Starting Breast Feeding
You and your baby will soon take breast-feeding pleasurably for granted, but while you are getting used to it, mutual comfort is important. Clothes that open down the front, for example, make it easier to bare your breasts than “fishing” down... Read more
Expressing And Storing Breast Milk
Expressing and storing your breast milk allows you to leave your baby for a while. without altering her usual diet. Although awkward and slow at first, expression becomes easier with practice. You will need clean hands, clean equipment, and bottles or... Read more
Some Early Breast Feeding Problems
Almost every woman has some problems or questions with breast-feeding in the first weeks after birth. Some of these are common and predictable and can be handled quite easily. Others are more serious and require more information and assistance. Following... Read more
Breast Feeding Basics
First Feedings You can help establish your milk supply and avoid some early breast-feeding problems by nursing your baby as soon after birth as possible and by allowing your baby to suckle frequently. When mothers breast-feed within an hour after birth... Read more
Breast Feeding
[picture] Some babies are born naturally “sucky” . . . Getting started with breast-feeding is not always easy. Just as many babies need to be tactfully shown how to use their sucking reflexes, so many breasts have to be gradually persuaded... Read more
Feeding Your Baby
During pregnancy, a baby grows rapidly from a fertilized egg to a mature baby weighing around seven pounds. All the nutritional needs are met by his mother’s body. For the newborn, growth also continues at a rapid rate, but now he is dependent on... Read more
Causes And Cures Of Crying
The causes and the “cures” for crying that are outlined here are designed to answer those frantic questions which come into the mind of almost every parent at some time: “What is the matter with him?”; “What can I do?”... Read more
Special Babies
Premature Infants An infant born before thirty-seven weeks and weighing less than five and one-half pounds is considered premature. Her appearance and physical abilities depend to some extent on just how early she was born. A premature infant looks different... Read more
Birthweight of a Baby
[picture] Birthweight . . . his personal starting point for growth Babies come in a large variety of shapes and sizes. It does matter to everybody how exactly one weighs. Because the birthweight, whatever it may be, is your baby’s own personal starting... Read more
Crying And Comforting
Parents often wish that their babies never cried at all. But without any crying you could neither be sure of meeting your baby’s needs nor ever relax and think about other things. Crying is babies’ way of communicating and they have different... Read more
Keeping Your Baby Warm
Warmth is important to new babies. If their environment is kept warm, they do not have to use any energy in warming themselves and they also tend to be relaxed and contented. If their environment gets cool, they have to use energy on heat-production instead... Read more
Development And Growth
Each baby is an individual with a unique temperament and personality. Your newborn differs from others in his appearance; activity level; response to pain, hunger, or boredom; and sleeping and eating patterns. Your child is like a puzzle; it will take... Read more
Newborn Peculiarities
[picture] . . . your newborn is still unused to being free of your womb and out in the bewildering world. The following list describes some of the commonest of these phenomena and tells you why they happen and what they mean. If you need direct reassurance... Read more
Common Concerns About Newborns
Newborn Jaundice A yellow tint to the baby’s skin and in the whites of the eyes, called jaundice, is caused by large amounts of bilirubin in the blood. (Bilirubin forms normally as red blood cells break down.) Because a newborn’s liver is... Read more
Newborn Reflexes And Infant Cues
What Can my Baby Do? Although newborn babies are entirely dependent on an adult for food and warmth, they are not completely helpless: they can breathe for themselves, cry to get your attention, grasp with their fingers and toes, see your face at close... Read more
What To Expect In A Newborn
Most parents have never ever seen a newborn baby before. There are certain “oddities” you should be prepared for so that they don’t surprise or concern you. Most newborns do not look like cherubs; some parents are so disappointed by... Read more
Newborns Appearance
The labor is over and you are holding the baby you have dreamed about for so long. But your baby’s appearance may be a shock. Instead of the beautiful baby you imagined, your baby emerges with visible signs of the birth, from bloody hair and minor... Read more