Newborn Care 101

Guide] [newborn

All you need to know

When you bring your newborn baby home, you may experience a muddle of emotions and excitement, and it’s quite normal to feel a little hesitant about how to care for your new baby. We’re here to help – keep our helpful guide near and you’ll ace the first few weeks of your baby’s life.

Before you spend oodles of cash on new contraptions that claim they will make your life easier, remember that the very best tools for childcare already exist in your home – you. Newborn children, especially, need a lot of gentle cuddles and loving touch. Don’t fret too much about keeping a newborn stimulated or worry about whether or not they need to be watching those brain boosting DVDS just yet.

FROM THE TOP TO THE TAIL

Before babies start rolling around, learning to crawl or feasting on solids, there’s very little opportunity for them to get truly dirty. For the first few weeks and months, babies are mostly held, snuggled or carried – and that means the biggest exposure to germs and bacteria will come via the people holding, carrying or snuggling them. It’s therefore completely unnecessary for newborn babies to be bathed every day – a simple and quick top and tail will do. This is how to top and tail your infant:

Make sure the room you’re in is warm and that you have a clean nappy, fresh set of clothes and towel at hand.

Fill a nearby bowl or sink with warm (not hot) water.

Undress your baby and place him on a clean towel, as this will make it a lot easier to dry him afterwards.

You can use either cotton wool balls or a facecloth to clean your baby.

Dip the cotton wool ball or facecloth into the warm water and squeeze the excess water out.

Gently wipe your baby’s eyes, starting from the inner corner, near their nose and wiping outwards. Use a new cotton wool ball or end of the cloth for each wipe.

Using a fresh cotton wool ball, wipe your baby’s ears and don’t forget about wiping behind his ears. It’s here that milk and sweat is most commonly found and, if left, it can become dry, crusty and irritating for your baby. Do not clean