After crying, the newborn will be released from the mother’s body and have to adapt to the outside environment, learn to breathe, feed on its own and cope with hot and cold weather. .. In order to protect the health and comprehensive development, it is very important to take care of a newborn until full term, there are many issues that parents need to pay attention to.
1. Instructions for taking care of babies in the first 7 days
The first 7 days after birth is quite an important time for a newborn less than a month because this is still the perinatal period of the baby and the possibility of the baby dying if not properly cared for is very high. (occupy 50%). During this period, the child’s cranial nerves are inhibited because of a lot of sleep, the child only wakes up when hungry or wet diapers, so parents need special attention and care.
The way to take care of an infant under 1 month old is to keep the child’s body warm, if the child is cold, hypothermia for a long time will create conditions for bacteria to attack the child and cause many diseases.
If there are no problems with the mother and the baby after birth, it is best to let the baby lie down with the mother , this helps to connect the motherhood, and helps to transmit the warmth from the mother to the child. The mother can observe children at all times, promptly handle when unexpected problems occur.
When in the womb, children are provided with nutrients continuously from the mother’s blood through the placenta, so when they are born, they are prone to hunger and cold, so they need to have enough energy to warm the body and fight off the cold. weather outside.
When taking care of an infant under 1 week old, it is necessary to remember that the baby has a very high need to eat, needs to be breastfed as soon as possible after birth. So the mother must meet the child’s needs as soon as the baby needs it, not follow a certain time.
Colostrum is the main and best food for the development of the baby during this period. Science has proven that IgA in breast milk for the first 7 days contains thousands of times higher levels than normal milk and up to 4,000 white blood cells in 1cm3 of colostrum have the ability to help babies destroy intestinal bacteria.
Therefore, mothers should not discard colostrum, but make full use of it to feed the baby. Infants less than a month old, if given colostrum right after birth, the rate of pneumonia and diarrhea will be very low.
Some normal physiological manifestations are also very common in infants less than a month old such as: passing meconium, dark green or odorless, thick stools… However, if it is more than 2 days without seeing children passing meconium, weight loss or jaundice, frequent choking when feeding, shortness of breath, cyanosis, stiff jaw, crying a lot, lethargy is not normal, parents need to take the child to the hospital.
Check your health status for timely treatment. In case the child’s head has a serous tumor, it is necessary to monitor it, not aspirate it because it can cause the child to become infected with dangerous bacteria.
In addition, when taking care of an infant under 1 week of age with low birth weight or preterm but no abnormal signs, it is necessary to monitor it at a medical facility until the doctor agrees to discharge it. When returning home, it is necessary to monitor and take care of the child carefully.
The perinatal period lasts until the baby is 28 days old, during this period, the risks to the baby will be reduced if the parents take proper care, so learn how to take care of the newborn. Giving birth under 1 month old is a must for any parent.
1.1 Taking care of children while eating
When a baby is born, the baby’s eating reflex is still very immature, so the support from the mother is very necessary, if the baby is not fed properly, it can cause the baby to vomit milk, vomit very dangerously. In addition to performing the correct operation when feeding, parents should limit the child’s vomiting by holding the child upright for a few minutes and cupping his hand to pat the child’s back after feeding.
When sleeping, children should be placed with their heads slightly higher or on their sides to reduce the risk of aspiration, absolutely do not let infants less than a month sleep on their stomachs.
Science has proven that breast milk is the best food for the health and development of babies, so if you have enough milk, make sure to breastfeed your baby until the baby is 1 year old. To have an abundant milk supply, mothers should eat many meals, eat enough nutrients and drink plenty of water every day. In addition, feeding your baby more is also a way to stimulate more milk.
1.2 Taking care of the umbilical cord and bathing the baby
Newborns less than a month old are very susceptible to neonatal infections through the umbilical cord, therefore, daily umbilical cord care is a necessity that parents must perform. After bathing the baby, clean the umbilical cord with physiological saline and dry it, absolutely do not apply any substance on the baby’s navel, if you want to fall off the umbilical cord quickly, let the umbilical cord open, do not cover it. again.
Before bathing an infant less than a month old , parents should prepare enough clothes, diapers, diapers, towels, towels, bath water, eye drops, nose drops, etc. to help the baby clean and incubate. warm the body immediately after bathing. The baby bath must be closed so that the wind can’t get in.
If you do not use cool leaves to bathe your baby, then you should choose a special soap for babies with natural ingredients and remember to dry the baby before putting on clothes. If the weather is winter, it is not necessary to bathe the child every day.
1.3 Wearing a hat and swaddling your child properly
Many mothers are afraid that their children will be cold, so they wear hats continuously regardless of day and night, whether the weather is hot or cold, but this habit is not good at all. Newborn babies less than a month old often lose heat through the scalp, so please pay attention to the back of the baby’s nape, if the weather is hot, at night or when going out, just put on a hat to cover the fontanelle.
While indoors Let the baby’s head air out. Newborns’ bodies cannot regulate their own body temperature, so wearing a tight-fitting hat will make them sweat a lot, they will itch and cry, in many cases will increase their body temperature and cause them to have a high fever.
Many people think that tight swaddling will help babies not be startled and sleep better, less fussy, but scientific research has proven this to be completely wrong. The act of tight swaddling has the risk of forcing the child’s hip joint to straighten and forward, making the child’s legs misaligned, tight, hot, uncomfortable….
1.4 Caring for children’s skin, eyes, tongue, and nose
In the care of infants under 1 month of age, special attention should be paid to the baby’s immature skin and eyes. The skin and eye care as well as the selection of skin care products need to adhere to the principle:
- Do not let baby’s skin come into contact with harsh soaps, cosmetics with irritants;
- It is necessary to change the diaper as soon as the diaper is wet and use gentle products to combat the irritation (feces, urine…) that makes the baby’s skin red;
- Always keep the baby’s skin with proper moisture;
- Do not let harmful chemicals affect children’s eyes. If the child has a lot of tears and discharge in the first few days after birth, please clean the baby’s eyes with physiological saline daily;
- Use a separate towel to wipe your baby’s face.
In addition, parts such as the nose and tongue also need to be cleaned daily. Mothers can use physiological saline to clean and clean the tongue to reduce the number of harmful organisms in the mouth and help children feel better.
1.5 Some other notes
How to take care of babies under 1 month old is indispensable to measure the baby’s temperature every day. Babies’ health is very sensitive, so prepare a thermometer to measure body temperature whenever your baby is warm or cold. The normal temperature of a newborn is between 36.5 and 37 poison.
- If the temperature is higher than 37.5 degrees Celsius, the child should wear loose, well-ventilated clothes and remove blankets for the child, breastfeed more;
- If the temperature is higher than 38 degrees Celsius, it means that the child has a fever, if cooling and reducing the fever does not work, take the child to a medical facility for examination and treatment immediately.
A special thing to note when taking care of babies under 1 month old that parents must definitely remember is that the infant’s body is very weak and has low resistance, so it is absolutely forbidden to let others hug and kiss. into the child’s mouth , this will increase the risk of infection and harmful germs entering, causing illness for the child.
Taking care of a baby less than a month old can be overwhelming for families welcoming a baby for the first time. However, parents and other relatives of the baby should try to learn how to take care of the child properly, because the care in these early days will greatly affect the development of the baby later.
