Baby Care Tips

Breast and bottle feeding, sleeping, and other tips for caring for your newborn baby

The mother of a newborn baby is probably the busiest person on earth. Baby care is a 24-hour job that never stops. Somewhere in there she also has to find time to do all other housekeeping and family stuff, let alone time for herself. How do mothers manage!?

Here are some baby care tips that hopefully will take some edge off worries for the new mothers.

Breast feeding tips

Everyday the mother has to bother about the baby’s feeding, sleeping, clothing, changing and bathing. It is the best to feed your own milk to the child. Please do not forget to give her the first milk of yours. The first milk contains colostrums, which is vital for the immune system of the child. Mother’s milk will always create the body resistance and the child will be a healthy one in future.

When you are breast feeding your child, the food that causes problems in your body may be communicated to the baby as well. Foods that cause gas or cold should be avoided or the baby will have uncomfortable state or congestion. This would mean more restless moments and sleepless nights for you.

Bottle feeding tips

If you are bottle-feeding your baby, then make sure that the bottles and teats are well sterilized and clean. Scrub them with washing liquids. Boil them for 25 minutes to kill unwanted organism that may have developed in it due to the fermenting milk. Change teats more often than bottles, as they wear out more quickly.

Steam sterilizer and cold sterilizer methods can also be used. But better consult with an expert about these, to see if they are readily available on the market and which ones they recommend.

Baby sleeping tips

The materials needed to put the baby to sleep are a good, firm mattress, sheets and blankets. Keep one feet distance from the nostril range of the baby if you are lying along with your baby on the same bed. There should not be unnecessary clothing or clothes around the baby’s body and bed which may cause temperature rise and heating. The baby is not going to talk about it, and you should be sensitive enough to remove the body coverings as much as possible.

There should be a mosquito net, or at least a netted covering around the baby to keep away the flies and the mosquitoes. This is especially important and easy to do if your baby sleeps in a baby crib.

Baby clothing

Summer clothes for your newborn should be light cotton ones. When the baby is taken out, make sure that his head does not get the direct sun. In winter, there may be sweaters, trousers and other woolens. Do not overdress the baby, but also remmber that they can't handle the cold as well as adults.

Changing baby

The baby’s diapers should be regularly changed. The intervals should be fixed according to the baby’s routine of potting and wetting. Despite the routine, the baby may need changing because of untimely nature calls at times. It is the baby’s right to feel dry at every moment. See to it that the bed is not wetted and the smelly clothes and bed sheets are removed.

Bathing baby

The baby needs a mouth washing with cotton. A bath tub large enough to hold it and is easy to wash should be made available. The baby should enjoy the water which can be assessed if leg splashing which is very distinct. The baby should be rubbed with baby oil and baby cream. The nail clippers should be used at bath time. After bath, the baby should be thoroughly dried and should be applied with a baby powder.

Immunisation

The baby should be immunized against Small Pox & Measles with BCG within 3 months of its age. The first DPT (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Psertussis, Polio, HIB, Meningitis C) is due within the first 2 months followed by the 2nd and the 3rd one at one month intervals. The MMR vaccination against Measles, Mumps and Rubella should be done within 1 years of age. The boosters should be taken after the baby is 4 years old.

Baby training and education

Though regular training and teaching should not be started before the age of three years, the child’s habits and sense of discipline is cultivated through the discipline the mother maintains. Babies learn from their parents, the mother in particular.

For example, when the mother is calm against odds like the baby fever, or baby dysentery while making sure of the treatments, the child gets the idea to be calm against disastrous times. How you as parent, especially the mother, deal with different situations is inadvertedly picked up and learned by your baby.

There's much more to caring for your newborn baby than meets the eye.

The most important babycare tip

The parents should find enough time to spend with the baby. Parenthood is a big responsibility, a lot of hard work, especially for the mum. But it's also a lot of fun, as the baby grows and starts exhibiting his or her own ever more interesting and entertaining personality.

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