Taking Care of an Infant Within the First One Month

It is important to understand that the care of the baby begins from the point of pregnancy. The expectant mother has to visit the clinic so that they can have checks to confirm that all is well. There are a host of vaccines that the mother has to take to safeguard the unborn child from some potential illnesses that can affect the healthy development of the baby during pregnancy and even soon after delivery.

The First Week after Delivery

The first week after delivery is always very challenging for many. First time parents often have lots of difficulty because they may not even know how to breastfeed the kid. While many people assume that breastfeeding a kid is a natural thing that every mother must know, the truth is the exact opposite.

Every first time mother needs education on how to hold the child when breastfeeding as well as how best to handle the nipples. These lessons will go a long way in ensuring your baby gets the milk they need. You can get reliable information on these matters from the clinic or by reading medical journals on how to handle babies.

The first few days are very important for breastfeeding because the baby gets some immunity against common complications from the breast milk. Babies who miss out on this stand a higher chance of contacting different kinds of health problem along the way. Besides the feeding aspect, there are other things as well that are very important. It is good to realize that you will be required to lift the baby from time to time. There is a specific way of doing this. Newly born kids are very weak and must be handled with care.

How to Lift a Newly Born Child

When you have to lift the baby up, you should always make sure you hold them with both hands. The first hand should hold the baby from the back of the head around the neck area. The other one should hold around the waist so that you give the entire weight of the baby is supported.

Many people may be tempted to hold the kid from the arms because it comes naturally. This should not be the case. It is also important to make sure you do not try to put the baby in a sitting position. Keep the baby in a straight position as if they are lying on the bed at all times.

At birth, the placenta which is the link between the child and the mother while in the womb has to be cut. A wound always results from this cut. This wound is often closed using a special peg. Once the peg is in place, it is supposed to remain in place until the wound dries out and it falls off on its own.

You must however take some time on a daily basis to clean the area, sterilize it and make sure it remains dry at all times. During these few days when the peg has not yet fallen off, you should watch out to ensure you do not hurt the area. Diapers should be handled with care by giving the area enough room. These steps are vital because it is very easy for a child to get ill due to contamination from the wound.

Giving the Baby a Warm Bath

During the first week, it is very difficult to give the baby a good bath. In many cases, the nurses are supposed to give the kid a birth as soon as it is born. If you are not sure on the best way to clean the baby, you can simply avoid it during the first week. During this time, the wound from the placenta should heal.

You will know the wound has healed when the peg falls off. You should at no time try to pull off the peg because that may worsen the situation. It is better to avoid giving the kid a bath for this one week than to do it and create more problems with the unhealed wound. The baby will not develop any problems because they have not been bathed for a few days.

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