DSLaff
Team One of Each
Member since 10/09 2150 total posts
Name:
Dana
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helpful tips .. I thought
Found this on one of the blogs. Thought it was awesome, realistic and covered a lot! Hope u find it helpful as well!
Ok, so here’s my tips/advice for surviving the first few days/weeks with baby. J Now, all of this is assuming he/she is a healthy baby, no complications, no health issue (severe jaundice, etc) and that you’ve been given no special instructions by the doctors b/c of baby’s health needs. I’ll give you an example. Hannah was born at 7 lbs 12 oz. Over the 3 days we were in hospital, she lost 7 oz. When we went back 2 days after being home for a normal check up, she was already 5 oz above her BIRTHweight. That’s a normal, healthy, baby with no special needs medically. Ok, here goes.
Invest in some frozen peas. Mark them with a sharpie or something so you know not to eat them. These are the best ice packs in the world!! They conform to your body with no sharp edges. J Just don’t ice yourself for more than 20 minutes at a time or you can actually burn yourself. :/
If you can get Tucs pads (or something similar) get a jar and keep it in the fridge. When you get home, you’ll likely have a layer of pad and foam stuff. Layer the Tucs like pepperoni down the middle on the very top, last thing before you put your panties back on. They will help reduce the swelling, and it feels like heaven!!
Avoid pads with dry-weave. If you end up having stitches down there, they can get caught in the dry-weave. So, the old fashioned cottony type top lining is best.
If they don’t’ give you one at the hospital, get a little sport-top style squirt bottle. Fill it with luke-warm water and use that to rinse yourself down there each time you pee after birth, and let yourself drip-dry for the first couple of weeks. This is way better than wiping!!!
Take stool softeners every other day. For the first poop after birth, don’t push. Just sit there and let it come out on it’s own. I was really afraid of this part, but with the stool softeners and just letting it come out on it’s own, there was no pain. I then used the squirt bottle to clean the majority of it, and then used TP to just dab (DON”T WIPE). If they don’t offer stool softeners in the hospital, you should be able to get some at the pharmacy. I’ve also drank a prune-apple juice cocktail that was warmed. It wasn’t the best tasting, but it did the trick.
In the first few days, and while in hospital, latch baby on as often as you can/want. Don’t worry about trying to get into a feeding pattern just yet. The more he suckles, the quicker your milk will come in and you can work on establishing a feeding routine.
If you have the option of seeing a lactation consultant, do it. The key to successful nursing is the latch. Baby’s mouth should be way open, giving himself a double chin. He should have nearly the entire areola in his mouth. You might also want to check the crevices in your nipples to make sure milk isn’t dried in them. If there is milk in there, just use your fingernail to gently get it out. This will help you avoid clogging. I kept a nursing log. I would write down what time and what side I latched them on. I’d nurse for about 15 minutes on that side, then burp them, and latch on the second side. I’d write down what time I took them off the first side, and then again what time I started them on the second side. If you decide to do it this way, you want to be sure you let them suckle for at least 15 minutes per side, so they get the hind milk. Then, the next feed, start with the boob that was the second side at the last feed (that’s part of why I would write it down; I’d always forget what side I finished on the last time). Other women decide to only feed on one side per feed. I’ve never done that, so I don’t have any advice on how to do that. I my experience, the nipples creams and stuff aren’t really needed. If you can get a good latch, you should have too much soreness. If you do find they’re a bit raw, the best thing for them is to get some exposure to air for a bit.
I also write down each diaper change; the time, and what kind of diaper (wet, dirty, both). That way I can make sure they’re getting enough fluids, by making sure they have enough wet diapers. They might not poop for several days at a time. That’s totally normal. They can go up to 7 days w/out pooping. They’re not truly constipated unless the poop becomes really thick (except for the tar-like poop they have the first few days after birth…that’s something different). If it seems like they’re having trouble pooping, I always just inserted the rectal thermometer for a minute and that usually did the trick.
Swaddle, swaddle, swaddle. Newborns don’t’ know they have arms and legs, and it freaks them out when they flail. I keep my kids swaddled pretty much 24/7 for the first couple of days. And then, I switch to only swaddling at nap/bedtime. If they don’t’ show you how to swaddle, let me know and I can show you two ways. The normal way, and then a double swaddle if your little one happens to be a Houdini, like Cailyn was. J They might fuss while you’re swaddling them, but they should settle pretty quickly after you swaddle, and they will for sure sleep better. I swaddled Hannah for 4 months. Cailyn was done being swaddled around 3-4 months as well.
For first babies, I really believe in the Baby Whisperer techninque. This allows you to avoid having to use feeding as a means to get the baby to fall asleep. I used the E.A.S.Y. method with Hannah. It’s Eat, Activity, Sleep, You-time. So, once your milk has come in, he wont’ need to eat more than every 2.5 - 3 hours or so. So, feed him a good feed (like I described above), and then it ‘s time for a bit of activity. For the first few weeks, just being awake will be an activity, and they probably won’t be awake for more than 20-30 minutes. Then it’s time for nap. If you have a child that will fall asleep on his own, that’s awesome. If not, swaddle him and then put him in the swing, or rock him, or whatever to get him to sleep. Hopefully he’ll sleep for 1.5 hours or so. Then, when he wakes up it’ll be about time to feed again. If he gets fussy before the 2.5-3 hour mark, check his diaper, try to burp him, etc. If it’s less than 3 hours since his last feed, he’s likely not hungry and therefore fussy for someother reason. If it’s been an hour or so since the feed, he’s likely tired. This way makes it easy to figure out if he’s truly hungry or not, b/c likely he’ll latch on to your breast anytime you offer it, whether he’s hungry or not, just b/c it’s comforting for him. Most newborns will take 3 naps per day for the first 3 or 4 months, then drop down to 2. Not all will do this, so it’s really trial and error to see what works best for your own baby. Hannah was a text-book 3 nap baby. Cailyn, from birth, only ever took 1 nap a day, and it was 3.5-4 hours long.
Establish a bedtime routine. Getting into the evening time, start making the house quiet. Close curtains, keep activity mellow, music low, etc. Figure out what things you want to incorporate to your bedtime routine. For us, it was bath, massage with lotion, jammies, swaddle, feed, prayer, song, bed. (granted, I didn’t start eh prayer/song until they were a few months old). Everytime, at the same time, I’d head upstairs and start the bath (of course, it was a sponge bath the first month until the cord fell off). I’d do things in the same order, use the same basic phrases, keep my voice low and calm. Once the feed part started, I didn’t really talk or interact at all. I might stroke their face or hand gently for a minute, but no talking or playing. We found it worked best to keep the room pitch black, and have some kind of white noise (a noisy fan worked best for us, but music or sound machine can work, too). Same thing for the middle of the night feeds – don’t’ talk/interact. Avoid a lot of eye contact. Just feed that baby, burp him, and put him back in bed. Try to start the bedtime routine at the same time everynight, and do things in the same order. It helps them to realize, “Ah, it’s time for bed.” Babies like predictability.
Don’t change the diaper in the middle of the night unless he’s poopy. If you’re worried about diaper rash, or he already has diaper rash, just slather him really good with diaper rash cream before bedtime and don’t change him unless he leaks, or poops. All it does is wake him up too much, and it won’t hurt him to sleep in his pee. He’ll do it once he sleeps through the night anyway.
Don’t wake the baby in the middle of the night to feed him. I made this mistake iwht Hannah. The dr’s told me that newborns need to eat every 3 hours, and if she doesn’t wake, to wake her up and feed her for the first two months. So, I set my alarm and did it. DON’T DO THAT!! LOL All we did was train her to wake every 3 hours. They WILL WAKE when they are hungry. Now, this is a biggie – if he’s underweight, jaundiced, or has a medical need to eat, by all means, follow your dr’s orders. But, if it’s just a general statement like thye did with Hannah, don’t wake him.
Get gas drops. I like Mylicon the best. You can start giving it to them from birth. I learned the hard way that Hannah was really sensitive when I ate dairy. When she was 3 days old, I had extra cheese pizza, a glass of milk, and a bowl of ice cream for dinner. She screamed from midnight to 8am. The gas drops really helped. So, you may find you need to limit/eliminate dairy from your diet while you’re nursing. Also, I had to avoid broccoli. Anything that makes you gassy can make them gassy. I had to do this with both kids, and when they were older, they both tolerated dairy just fine. It was just the first 6-9 months that they were sensitive to what I ate.
SLEEP WHEN HE SLEEPS!!! Laundry will get done. House cleaning will get done. The first 2-3 months if he’s asleep, you need to be asleep. You’ll feel like you’re being lazy, you’ll feel like you should be doing something. Don’t. Just sleep.
Turn your mobile phone off. I put my outgoing voice message to state when she was born, her weight, name, etc and said I will return/take calls in a couple of weeks when I feel more up to it. That way, ppl can hear how it went and all the stats, and you’re not interrupted every time you get a moment to rest. At the very least, turn it OFF (not to vibrate) when you’re trying to sleep.
Let DH/DF/BF help. Try not to correct him if doesn’t do things the way you would, or even the way you want him to. Let him establish his own relationship with him. The best way my DH found to bond with the girls was to do bath time. Since I was doing all the feeding, and he was working outside the house, that was only one on one time he really got with them. So, he’d bathe them, do their lotion massage and get them all ready for bed, then hand them to me to feed and put in bed. He really enjoyed this time, and they really did bond. Once they got older, we started alternating. Or, when I could switch and feed them before bath, that was awesome b/c he could do the whole bedtime shebang.
Take any help that’s offered. Don’t be too proud to let someone come over and do dishes, laundry, or other basic chores. Even come and sit with the baby so you can shower ALONE. J
Don’t’ be afraid to let the baby cry. If you’re in the shower, and baby’s in the bouncy in the bathroom with you and starts to cry, as long as he’s not hurt, choking, etc, just finish your shower. It won’t hurt him at all, he won’t feel abandoned. And you’ll keep a bit more sanity. J
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