How to adapt to a newborn
1. Make day and night drastically different
If you want to have a good night's sleep you have to help your baby learn to distinguish day from night. This means exposing your baby to noise and daylight during the day and keeping the night quiet and dark. When the baby wakes up at night, feed him, let him breathe out, change him and put him back in the crib. Leave the cuddles, whispers, and playtime for the day.
2. Let the baby sleep in your room.
Put a bedside bassinet or crib on wheels so baby can sleep in your room (but not in your bed) during those first few weeks. Sharing a room not only reduces the risk of sudden death, but it also makes getting used to nighttime feedings less stressful, since you'll barely have to get out of bed. If you are bottle feeding, leave the bottles and milk in the room.
3. Keep baby comfortable
New parents have a tendency to overdress their baby. As a general rule, put one layer more on your newborn than you are wearing. That is, if you are comfortable wearing a t-shirt at home, put the baby in a light onesie with a blanket wrapped over it. Watch your baby for signs: If his hands are cold, his head appears sweaty, or he has a heat rash, dress him accordingly. Babies tend to feel a little warmer to the touch. Try to get plenty of skin-to-skin time in the hospital and the days afterward so you start to learn what a baby's normal body temperature feels like.
4. Forget about perfection
Keep in mind that baby is not going to maintain a predictable schedule in the short term, so don't expect them to. Instead, follow the tried and true advice of " sleeping when the baby sleeps." That means forgetting about the sink full of dirty dishes and taking a nap, because you never know when you'll get your next opportunity. Rest is more important than cleaning in these first weeks.
5. Make a mental checklist
Adjusting to life outside the womb is exhausting, and newborns tend to sleep a lot (at least for the first few days). If the baby is crying and you don't know how to calm him down, don't panic, it takes a while to know what the baby needs and until you know, just rely on trial and error and your intuition. First, start with the basics. Can the baby be hungry or have a dirty diaper? Try feeding or changing him. Once you've ruled them out, check to see how the baby is doing. is it hot? Cold? Just need something relaxing? Adjust the thermostat or his clothing, keep him close and rock him or play music or white noise until something starts to work. It's okay, and totally normal, to not know what's wrong with your baby right away. You will know in time.
6. Seek help
Frequent crying or fussing can be stressful, but take comfort in knowing that crying itself does not harm the baby. And because it's too much to deal with every cry, especially in the first few weeks at home when you're most tired and overwhelmed, remember to accept help from your partner and others as much as possible so you can rest. If you suspect something is wrong, take the baby to the pediatrician. They could have a chronic condition, such as reflux or a protein allergy, which are treatable, and babies usually outgrow them.
7. Read baby's signals
So how much are you supposed to feed the baby? If she's breastfeeding, it's hard to tell since you won't have bottles with cm markings to measure baby's intake. But fortunately, babies seem to know when they've had enough. Regardless of whether your baby is breast- or bottle-fed, he or she should seem sleepy and content right after feeding, and in that first week, as well as in the weeks to come, he or she will probably fall asleep for two to three hours once he or she is satisfied. .
Be careful, though: some babies want to suck on something, whether they're hungry or not. If sucking on a thumb or pacifier calms the baby, then he or she doesn't need to eat more.
8. Do diaper checks
The other indicator that the baby is eating enough is bowel movements, it is important to keep track of diapers (your doctor may ask you for specific numbers at the checkups). In the first four days, newborns can only urinate two to four times a day, but then they should begin to have 6 to 12 wet diapers per day. As for newborn poop, the number is not so simple. The baby should poop at least once in the first 24 hours, but if not, 98% of babies poop by the second day. From then on, your baby could soil five or more diapers a day (especially if you breastfeed him), or he could go 7 to 10 days without soiling a diaper and be perfectly healthy (as long as he shows no signs of discomfort). ). Just watch out for hard, ball-like poop as it could be a sign that your baby is constipated.
9. Know your colors
Within the baby's first few days, they will have black stools known as meconium, which is a product of all the things they "ate" in the womb. After that, for an exclusively breastfed baby, the newborn's poop will turn a lighter brown color before turning yellow with a seedy appearance. But no matter how you feed your baby, his poop may be yellow, brown, or green, all of which is totally normal. However, if it's red, black (beyond the first few days), or white, it could mean there's a problem, so let your baby's pediatrician know if you see any of those strange colors.
10. Be careful with the weight
You probably didn't know that your baby will probably lose up to 10% of his or her birth weight in the first three to seven days. Well, it's true and it's totally normal: they are only eliminating some of that fluid retained in the uterus, plus they are burning more calories now that they can move freely. After that, the baby can gain 5 to 7 grams per week for the first month. Your pediatrician will help you measure and track the baby's progress and alert you if his weight gain or loss is cause for concern.
11. Be Flexible
As we mentioned before, the baby does not know how to follow a clock. Sure, there are newborns who are perfectly fine eating every three hours on the dot. If yours is one of those, congratulations! Others may be hungry closer to every two hours, or "cluster feeding," meaning they want what appears to be consecutive feedings. (This tends to be common at night, so be prepared.) Seeing how some babies take up to 45 minutes to feed, you may have days where you feel like all you've done is feed your baby. That's totally normal.
And on those days, remember: You're doing great!