There is much joy attached to one being a new mother, especially when they see their newly born baby. This joy is cut short when they face challenges during the upbringing of the baby, more so for the first time mothers. However, with proper guidance during the upbringing such challenges are easy to handle when they arise. It should not be tough caring for the baby, yet you pulled through the pregnancy period for the whole nine months and endured the pain of delivery. Medical practitioners can offer the guidelines whenever required by the new mothers.
Handling your new born
- You should confirm that the baby is firmly and comfortably fastened to the car seat, carrier, or the stroller.
- Newly born babies should not be shaken or tossed in the air, since it may cause an internal bleeding in the brain. These are few things that should be done to ensure the safety of your baby:
- You should always wash your hands before carrying your baby, because they may easily get infected due to their undeveloped immune system
- You should ensure that you are holding your child carefully to support their head and neck, since they are very weak at a young age.
Breast feeding your baby
- It is advisable to consult a lactation consultant to get some tips on breastfeeding
- The baby should be fed with breast milk for the first six months after which they can be fed with baby food. It strengthens their immunity which is transferred from the mother through the breast milk.
- You should ensure that you breast feed your baby in good time
- You should take care of your health during the period of breastfeeding, because your diet may affect the baby’s health directly.
- In case the milk ducts are blocked it is advisable to press some warm, wet face towel on the breast to clear them for milk flow.
- If they are sour, a cold press is used instead.
Making your baby comfortable
- You should always ensure that the baby is not wet from either urine or fecal matter
- You should keep your baby neither too warm nor cold.
- Ensure your baby sleeps without disturbance, because noise may startle them.
- Identify the cause of your baby’s crying it could be they are: wet, hungry, sleepy, or unwell.
- You should adjust your sleeping time to when the baby sleeps, so that you can attend to them maximally when they are awake.
- You should sing, and play lovely tunes for your baby to feel good.
- You should wash your baby with lukewarm water ensuring you are gentle and careful
For the proper care of your child, you should ensure that they can are provided with the basic needs. In case you no longer live with your spouse; the father of your baby, you should apply for child support. It is important to have the CSA phone number in case the non-custodian parent stops sending the child support fund before they reach an age of twenty years. The Child Support Agency (CSA) will see that the baby is taken well care of.