Newborn guidance
Introduction
Congratulations! A newborn brings lots of excitement and potentially many questions and anxiety. You likely received lots of useful information during the birth hospitalization, and on this page I will provide many other resources you may find helpful. If you have questions about how this should apply to your child, please check with your child's healthcare team.
Helpful websites
Sleep
Babies sleep a lot, and their sleep patterns change over time. According to sleepfoundation.org, newborns may sleep from 11-19 hours a day, so you usually do not need to worry about if they are getting enough sleep. Often they wake every 2-3 hours to eat; if your baby goes a full 4 hours between feeds you may want to wake them to eat until your pediatrician tells you that your baby is growing well and this is no longer necessary.
Otherwise, there is not much you can do to influence your baby's sleeping habits, but you CAN control their sleep environment to help them sleep as safely as possible. You can learn more about this below, and feel free to look through the "Helpful Websites" for further information.
Safe Sleep
Please read through this article, which describes how to ensure your infant has a safe sleeping environment. Note that your baby should always sleep alone, on the back, in an empty crib (or other safe sleep device like a bassinet or pack 'n play). Once your baby starts to roll from back to front you do not need to reposition them on their back, but you should always set them down to sleep on their back. You can watch the following two videos for additional information.
Now look at the two images below. One shows a safe sleep environment, and the other shows an unsafe sleep environment. Click the buttons below the images for an explanation of the differences.
Safe sleep
Unsafe sleep
Nutrition
You should only give your newborn breast milk or formula; it is dangerous (and unhealthy) to give water, juice, other types of milk, or any type of food. Breastfeeding has health benefits over formula feeding, so provide breast milk if possible. Otherwise, if your child has no medical conditions, provide any FDA-approved iron-fortified infant formula. You can ask your child's healthcare team for guidance if you think your baby may benefit from a different formula. You can also ask them about vitamin D supplementation, particularly if your baby is receiving breast milk.
Helpful websites
Below I will show some particularly helpful videos for breastfeeding, formula feeding, and how to feed with a bottle. Look through the "Helpful Websites" for additional information.
Breastfeeding
Here are two videos that give several tips for breastfeeding effectively, both from this excellent video series:
Formula feeding
Here are two videos that provide good information about how to prepare formula bottles for your baby:
Feeding with a bottle
These two videos discuss how to practice responsive feeding with a bottle while still breastfeeding, but they also apply to people exclusively feeding with a bottle, regardless if you are providing breast milk or formula in the bottles. "Responsive feeding" means you follow your baby's feeding cues about when they are hungry and full and let them determine how much they will eat.
Peeing/pooping
Babies pee and poop a lot. Newborns may poop every time they eat! Dealing with this may not be the most fun part of being a parent, but it is important, and you should know when to be concerned. Here are some basic facts and useful links:
- Newborns should pee at least 6 times in 24 hours once they are a week old.
- Newborns may poop anywhere from once every 1-2 days to 8 times a day. This may slow down to once every 7-10 days between 1-2 months of age.
- It takes time for newborns to learn how to get poop out of their body. They may strain, grunt, and turn red when passing stool. This is completely normal if the poop remains soft.
- We worry about the poop if it is dark black, any shade of red, or pale. We also worry if the poop is consistently hard or watery. If any of this occurs, let your child's healthcare team know.
Safety
Now that you have a newborn, you want to keep them safe! As your child will grow quickly, this is a good time to think about making your home safe for older infants and toddlers as well. I will go through several of the primary safety concerns for infants and toddlers in the cards below, and you can read through the "Helpful Websites" for more general information.
Helpful websites
*This website is based in Australia so any discussion of laws or what is required may not apply to the United States.
Below are several different safety topics, click on each topic to learn more about them.
General
Car safety
Ingestions
Choking/CPR
Sleep
Toys
Falls
Water/Bath
Burns/Fire
Equipment
Outdoors
Home/Pets
Common questions
Many new parents have similar questions about their newborns. Feel free to look through some of the most common ones below.
FAQ
Common concerns
Body parts
Conclusion
Enjoy your time with your baby! As sleep-deprived as you may be, many parents are surprised at how quickly the time flies. If you are unsure about how any of this information should be applied to your child, make sure to check with your child's healthcare team.