crawl, you surely don’t want to punish it by putting it to sleep on its tummy.
7. Swaddling Your Baby
Restructure the cocooned envrion your baby had while in the womb. Swaddling is one way to do it – make it feel warm, cozy, and snuggly. You will love to see how your baby still wants to be all curled up like when it was within your womb.
8. Bottle-feeding The Correct Way
If your baby is on bottle feed, you don’t want to force her to finish her milk. She will give you the signs once it’s full. Also, you must hold the baby with a tilt, say a 45-degree angle to avoid accidental passage of the milk into the windpipe. Ensure there are no bubbles or foam in the bottle. If there are, allow the bubbles to pop out. Never allow the bottle in your baby’s hands completely – you never know whether it is drinking or regurgitating. Always hold the bottle, so your baby isn’t sucking in air.
9. Avoid Shaking Your Baby Vigorously
If you have to wake your baby up from sleep, shaking is certainly not the best way to do. It could cause internal bleeding in babies or cause Shaken Baby Syndrome. There can’t be a worse explanation!
10. Don’t Throw Your Baby Into Air For Fun
It does more harm to your baby than make it laugh. Also, there is ample scope for an accident.
11. A Baby Crib Is Not A Toy Store
You could be choking your baby by placing toys in the crib. Imagine the amount of dust and allergens they could have gathered along. Nope, baby crib is simply not the place for toys. Keep the crib clean and exclusive for your baby.
12. Perfumed Wipes Do No Less Harm
They could do what other allergens could do to your child. Use plaine wipes devoid of perfume for your baby. The best way would be to restrict the scented wipes to the lower parts of the body.
13. Abstain From Smoking And Drinking
A breastfeeding mom must abstain from drinks. If that has been the pattern through your pregnancy, then yes, you will have to be patient for some more time, at least, until your baby has weaned off. With regards to smoking, rarely would a baby not escape asthma or respiratory problems arising due to smoke. Do not smoke in your baby’s vicinity.
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