Baby Care: First Year

Lesson 2: Newborn Care: Getting a Good Start

Early Concerns

Most of the following common concerns are normal occurences and will go away on their own or with home treatment within a couple of weeks.

Eyes

Blocked Tear Ducts: The tiny ducts at the inside corners of your baby's eyes may clog. Her tears will build up in her eyes and become infected. If you notice a yellow discharge from one or both eyes, gently massage the inside corner of her eye. Massage upward toward her nose several times a day until the discharge disappears. Her ducts may clog from time to time, but should remain open after she is six months old.

Red-Streaked Eyes: These blood vessels broke during your baby's birth. They will heal on their own within a few weeks.

Mouth

Oral Thrush: This yeast infection inside your baby's mouth may itch and cause her soreness. Ask your doctor for an antifungal medication or spread a fingertipful of acidophilus powder on the thrush twice daily for a week. (Acidophilus powder is available in the refrigerated section of a health food store.) Your baby may transfer her thrush to your nipples. Treat your nipple thrush the same way you treat your baby's oral thrush.

Lip Blisters: Your baby's upper lip may develop blisters or calluses (called sucking pads) during the first month. They develop in response to her vigorous sucking and will subside by the end of her first year.

Skin Marks (called nevi):

Stork Bites: These birthmarks result where overgrown blood vessels bunch up and show through her thin skin. They are most prominent on her eyelids, middle of the forehead, and nape of the neck. As the blood vessels shrink and your baby's skin thickens, they disappear or fade.

Strawberries: These birthmarks appear a week or two after birth. They begin as a raised red circle and grow to strawberry size during your baby's first year. These marks are the result of blood vessels that went astray and kept growing. By the time your child is three years old, most strawberries shrivel.

Moles: These brown-black marks range from freckle-size to large, hairy patches. Most moles are harmless.

Rashes

Milia: These tiny whiteheads on your baby's face are caused by secretions that plug her skin pores. They will disappear within a few weeks.

Prickly Heat: This reddish pimply rash appears on your baby's moist areas such as her neck folds, behind her ears, and in her groin. Gently wash her skin with cool water and dress her in light-weight, loose cotton clothing.

Newborn Acne: This red, pimply, oily rash (called seborrheic dermatitis) covers much of your baby's face. Gently wash her face with water and mild soap. Acne peaks around her third week and clears up within six weeks.

Cradle Cap: This crusty, oily rash on your baby's scalp (another form of seborrheic dermatitis) may resemble dandruff or may appear more plaquelike. Gently wash her scalp with mild shampoo once per week. More frequent washings will dry out her scalp and make the cradle cap worse. To treat a more severe case, massage vegetable oil into the crusty areas to soften them. Let it sit for fifteen minutes, then gently remove the scales with a comb. Wash off the oil with baby shampoo.

Diaper Rash: This common rash is caused by friction from diapers, bacteria and fungi, and excessive moisture on your baby's sensitive skin. To lessen the incidence of rash, change your baby's wet or soiled diapers frequently. Expect to change your baby at least eight times each day. Rinse and wipe your baby's bottom well. Plain water is usually sufficient and the easiest on her skin. Keep diapers loose fitting so air can circulate inside. Apply a generous amount of barrier cream to your baby's bottom to prevent her rash from getting worse. If you wash your own cloth diapers, add one-half cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle to remove soap residues and alkaline irritants. (See pages 114 to 115 in The Baby Book for more information on the causes of diaper rash.)

(See pages 109 to 115 in The Baby Book for more information on skin marks and rashes.)

Other

Noisy Breathing: Irregular and noisy breathing is normal for your baby's first few weeks. Because she breathes through her nose, her tiny nasal passages are easily congested by lint, dust, perfumes, or cigarette smoke. She sneezes often to clear her nose. Her breathing will become more normal by the end of the first month.

To help your baby breathe more easily while she is awake, place her on her stomach with her head turned to one side. This allows her tongue and saliva to come forward and make more room for air to pass through. (Put her on her back to sleep.) Keep her environment as dust and lint free as possible. Keep her away from cigarette smoke and perfumes, and don't wear a strong deodorant. (See page 610 in The Baby Book for instructions on making and using nose-clearing solutions.)

Weight Loss: Your newborn loses about five to eight percent of her birth weight during the first week. She will lose less weight if you keep her close and feed her on cue.

Navel Protrusion: Whether your baby has an outie or an innie depends on the way her umbilical cord stump healed, not on the way it was cut. Sometimes there is an opening between the two bands of muscles that encircle the navel. You may feel your baby's intestines bulge through this opening beneath her skin. This is called an umbilical hernia. Don't tape over the hernia because this may lead to infection. It will usually heal in time.

Shakes: Your baby's immature nervous system causes frequent quivers and shakes. These muscle twitches subside by the time she is three months old.

Spitting up: It's normal for your baby to spit up several times each day. She gulps air with her milk, the air settles beneath the milk in the stomach, then the milk comes up with the air. To help her keep more milk down, avoid jostling her after a feeding. Feed her less milk more frequently. Try burping her after three ounces of formula or between switching breasts. (See page 200 in The Baby Book for instructions on burping.) Keep her upright for at least twenty minutes after her feeding. She should stop spitting up by six or seven months old.

Elimination Patterns: After three days, your baby produces six to eight wet diapers per day. Her urine is clear or light yellow. Her first bowel movement, called meconium, is a black-green, tarry substance composed of amniotic fluid debris from her intestines. The stools of a breastfed infant become soft and yellow with a slight sour odor. The formula-fed infant's stools are darker, firmer, have a more unpleasant smell, and are passed less frequently. The frequency varies from several stools per day to one every couple of days (but usually not until she is one or two months old.)

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