Whether your impending arrival is your first baby, or your fifth looking after a newborn takes extreme care, patience and lots of love. However, it’s often first time mothers, simply through lack of experience, that struggle the most. Taking care of a newborn isn’t easy, but neither is it something new parents should shy away from and once you’ve got the basics sorted then things will start falling into place.
Breast Or Bottle
One of the first decisions you’ll make or may have already made is whether to breast, or bottle feed your child and it’s a highly personal decision. Baby formula is quick, less messy and much more convenient when outside, however breastfeeding will give your child everything naturally. Newborns tend to feed around eight, or more times a day and signs your child is hungry include sucking their fingers, being fidgety, opening their mouths and murmuring.
A few of my favorite baby feeding/bonding essentials:
Bond with baby and obtain privacy during feedings with this beautiful (and functional) nursing cover that doubles as a trend-right infinity scarf. Bebe au Lait’s nursing scarf offers adjustable, relaxed coverage from front to back, comes in a versatile print and is perfect for the mommy on-the-go before, during and after pregnancy.
Medela Pump In Style Advanced -The Metro Bag is a daily use breastpump designed for moms who pump several times a day. All Pump -In Style Advanced breastpumps offer portable convenience for quiet, discreet pumping anywhere.
Bathing Your Baby
Keeping your baby clean is a huge part of looking after a newborn, and it’s important you know how to wash them properly. While babies are very delicate creatures, they aren’t made of glass, so it’s perfectly ok to touch, wash and even stroke them.
How cute is this Puj Tub –a soft infant bath tub is a designed to be used in your sink.
To bathe your baby you’ll need a small washing up bowl, or a baby bath, fresh, clean clothes and diaper, two towels, cotton wool and warm, not hot, water. Don’t be tempted to add any shampoo, or bath products as in the first few months plain, warm water’s best. Then gently wipe your baby’s face, ears, neck, and backside with damp pieces of cotton wool using a fresh piece each time. Gently lower baby into the water supporting their head and shoulders with your hand and swish, not splash the water over them. Keep their head elevated above the water at all times and never leave them alone.
How cute is this Stripe Trim Cotton Terrycloth Bathrobe to dry them off?!
Changing A Diaper
Don’t worry you’ll get plenty of practice at this as babies need to be changed frequently when dirty or wet. Good diaper hygiene will keep your baby happy and prevent sore, red skin or diaper rash which happens if children aren’t changed regularly. Newborn babies need, on average, to be changed around ten, twelve times a day so make sure you have plenty of diapers, baby powder and cotton wool with you at all times.
The Stokke Care is a changing table that makes nappy changes enjoyable and intimate.
Changing a baby isn’t difficult especially if you’re using disposable diapers with sticky tabs. Don’t just change the diaper itself, talk, smile and play with your baby as it encourages bonding and helps them develop from day one.
Sleep Soothing
Getting your newborn off to sleep is vital for both their well-being and yours. Babies tend to cry when they’re wet, tired or hungry as well as just for no reason so if they’re not settling check these first and it may solve the problem. Tiny babies need lots of sleep, between fourteen and sixteen hours a day and will spend most of their first few weeks asleep than awake. For the first six months or so, the child should sleep and be awake in the same room as its parents.
I like that you talked about sleep soothing. You really do want to be sure that you are doing what you can to keep your newborn healthy. Sleeping often really makes a difference. Do you have any tips about finding a good child care facility for your infant? I really want to find a place that can help my infant sleep better.
Even though some of my mothering skills came naturally, like realizing I could nurse my newborn son, Conrad, while walking up the spiral staircase, my confidence as a new mom was hard-won. I always assumed there was a book, or a gadget, or one of Angelina Jolie’s nannies, who knew how to do everything better than I could. Worse, I thought my lack of mothering-nerve was a blemish on the image of the perfect mom I wanted to be. (I hadn’t yet realized that trying to be perfect was ridiculous.) I kept my insecurities to myself and continued to shop for stuff I didn’t need and buy tomes that were better used as stacking blocks.
Thank you for your tips, Melissa. It’ll be useful for new parents. Specially the first one – Breastfeeding. Every child deserved the best nutrition for the best health. Nowadays, a lot of modern women think that a bottle of formula is enough, but it isn’t.
My sister used that Medela Pump and RAVED about it! She always gifts it to her friends that have babies and I’ve started getting it for my friends, too! Apparently it’s “the best thing EVER!” 🙂
These are great tips and great picks. A good breast pump is essential for new moms, even if we’re not breast feeding, there will still be a period of having to pump.
This is a great resource for any new mom! Motherhood can be a confusing time, especially on the first go around.
My kiddo is a lot older now I wish I had some of these things when he was a newborn. The one thing I will say that worked well for me was the cover when he nursed. It made me feel more comfortable and they kept him from getting distracted while nursing.
The Puj tub was awesome. It was so helpful for those messy bathtimes!
I like the look of he Puj tub. Things like that make bathing baby so much easier.
I have a friends baby shower coming up soon. The Puj Tub would be a great gift. These are all great baby products.
I am in love with the Stripe Trim Cotton Terrycloth Bathrobe. My son used to love wearing his bathrobe when he was this age. So cute!
I think I have baby fever sometimes. Then I remember how much work they are.
These are great tips! I miss those baby days more than anything!
Oh my…. I’ll never forget the moment I held my son for the first time. It was just me and him in my hospital room and we both just stared at each other in wonder. I had buried a baby before him so my arms were aching to hold him long before he was born. I was nervous and anxious as a new mom but we fell into our routine easily. I wish the all the baby products that are around today were available back then. I bathed my babies in the bathroom sink, used cloth diapers with diaper pins and nursed them until they didn’t want to anymore.
This time of having a baby was so hard for me. Between learning how to breast feed and getting a routine, I was always a nervous wreck. Thankfully by baby #2 came, I figured out that I could do the best I could and that was enough. However I needed all the help I could get.
Babies need special care. These tips are helpful for new mommies.
Thanks for pointing out that new babies will need to be changed up to twelve times a day. That’s a lot. My husband and I have recently had our first baby, and we don’t know if we’ll actually be able to do it all. We’ll have to find someone who does infant care to help us.
Thanks “Melissa Chapman” for sharing a very informative and effective post. As a mom, I think you can also add some topics to your content. Like Baby eye care, baby’s tongue clean, Hold the baby in a right way, Nose care. This is my personal opinion.
Such an amazing post. Thanks for this great post, I find it very interesting and very well thought out and put together. I look forward to reading your work in the future 🙂
That is a very helpful post about baby child care tips. I love the idea about adding “Changing A Diaper”.Changing diaper is hard but very important. Keep writing this kind of awesome post. Cheers.