A newborn brings a whirlwind of activity to your life. At first, newborn care might seem limited to round-the-clock feeding, bathing, diapering, and soothing — but there’s more to ensuring newborn health than these basics.

Other newborn health concerns include caring for your newborn’s skin, decoding your newborn’s cries, and promoting your newborn’s development.

Remember, part of taking good care of your newborn involves caring for yourself. Sneak in as much sleep as possible, and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need a break.

Newborn Care Assistance
Newborn care can turn your life upside down, and newborn health concerns can sometimes seem overwhelming. However, there’s no rule that only you and your partner should be the only two people to shoulder everything.

You can always ask and rely on your parents for temporary help in caring for your child. Moreover, there are newborn care services like Highland Family Medicine Newborn Care services that you can trust.

Appreciate the joy your newborn brings to your life — and cope with everything else one day at a time.

Skin-to-Skin Care
There are many benefits to keeping babies close to their parents. We encourage you to hold your newborn baby naked (except for a diaper) on your own skin, with a blanket covering you both, during your awake and alert times. Babies who are frequently held skin-to-skin:

• Are more likely to latch onto the breast and breastfeed easily
• Have more stable and normal skin temperatures, heart rates, and blood pressure
• Have better blood sugars
• Are less likely to cry
• Breastfeeding Support
• We encourage all mothers to breastfeed their infants. Part of ensuring success is to avoid giving formula, bottles, or pacifiers to healthy newborns. If there is a medical reason to give the baby a supplement, we will discuss options with you.

Delayed First Bath
A creamy, protective substance called vernix is present on the skin of many newborn babies. We often give the first shampoo but intentionally do not bathe babies in their first few days because leaving this substance to absorb into your baby’s skin helps protect against dryness and bacterial infections.

Vitamin K and Erythromycin Eye Ointment
Your baby will typically receive a Vitamin K injection and an antibiotic eye ointment shortly after birth. Vitamin K protects against rare but serious bleeding problems, and erythromycin prevents bacterial infections that can be present in the birth canal.

If you wish, you can delay these by an hour or so to keep your baby skin-to-skin. Because Vitamin K protects the baby from bleeding problems in the first 24 hours, giving it as early as possible (within an hour after birth) is best.

Breastfeeding
The first time you hold your newborn in the delivery room is a great time to start breastfeeding. In the beginning, your body will produce small amounts of a special milk called colostrum that will help protect your baby from infection. (Your baby’s tummy is very tiny, so he/she only needs these small amounts to fill up. As her tummy grows, your milk will change, and you’ll produce more of it.)

Health Screenings
Screening identifies most babies born with disorders so that treatment can start immediately. A heel prick is used to take a few drops of the baby’s blood and send it for testing.

Your baby will stay with you during these screenings. If your baby requires additional testing in another area of the hospital, you or a family member are always welcome to accompany your baby.