First Care Of The Newborn To Satisfy His Needs
“Maybe the children came into the world with a first care manual”, often thinks those who have just become a mother during the first days of their baby’s life. Although this manual does not actually exist, we would like to offer you a brief guide on the first care of the newborn in order to successfully face the first months of motherhood.
The details of the infant’s first care are difficult to enumerate, especially since not all babies have the same needs. Some are born with a condition that requires special attention, so it is a mission impossible to give a manual in which absolutely all the factors at play on this sensitive topic are dealt with.
However, this does not stop us from helping firstborn mothers who feel overwhelmed by the arrival of their firstborn. Below we present a trilogy of recommendations that will facilitate the complicated and wonderful task of being a mother.
Advice on the first care of the newborn
How to feed it
The first thing new mothers need to know is that there is no reason to despair if they cannot produce enough breast milk during the days after giving birth. Little by little, children will activate the hormones oxytocin and prolactin, protagonists in the production process of this precious liquid.
The more time the baby will spend on the breast, the more milk will be produced. A crucial fact to keep in mind is that during the first few days, a substance called colostrum, also called first milk, comes out of the mammary glands, which contains an immunological load that is important for the development of the baby.
Don’t be frightened by the thought that your children are not getting enough nutrients or that they will become dehydrated. A few drops of colostrum during the first hours of life will be enough to satiate their little stomachs.
To find out if your babies are getting the amount of milk they need, you need to check when they need to be changed. If they get their nappies wet, they are obviously not dehydrated.
First care of the newborn: how to regulate the hours of sleep
Specialists claim that a newborn can sleep up to a total of eighteen hours a day; but what often worries mothers is the fact that this phase of sleep is continuous, in fact it is customary to wake up the children at intervals of two or three hours to make them eat.
It is good to remember that inside the womb the little ones spent most of their time sleeping, this is because inside the uterus there is no difference between day and night. How, then, to regulate the sleep of newborns?
Venezuelan pediatrician Miguel Raga advises mothers to set a time to breastfeed their babies starting from the fifteenth day after birth. According to this strategy, you have to wake up with the baby at 6:00 in the morning to feed him. Starting with this first feed, you need to feed him at three-hour intervals. The exact times will be: 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 21:00.
After the last feed, around 9:00 pm, the baby will be able to sleep more consecutive hours and his sleep will be deeper. We certainly cannot forget that we must feed him even when he requests it outside these hours, so if he wakes up at dawn, we must satisfy his request for breast milk.
The key to the success of this food program is being disciplined in order to achieve the desired results; many mothers, in fact, assure that thanks to this method their babies are able to sleep all night from the second month of life.
I did
The newborn’s first stool is very dark, between a greenish and even black color. They take the name of meconium and have this aspect because they are formed by mucus and secretions accumulated in the intestine of the child during his intrauterine development.
Consequently, if the first time your baby defecates you notice that the diaper is covered with a viscous, dark substance, don’t worry. Their digestive cycle will also adapt as the days go by. Some babies defecate twice a day, while others can reach 48 hours doing nothing. To make sure everything is okay, you can keep a diary in which to note the times when the baby defecates and describe all the details to the pediatrician during the baby’s first medical checks.
There are many first cares for the newborn and on this occasion we focused only on a few of fundamental importance, as well as those that generally worry most mothers who strive to do a great job.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of motherhood. Trust yourself and your abilities. We assure you that no one, better than you, is able to look after your children.
