Tried and True Steps for Newborn Care

March 15th, 2010 | Uncategorized

Knowing when an infant is ill can be a challenge for new parents. Medical professionals field so many questions from mothers of newborns that they often treat concerns as nothing more than just new-mama nerves. It’s enough to make a mama doubt her own instincts.

The good news is that there are tangible and objective measures of a baby’s health.

THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS
A baby should nurse a minimum of eight times each day for a period of at least a quarter of an hour each session during the first week of life. A mama can hear her baby swallow milk during feeding. Baby’s first sticky-black stool - called meconium - should pass. You should see it progress from greenish-black to a brown soft play-dough consistency. The color will appear yellow by the 4th or 5th day. Within 48 hours after birth, the baby will have wet diapers. The number of wet diapers will increase to two or three each day be the end of the week.

An ill baby will show definite physical signs of his condition. There is reason to be concerned if a baby has a weak sucking reflex, little or no desire to nurse and cannot sustain a feeding for at least 15 minutes, 8 times per day. If a baby falls asleep before nursing for 15 minutes, makes a clicking sound when nursing, and has dimpled cheeks when sucking, these are also indications that there is some difficulty. When the baby’s diapers don’t show stools progressing as they should and you don’t see wet diapers within 48 hours after birth, there is something out of the ordinary. Two days of these symptoms indicate that you should seek medical help.

THE INITIAL 30 DAYS
Signs of a healthy baby will be similar for the first month. Each day a healthy baby will nurse for eight sessions and produce 2-4 yellow bowel movements. Track your baby’s wet diapers. You should see between six and eight of them each day with clear urine, not yellow. Along with observing some milk and hearing your baby swallow during nursing, you should see a strengthening of the suck reflex. Your baby’s alertness will increase as well as his size.

Continue to monitor anything out of the ordinary in weeks 2 to 4 - infrequent or bright yellow urination, stools that are small or too seldom, fewer than 8 feedings per day. You should be able to measure an increase in your baby’s weight and length. Should the baby have a weak or tired sucking reflex, if you can’t hear swallowing, if the baby becomes sluggish, slow to respond or refuses to sleep between feedings, these are all indications that something is not right. Should you observe these behaviors for a couple of days in a row, seek out a health care provider.

WEEKS 5 TO 10
During this stage, the baby’s feedings may go down to seven per day. This is due to your growing baby’s ability to hold more food. Bowel movements will continue to change and will settle into a pattern of either several small stools in a day or a large bowel movement every 2 days. This is normal for a breastfed baby as the body is able to assimilate much of mama’s milk with little waste. The wet diapers (6-8 per day) will continue in frequency, but check to be sure the urine isn’t a yellow concentrate. Expect increased alertness, strengthened suck, audible swallows and a little milk dribbling at feeding time.

There may be reason for concern if a baby fails to produce the right amount of wet diapers without bright yellow color, or if the baby doesn’t nurse at least seven times daily. Make a note if your child stops gaining weight or doesn’t grow in length. Babies that can’t be heard swallowing and have a weak suck are not likely to be getting enough nourishment. If your baby becomes slow to respond, sluggish and stops sleeping between feedings, contact a health care provider. Two consecutive days of these behaviors indicate something is wrong.

KEEPING TRACK
Remembering how often and when a baby ate can be a challenge when you are well-rested. Expecting a new, sleep-deprived mama to do this can be overwhelming. Have note paper and a pencil near the baby’s bed. At each feeding or changing, jot down the time and any other notes. One example of an entry might be: “10:00 a.m. - BIG BM, brownish green, nursed 30 minutes.” It may help you to start a new page each day with the date written at the top.

This way, should anything seem out of the ordinary, you can refer to your notes and present them to a doctor if needed. Your notes can also help you bond more effectively with your little one. You may be too tired to figure out why your baby is crying, but a quick check of your notes will tell you if it’s been too long since he ate (hunger) or if he hasn’t had a bowel movement that day (constipation). In turn, you begin to interpret your baby’s cries and what they mean. In turn, the new mother gains confidence in her ability to identify and meet her child’s needs.

Yet, BEST advice is often the most common advice, and it comes from the not-so-new mothers. Don’t take for granted any of those first weeks. Other things can wait while you take the time to get to know your baby. In a flash, they are no longer little.

If you’re a new parent, you might like more tips on child training. No Greater Joy has written a best a bestseller called To To Train Up A Child that has helped thousands as well as publishing many articles on their website dedicated to helping parents bring up children they enjoy.

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