Now that your newborn is 24 hours old, what are some of the challenges on the immediate horizon for parents?
- Breast feeding: According to research, breast feeding is one of the top challenges when it comes to your newborn. Most mothers do not produce as much milk the first few days after the delivery of the newborn. In the beginning, most babies consume less than an ounce of milk (30 ml) per breast feeding, and about every 2-3 hour intervals per day. After about a month, the baby feeds about 3-5 ounces (90-150 ml) per meal, and about 3-4 hour intervals per day. With the advent of milk formula, mothers now are able to provide their newborns for proper growth with all the nutrients they need.
- Baby Formula: With all different brands and special dietary needs of all kinds, according to Dr. Arunima Agarwal, milk formula also has all the nutrients baby needs, especially for parents with busy schedules. If your newborn is allergic to a specific formula, your pediatrician or dietician can certainly help to recommend special milk formulas such as soy based or hydrolyzed formulas (premature babies). Also, from the editor’s past experience, if your baby enjoys drinking baby formula the few days spent in the hospital, you can certainly ask the hospital which brand they are using and continue to use the same when you are at home.
- Sleep challenges: Once you have established the right baby formula or enough breast milk for your newborn, it is time to talk about their sleeping challenges. We all are aware that most parents face this challenge as they are all sleep deprived. In the early stages, your newborn will not establish a sleep cycle until three to four weeks old. Therefore, expect to provide milk to them every two to three hours. Between each meal time, your baby will have only one to two hours of sleep. After that, the breaks between meal time will expand to three or fours each and so forth. Once your baby passes the four-week mark, you can slowly begin to teach him/her day and night cycle. During the day, you can try to interact and play with your baby as much as you can. Also, you can keep the surroundings bright and try not to worry about daytime noises such as vacuuming, or other noises caused by daily routines. During night time, you can try to minimize your interactions, keep the noise and lights low. This way it may help your baby to rest better, and longer.
- Crying challenges: According to research, mothers struggle with this challenge 27% more than any other newborn challenges. We all know that babies cry to communicate, and if you pay a little attention, you can actually tell their cries whether from hunger, wanting to feed, sleep, diaper change, and others. If not, it may be a process of elimination for some parents. In some cases, you may have to be more observant than their usual feeding or diaper change cries, such as being uncomfortable as their body temperature is higher than adults, or they are just being cranky, or tired. Therefore, as time passes, experience plays an important part in this category. Parents will get to know the differences in their baby’s cries sooner than later.
What else can we try to stop them from crying? According to babycenter.com, we can try the following:
- Something to suck on: reduces their heart rate and relaxes their stomach.
- Snuggling & swaddling:makes the newborns feel more secure.
- Music:try to see how your baby reacts to music.
- White noise:daily chores such as vacuuming, watching tv, etc.
- Fresh air:nothing like walking out on the porch or opening the windows to get some fresh air.
- Warm water:water noises or washing them with warm water can soothe them.
- Motion:slow gentle motions can relax your baby and encourage them to fall asleep.
We all know that we are new to taking care of our newborns. Therefore, we can try different methods to make them more comfortable. As long as they can rest peacefully and feel safe, they will be happy. In turn, we as parents can feel at ease and more confident as each day passes. Singing and talking to them may also help them relax and they learn how to communicate with you. Most of all, giving your unconditional love to them is the most important contribution you can ever make.
