Showing posts with label Newborn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newborn. Show all posts

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Important Tips to Take Care of a Newborn Baby

It may be an exciting experience but also a scary time for a mother who has just got a new baby. It will be very difficult at the beginning but you have to be sure that you can take care of your baby. Even, you will miss the experience of taking care of your newborn baby as the time fly by. Here are going to give you some important tips to take care of a newborn baby that you can apply through the growing process of your child.

The first thing that you need to consider is to change the diaper of your baby regularly every time you find that it is wet or soiled. It is also important for you to gather all the supplies that you need before you start to change the diaper. Some supplies that you will need include wipes, diapers, diaper rash cream, and a change of clothes. It is better for you to prepare all those things near your baby so that you do not have to leave her/him alone on the bed when you need them.

Secondly, it is also important for you to treat the diaper rash of your baby. It is recommended for you to use diaper rash cream substantially to the red area if your baby get red or irritated skin. You have to be very careful to treat diaper rash. If you can treat it well, it will potentially lead to infection or pain for your baby when he/she urinates.

Thirdly, it is really suggested for a mother to give her newborn baby breast milk. This is the best way to feed your newborn baby. However, if it is impossible for you to give breast milk to your baby, you can feed her/him with milk from the bottle. During the feeding, you can make eye contact and singing or talking with your baby. This will really beneficial to establish a strong bond between mother and her baby.

Fourthly, another ways to raise the strong bond between mother and her baby is by giving the baby love, snuggle, and cuddle. These will be the most fun and unforgettable part of having a baby. Just enjoy it because you will miss this moment someday.

Another way to take care of your baby is by using a baby sling. A baby will feel comfortable on the sling and he/she can be held close to you. Besides, using a baby sling can also let your hands to be free so that you still can do other activity while carrying your baby with the sling.

Furthermore, you also must give your baby a bath. In giving a bath to your baby, you have to make sure that the water is not too cold or too hot. Besides, prepare all the supplies near the place you give a bath to your baby so that you will be easier to handle it and do not have to leave your baby alone in the water.

Moreover, after several days of your newborn baby, you can get your baby to take a walk in the morning to enjoy the sunlight by using a baby stroller. The sunlight is good for your baby since it gives vitamin D that has great function for the bone development.




If you want to get your newborn baby to be comfortable while shunning, you can try to visit http://dualjoggingstroller.org to get further information about baby trend double jogging stroller.



Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Bathing Your Newborn Baby

Having a baby is one of the most wonderful experiences any parent could have. However, because of the sensitive body and health condition of an infant, proper procedures of taking care of him should always be considered. This is especially true in giving a bath to a newborn baby.

What are the proper ways of bathing a newborn baby?

There are numerous considerations that should always be employed when bathing a baby. Here are some of the steps to ensure the safety of the child :

The number of times that a newborn baby has to receive a bath depends on his health condition. Daily baths are not necessary for babies who are not yet crawling. As long as you are able to adequately cleanse your infant during diaper change and after meals, you can keep him fresh without actually giving a bath. On the other hand, an ideal of two to three times a week for a bath can keep your baby fresh.

The factor in giving a bath is to have the right tools and things when you are about to give him a cleansing activity. You should always use gentle and mild substances for your newborn. Soaps and shampoos specifically for babies are widely available in the market. Also, utilities such as sponges and soft towels can be purchased.

The first step in bathing your baby is to gently wet him with clean and gently warmed water. You can start wetting the sponge and lather it on his toes, arms and torso. Giving a gentle lathering technique will open his skin pores to make way for a relaxing bath. Never submerged a newborn baby in water, as this may increase the risk of infection as well as drowning.

Next thing for you to do is to put a little bath soap (preferably liquid) on the sponge. Then, you can gently lather the soap suds on the parts of the body previously wet. This will help cleanse out dead skin cells and other skin components from birth.

Afterwards, you can then use another sponge and wet it with warm water. You can cleanse away the soap materials from the infant's body by squeezing out water from a drenched sponge and let the water wash away the suds. This is the gentlest way of removing soap suds from the baby's body. With regards to the head and hair, the same procedure may be followed. Most pediatricians recommend that the head to be the last to be cleansed as this part needs special attention. You should always be careful not to let soap or shampoo to get into the eyes for your baby.

For his face, you can use a damp soft cloth to remove any dirt or dust that has accumulated on his face. It is not advisable to wash a baby's face directly with water, especially for newborn ones. After the bathing process, you can wrap your infant with a clean soft cloth to let it absorb excess water. You can now cuddle and kiss yours with a healthy and refreshed body after giving him a bath.




David Yu - write Baby Bathing [http://todaybaby.com/baby-care/baby-bathing.html] for Todaybaby. He also write about Baby Name [http://todaybaby.com/baby-name] and Baby Food [http://todaybaby.com/baby-food-nutrition/homemade-baby-food.html].



Thursday, 9 December 2010

A Mommy's Best Tool is a Disposable Newborn Diaper

A new mommy might panic when her newborn daughter defecates more than 6 times everyday. This is normal and it only indicates that the baby's body is adjusting to its new environment out of the mommy's tummy. This should stop after a month. After that, it's still quite normal for a baby to pass her bowels at least 3 times a day. During the early stages of your newborn's life, your best tool would be a disposable newborn diaper. These diapers are convenient because they can be thrown out or disposed off conveniently. You'll appreciate their use, specially if you go out on the road in long trips with your baby.

Don't get me wrong. A cloth diaper is very much ideal specially if you want to care for the environment. If at all, try to use a disposable newborn diaper sparingly after the first few months of frequent defecation. After those months, go and use cloth diapers as they are environmentally friendly and could save you a lot of money because they are reusable.

When choosing a disposable newborn diaper, try to find the balance between the cost and the benefits. Certain disposable diapers have certain special features that are peculiar to it. Pampers Swaddlers for example has a feature called Air Dry which ensures that the baby's bottom is well ventilated. This would keep her fresh.

Huggies Little Snugglers feature a wetness indicator that would be useful for timely changes. You wouldn't want your baby to be wet for a long time because not only does it make her smelly it may also cause some infections to her genitals.

Luvs Premium Stretch Diapers feature a cottony soft fabric that's also fresh smelling.

Different diapers go for different babies. Some babies may have problems with some diapers because some diapers include semi liquid components that could affect the baby's skin. If this is your first time in getting a disposable newborn diaper, try to experiment with a few of each brand and see which one suits your baby best. You'll know for sure by taking into account whether the baby's skin reacts naturally to it. Convenience is also something that you should look into. Some diapers may be cheap, but have substandard quality that often leads to leakage or the breaking of the less durable components like the strap.

One more thing to consider when getting a newborn disposable diaper is the material that composes the strap. Some diapers feature straps that are made of thin plastic. Most of the time these kinds of strap are as thin as paper. Therefore whenever the baby's skin gets in touch with the sides of these straps, they tend to have something akin to paper cuts on their legs. Looking at the picture of the baby and the strap in the packaging could give you an idea of how it would look like when your baby wears it.




In the end you have the sole prerogative to find which disposable newborn diaper suits your baby best. Choose well and you and your baby will have lots of fun for many months to come. For more reviews and diaper discounts go to http://newborndiaper.info.



Monday, 6 September 2010

Your Healthy Newborn - First Days at Home

So you came home with your baby. Whether it is the first-born or not, it's always an exhilarating experience and an opportunity to learn new things everyday.

Your baby probably already had the first Hepatitis B vaccine and the newborn screen at the hospital. Also, he or she already passed the hearing test. Congratulations! This article reviews what you need to know about your newborns developmental milestone, feedings, elimination, and safety.

There are some essential things to know when you bring your neonate home. First of all, per the hospital's recommendations, set up a follow-up appointment with your baby's health care provider (usually 3-4 days post delivery). It is important to evaluate your infant, i.e. check the weight, listen to the heart, etc. Also, you may have questions that need to be answered: prepare a list before the visit so that nothing gets forgotten! Most health care providers like when patients come to the appointment well prepared. It helps us address all of your needs!

Below, I outlined some important things to know about your baby from the very first day.

DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES

Your baby should respond to noise. For example, she should startle at the sound of a slamming door or a barking dog. By one month of age, she should be able to distinguish between the mom's voice and voices of other people. However, some babies have this ability from the very first days after birth. Your baby's vision is intact, but right now she can best see objects and faces placed 8-12 inches away from her face. Also, she does not like bright lights. Babies like to open their eyes in dim light by the adult standards.

FEEDINGS

During the first few weeks, don't worry about schedules: your baby should eat on demand, on average every 2-4 hours. However, babies experience rapid growth spurts from time to time, and during those times they may be hungry every 1-2 hours. Just play it by ear. Also, keep in mind that your baby's stomach is very small (about the size of her fist), so it can't hold more than a couple of ounces at the time. If you feed your infant formula and notice excessive spit ups, decrease the amount of the formula but feed your baby a little more often. Don't let more than four hours pass between feedings. You do not want you baby get frustrated with hunger and make the feeding experience unpleasant. At any time, your breastfed or formula fed baby spits up excessively, talk to your health care provider. She may suggest a formula change or, on rare occasions, medication.

ELIMINATION

A healthy newborn should pass the first bowel movement (BM) within 36 hours after being born. After establishing a healthy BM pattern, your baby may go to the bathroom once or a few times a day, or every other day, or so. One thing to keep in minds is that not everybody has a BM every day! As long as you infant is comfortable between BMs and they do not look like pebbles, there is no reason for concern. Also, keep in mind that breast milk has much less waste than formula. Therefore, your baby may have less frequent and malodorous BMs than a formula-fed infant.
Urination is a good indication of hydration. A few days old baby should have at least 4-5 wet diapers and work her way up to more than 6 a day!

SAFETY

The safest sleeping position for your baby is on her back. It decreases the chance of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) (See Box 1). Co-sleeping of infants and parents is no longer recommended. Such sleeping arrangements create an unsafe environment for the baby who can suffocate on bedding or be crushed by a sleeping adult. Every baby should sleep in her own bassinet or crib. Smoking should not be allowed around your baby as well. Cigarette smoke exposure not only increases the risk of SIDS, but it also increases your baby's susceptibility to catching upper respiratory tract infections.

Practice measuring your baby's temperature. Should the temperature be 100F or above, undress the infant and let her cool off. Small babies overheat easily! After 15 minutes, check the temperature again. If the temperature is still 100F or above, your baby needs to be examined by a health care provider right away. That is true until the infant is 3 month old, because until then the immune system does not know how to work efficiently and fever may be a sign of a serious illness.

The series on newborns will cover in the future issues topics, such as jaundice of the newborn, the senses, primitive reflexes, six states of consciousness breastfeeding, reactions of older siblings to the newborn, postpartum depression, and infant's social development. If there are other topics that you would like to read about, email me at health@pluggedinparents.com

Box 1. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

SIDS is a sudden and unpredictable death of a seemingly healthy infant younger than 12 months of age. The diagnosis comes only after other causes of death are ruled out. You can take steps to reduce your baby's risk of SIDS by placing her to sleep on her back even though she might prefer to sleep on her belly! Make sure that the mattress in her crib is firm! Also, offering a pacifier to your infants (only if she does not reject it!) may decrease the risk of SIDS. Avoid cigarette smoke exposure and do not overdress your infant as overheating may contribute to SIDS.




Dr. Hillary is a pediatric nurse practitioner with a doctoral degree in health promotion and risk reduction. She works as a pediatric clinician and writes for Plugged in Parents. Plugged In Parents provides up-to-date info on pediatric health, safety and nutrition along with movie reviews, recipes, tech-savvy tips, and a parent's only forum. You can also contact Dr. Hillary for personal questions related to health and nutrition. Please visit http://www.pluggedinparents.com



Monday, 21 June 2010

How to Ensure That Newborn Babies Remain Happy

Newborn babies are that something special that all married couples wait for eagerly. The fun and frolic that these little toddlers provide to the entire family cannot be described in words. As days pass by, they start crawling and within a few weeks also attempt their first steps. This is followed by their eagerness to utter a few words. All this and much more is what a newborn baby provides the entire family with. However there are certain things that need to be observed by the parents to ensure that the toddler remains happy and is safe from illness.

If you have observed carefully, you might have noticed that these kids pick up and eat anything they can grasp with their tiny fingers as soon as they are a few weeks old. This activity increases when the newborn baby starts crawling and is able to locate and move towards different things lying on the floor. You should ensure that there are no foreign objects left on the floor that they can eat since they might block their windpipe and cause serious problems.

There is yet another thing you should be wary of when the baby starts crawling. Wipe the floor clean using a disinfectant that is strong enough to remove germs from the floor yet does not leave any residue that might be harmful for the baby's skin. During their first few weeks, babies cannot inform others that they are going to urinate. This action is natural for them.

They convey it to others by crying. If your baby is crying for no apparent reason, you should first check out their diaper and check whether it is wet or not. If yes, replace the same with a dry one after cleaning her bottom and private parts with a soft towel and applying some talcum powder. When newborn babies are a few week old, we generally give them lots of gifts.

However, most of us, in our eagerness, never bother to check out whether these gifts are suitable for the young ones. Before purchasing those toys, you should ensure that they do not have any sharp edges. Babies, out of habit, will try to insert these playthings into their mouth. A sharp edged object might cut their delicate skin. Also make sure that the toy is painted using colors that are safe for the toddler.




Know all you want to know about the newborn baby and lots of other baby information.