Postpartum Tips
Many get so focused on preparing for labor and birth that they forget to learn about and prepare for postpartum.
It is recommended that you take some sort of “Newborn Care” class, but until then, here are few tips for a smooth transition into your new life with baby:
Babies need time to adjust to life outside of the womb and learn the difference between night and day. To help babies learn that daytime is typically spent awake and quite busy, and nighttime is typically spent sleeping in a much quieter setting:
During the day, keep the lighting bright, keep those shades/blinds open to let in natural light, and keep the noise level at its normal range (TV or music on, talking at normal volume, etc.)
The womb is actually quite loud for a baby, so they’re very used to loud noise; the sounds that baby hears inside the womb is equivalent to as loud as a vacuum, so keeping the volume at its normal range won’t disturb baby, and might actually be comforting/familiar for baby
During the night (or whenever you plan to put baby down for the night), lower the lighting to either very dim or none at all (turn off lights, close shades/blinds), and lower/stop noise so baby can learn that at night we start to wind down and aren’t as active as the daytime
When changing baby’s diaper during the night, try to avoid too much stimulation
Keep lighting extremely low (maybe use only a light in a closet or from the hallway, or the flashlight on your phone, etc.)
Avoid eye contact and talking to baby
If breast/chest feeding, be sure to get into a comfortable position before beginning the feed; if you’re uncomfortable or if baby is positioned too low, you tend to hunch over, and you’ll be stuck in this position for up to 30 minutes, which can cause unnecessary back pain
Take the idea of sleep as being solely a nighttime activity and throw it out the window; get sleep whenever you can!!
A safe [room] temperature for baby is between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit
Newborns can’t yet regulate their body temperature like we can for the first 6 months of their life, but just remember, babies only need one (1) more layer than we do. So if you’re wearing a long-sleeve, add one more layer for baby, like a sweater or light jacket.
To prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, follow Safe Sleep practices:
Place babies on their backs to sleep/nap
Keep soft bedding (blankets, stuffed animals, pillows, soft toys, bumper pads, etc.) out of baby’s sleeping area
Room Share (“co-sleep”) during sleeps, but do not bed share
The flow from your nipple never changes, regardless of baby’s age; thus, you don’t need to buy different flows of bottle nipples as the different nipple flows are simply a marketing strategy for companies to make more money.
Your natural nipple has a slow flow, so if bottle feeding, a slow flow nipple is best
If bottle feeding, consider Paced Bottle Feeding to give baby more control of their feeding pace
During the overnight hours, you only need to change poopy diapers
Do not leave baby in carseat outside of the car as the carseat forces baby into a “C-shape,” which can restrict baby’s breathing; consider these alternatives outside of the car:
wearing baby
infant floor seat
bouncer
Newborn’s nails are paper thin, but can scratch pretty easily; however, it’s important than babies have full use of their hands to learn about the world, so it’s not recommended to keep their hands restricted by hand mitts
To keep baby from scratching their face, use a baby nail file (usually found in infant nail care kits) to keep baby’s nails trimmed as they typically don’t love nail clippers
When changing diapers, always ensure the ruffle is out on the legs, which will help prevent blowouts
On the shoulders of most onesies, the shoulder flap will easily fold and expand the head opening, so in the case of a blowout, you can pull the onesie down baby’s body, instead of over their head
* For more tips, be sure to check out our other blog posts, like Prepping Your Home for Postpartum.