Newborn baby care first month is very crucial and sometimes seems challenging for new parents. When your sweet newborn comes home, you have many things in mind: What should you do for your new baby in the first month at home? Your excitement and love for the baby want to do more and more for your newborn. In the first month, the baby is getting used to this new, strange and huge world. You need to get attached to your infants in many ways such as answering their gestures with love and care.
Here are some important things you need to know about taking care of your baby in the first month:
How to Handle a Newborn Baby
If you are a first-time parent and don’t have an idea to handle or hold a newly born baby, then you should need to take some guidance about newborn baby care first month.
Here are some essential things you should keep in your mind for holding your infant:
Wash your hands: To take good care of your baby, you should wash or sanitize your hands before handling the baby. You should also ask your other family members and friends must do this activity before holding your baby.
Don’t shake the baby: As your infant is too sensitive, so never shake the baby for any purpose. It can cause even death, because when you shake the baby it may cause bleeding in the brain which is very dangerous for your infant.
Neck Muscles: At this stage, your baby’s neck muscles have not developed yet, so you should be very careful during handling the baby. Keep your hand below the head when you hold the baby, it will support the baby’s neck.
Feeding in Newborn Baby Care First Month
Newly born babies feed many times, after every 2-3 hours. the baby may remind you of different ways that he or she wants to feed, such as by putting hands in the mouth, crying, or making some specific noises.
Feeding through breasts is no doubt more beneficial for a baby’s health and development. Breastfeeding is ideal for newborn babies. It’s also helpful for women’s health to feed by breasts, as it will keep them safe from breast cancer.
Formula milk is an alternative for babies who are not comfortable with breastmilk or whose mothers are not able to provide breastmilk for any reason. Most babies take 1 to 2 ounces every 2-3 hours in the first month of their birth.
Baby’s Weight
There is a slight difference in the baby boy’s weight and the baby girl’s weight. At the time of birth, the male baby’s average weight is 7 lb 6 oz (3.3 kg) and the female baby’s average weight is 7 lb 2 oz (3.2 kg). If the baby’s weight is below 5 lb 8 oz or 2.5 kg at the time of delivery, then it will consider a low birth rate. But, it’s normal if a baby loses about 10% of its weight after his or her birth. This reduction in weight is commonly due to fluid loss. Parents should not worry about that.
If we talk about the baby’s weight for the first month of his or her birth, then for a male baby; the average weight should be 9 lb 14 oz (4.5 kg), and for a female baby’s average weight should be 9 lb 4 oz (4.2 kg).
Newborn Sleeping Hours
For the newborn baby care first month, parents should aware of the sleeping duration of their baby. Sleep timings differ from one baby to the other. Everyone has their own sleep duration. However, the best and normal sleep duration for newborns is 14-17 hours every 24 hours.
Babies mostly wake every 2 hours to feed. If the baby has breastfeeding, he or she will wake more often for feed than formula-fed babies.
About Diapering
Newborn babies need frequent diaper changes. Parents should have a bundle of diapers so that their life becomes easier.
Normally, the babies need diaper changes every 10-15 times a day. As you have to spend more time with the baby in diaper changing, so you can make it a special time for attachment with your baby by responding to his or her gestures, laughing, and noises.
Be careful about baby rashes during diapering. It’s a very common problem in newborns. So, must use rash cream or powder to keep the diapering area clean and dry. If you want to know more about baby care for up to 6-month tips for newborn babies read my recent blog about it.
- How To Soothing A Crying Baby - May 30, 2023
- The Importance Of Tummy Time for Your Baby - April 24, 2023
- Bonding with Your Newborn - April 24, 2023
2 thoughts on “5 Things To Do For Newborn Baby Care First Month”