Importance of Immediate Newborn Care

Getting Stuck In

For many first time parents, the arrival of a long-awaited newborn baby can be overwhelming, and the urge to sit and cradle them for hours is often strong for both parents. Immediate care is required in order to begin creating that bond that all parents crave.

Particularly when an infant is premature and may be in the ‘special care’ unit for a time, parents can feel frightened and often reluctant to handle their baby as parents of full-term babies might. It is important to get involved straight away. That tactile contact is what the baby really needs. Whether it is bathing or changing a dirty diaper, that all important newborn care is being delivered, and the bonding is already happening.

Importance of Immediate Newborn Care: Getting the Basics Right

Importance of immediate newborn care can never be under-estimated, and parents will be learning things they have never experienced before. It is the basics of being parents that is often never taught. Although parents may prepare for the much awaited homecoming to a beautifully decorated nursery with every material item the baby could need, the essential hands-on care needs to be achieved first.

Feeding

Getting into a well-structured feeding regime can take several weeks, of which there will be much trial and error. However, making a start on the practice cannot come too soon, and parents should take responsibility for feeding virtually as soon as the infant is born. If breastfeeding, the mom will face frustrations in the early days, but help is on hand from nurses and midwives to ensure that a good technique is adopted before going home.

Diapers

Whichever type of diaper parents choose to use, once again practice only comes with the ‘real thing’. Unless parents have had children before, this can be a daunting, if not slightly amusing, challenge ensuring that everything goes according to plan and without the baby opting to pee or poo at an in-opportune moment when the diaper is off. It is best to accept that this can be a tricky task but remember not to be too proud to ask for help before going home.

Bathing

Newborn infants pee and poop a lot, and it can be a messy time. It is a slight misconception that babies need to be bathed a lot, as apart from dirty bottoms which are cleaned when diapers are changed, when else do they get the opportunity to get dirty? Bathing is a great opportunity to bond and explore the baby, and in the days following birth, a full bath is not necessary. However, ‘top and tail’ washes are required to freshen the baby up, particularly if covered in any unwanted remnants of the birth. The importance is not to treat the infant like a china doll, he is more resilient than parents often realize and prefers to be handled with confidence.

Umbilical Cord Care

When the umbilical cord is cut, a small length of the cord will be clamped and left behind. This over time will shrivel up and drop off leaving a healthy stump otherwise known as the naval. Before it drops off, the cord will be tucked under the waist band of the diaper, and parents must ensure it is kept particularly clean to prevent infection. All traces of pee and poop need to be washed off, and if blood or discharge is noticed, the nursing team must be notified as this may signify infection. The cord needs to be kept clean and dry, and when at home parents also need to maintain the cleansing routine until the stump is dry and entirely healed.

Sleep

All babies need their sleep, and newborns in particular sleep more than they are awake for the first few weeks. For excited parents who are enjoying delivering care to their newborn, the challenge of establishing a solid sleeping pattern can be a difficult one to face. As with the feeding this must be honed early and the temptation to keep the baby awake for visitors to see is a definite no-no. Put the baby in her cot at regular intervals, if she falls asleep in a parent’s arms, cuddles are fine, but a baby needs to become familiar with the cot from an early stage. Not only that, when baby sleeps, mom and dad can get a rest too.

Trial and Error

Being a new parent brings both laughter and tears, and in the immediate post-delivery stage, the hands-on approach is highly recommended. Being a parent to a child of any age often involves nurturing by trial and error. Nobody is perfect or gets it right every time.

Reading books and learning baby care techniques from Internet websites is always helpful, but the importance of immediate newborn care is best understood with the hands-on approach. Take advice from family and friends particularly if they have kids of their own. Being a new parent is not a time to reject help and advice but instead to take all that is offered.