Newborn's first day at home: what to do? Life of a newborn baby at home after discharge from the hospital: feeding, bathing, care. Newborn after discharge: how to care for him? What to do when you arrive from the maternity hospital

Your baby was recently born, and now you are being discharged from the hospital. Now there will be no doctors or nurses nearby around the clock. Who can you ask for advice and inquire about your baby’s health? Who will look after the baby and how now?

Upon discharge

In the case of an uncomplicated spontaneous birth, you and your baby will be discharged from the maternity hospital on the 4-5th day, even if the day of discharge falls on the weekend. For a caesarean section, the patient is discharged a little later - within 7 to 10 days. Before discharge, a neonatologist will come to you and tell you how to care for your baby at home. The pediatric nurse will swaddle and dress the baby in discharge clothes or an envelope.

The doctor will provide you with a set of documents - this is a certificate for the registry office, as well as a discharge summary for the baby for transfer to the children's clinic (at your place of residence or a private clinic). This is necessary so that doctors who will monitor the baby in the future know the characteristics of his health at birth, take into account the procedures performed on him and vaccinations (if any).

The discharge summary notes the exact time and method of birth of the baby, the Apgar score, the course of the early postpartum period, treatment of the umbilical cord and other data. In addition, they will note the result of the general examination and the fact of taking blood for congenital diseases - hypothyroidism and galactosemia.

When you go home, the information about you and your baby will be transferred by telephone to the clinic and the registry office at your place of residence - you will indicate it yourself upon discharge. The next day, even if it is Saturday or Sunday, the pediatrician on duty from the clinic or your local pediatrician will come to your home.

Important note: you are not required to be seen in a clinic at your place of residence - you can choose a private clinic or family doctor and use their services.

Contacts with the children's clinic

There is no need to think that there is something wrong with the baby. Patronage is a system of measures to prevent diseases in children; the doctor comes to see you and notice you in time if problems suddenly arise. The pediatrician can also answer your questions and help with advice - after all, if this is your first baby, you still know little about caring for him.

When the pediatrician arrives, prepare documents - the baby’s discharge summary (third page). If you have questions, write them down on a piece of paper so you don't forget anything.

Specify the address of the children's clinic. The doctor should give you the reception phone number to call a doctor at home, and also provide the opening hours of his office, tell you when the days are for a healthy child and when sick children are admitted.

If this is a doctor at a municipal clinic, he is not obliged to give you his personal cell phone, although he may well do this on his own initiative. If this is a pediatrician from a private clinic, then the possibility of additional telephone consultations and house calls via a personal cell phone is discussed in the contract that you conclude with the medical institution.

Prepare a place where the doctor will examine the baby. It should be light, warm, and there should be hygiene products at hand. The doctor will completely undress the child, remove and treat the umbilical wound. Be prepared to change or swaddle your baby later.

Doctors usually do not take off their shoes when visiting patients, so to avoid misunderstandings, prepare disposable shoe covers when the pediatrician arrives. Many parents buy a whole set - gloves, shoe covers and disposable spatulas for examining the baby’s oral cavity.

First patronage

Upon arrival, the doctor, after washing his hands and warming them, will carefully examine the baby. He will completely undress him, turn him over onto his back and tummy, while asking you about childbirth and breastfeeding, about your complaints about the health and well-being of the baby, about how often the baby has bowel movements and urination. If possible, save one of the diapers with feces when the pediatrician arrives - this is important diagnostic information.

The doctor will examine the baby’s legs and arms, feel the stitches on the head, then palpate the chest and tummy, bring the legs to the stomach and place the baby on his stomach, evaluate his behavior and reflexes.

After the examination, the pediatrician will ask you to treat the umbilical wound in front of him or do it himself to assess the condition of the wound and the degree of its healing. Now is the time to ask accumulated questions, clarify unclear points and seek advice. The doctor will also warn you about the next visits - a visiting nurse or doctor will come to you in turn, 1-2 times a week. If the child requires monitoring for health reasons, then their visits may be more frequent.

If something bothers you

During the normal course of the postpartum period, you will be at home for the entire month, and at the end of it you will come to see a pediatrician at the clinic. But if something bothers you, the doctor can refer you to specialists earlier, or you can additionally call him at home by calling the reception desk. If your child has a fever, diarrhea, or shortness of breath, do not hesitate - call ambulance or go for a consultation with a doctor.

On the site for mothers the site says that the most difficult thing for a young mother happens in the first days after discharge from the hospital. Young mothers are often lost, left alone at home with their child; they do not know how to properly pick him up, how to care for him and what to do with him.

After discharge, the newborn gradually gets used to the new environment, to mom and dad. So you should be extremely attentive and observant to learn to understand when the baby wants to eat, when his tummy is twisting, when he cries because he cannot poop.

During the first three days after discharge, a local pediatrician and a nurse will come to your home. They will examine the child and register him at the children's clinic, answer all your questions and give recommendations on how to care for him.

Children's room

Even before the baby is born, it is worth setting up a nursery or a place in your room if you do not want to leave him alone at night. It is better to place the crib in a remote corner without a window, so that there are no drafts, so that the sun during the day and the moon at night do not disturb the baby’s sleep.

Make a canopy over the crib, if you didn’t have one when purchasing, so that you can cover the crib from the general lighting in the room. Nearby, place a changing table or a wide chest of drawers, cover the lid of which, folded in several layers.

The warmth of mother's hands

Don’t be afraid to hold your baby in your arms, do it confidently, because he feels your excitement. Hold the baby with both hands, holding the head. In the first days after discharge, you can swaddle your newborn before feeding and after bathing, this will make it easier for you to cope with this moving lump.

Do not hold the baby in outstretched arms, try to hug him close to you; the closeness of the mother’s body quickly calms the baby and gives him a feeling of security.

Newborn after discharge: how to feed?

In the first days after returning home from the maternity hospital, the baby is fed at his request, until the mother's lactation normalizes, and the baby will not get used to sucking the breast correctly. Before feeding, it is advisable to give the baby 1-2 coffee spoons of boiled water or a few drops from a clean pipette.

Walking a newborn after discharge

In the first week, the baby is usually not taken out for a walk, especially if it happened on frosty days. But you can take it out onto the balcony and loggia for 5 minutes 2-3 times a day, dressed according to the weather and season.

Cleanliness is the key to baby's health

Bathing is a necessary and daily ritual so that the baby does not develop diaper rash and irritation. The first two weeks after discharge, the newborn is bathed in boiled water, the temperature of which is 36-37 * C, until the navel finally heals. You can add a weak solution of manganese to the water - it has disinfectant properties and dries out any irritations, or decoctions of string, chamomile, oak bark, oregano.

The baby is usually bathed in the evening before the last feeding. During the day, you can use special wet antiseptic wipes when changing diapers. But after defecation It is better to wash the child with warm water.

http://youtu.be/UDnqGxtQWag

New knowledge and skills

1. A newborn after discharge requires a lot of knowledge and skills from the young mother. A very important moment - umbilical wound treatment. After bathing, the wound is carefully lubricated with a solution of brilliant green or a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide. You cannot manually remove dried crusts and scabs from the wound. It is advisable to initially apply a sterile bandage to the navel so as not to accidentally scratch the wound with clothing or hands.
2. The mother will have to clean the baby’s nose, ears, and trim her fingernails on her own. After discharge, the newborn’s body cleanses itself for some time, so it is necessary daily:

• wash out eyes boiled water using cotton pads after sleep;
• inspect and clean your ears cotton swabs; ordinary ear swabs are not recommended for use on infants;
• clean nasal passages cotton pads, which encourage the baby to sneeze, freeing the nose from the “rots”.

Comforting ritual before bed

Try to put your baby to sleep by placing him in his crib. Lean on him, pet him, talk affectionately, or sing a soft lullaby - these actions calm him down. After discharge, do not rush to accustom your newborn to rocking in your arms or in a crib. If the baby is naughty or crying, there is some reason for this, other than the fact that he does not want to sleep.

Many people advise her to put the baby to sleep in her own bed, as he will hear the smell of milk, which will not allow him to sleep peacefully. But many mothers say that they sleep better with their baby by their side, so it’s up to you to decide! For sleeping, you can purchase a sleeping bag for infants, which is a bag in the form long dress with clasps on the shoulders and a zipper in the middle. A sleeping bag will keep the baby warm, will not move off him at night and will not cover his head during sleep, which can happen with a blanket or bedspread. If you put your baby to sleep in his crib, it will be useful for you to read,.

In the first days after discharge from the maternity hospital, the mother has many different questions, write them down in a notepad, which you place nearby - “at hand”. Feel free to ask your pediatrician or pediatric nurse any questions you have, and the notepad will help you avoid forgetting anything.

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New parents immediately after birth of a child They begin to become afraid of the responsibility that has fallen on them. Elena Baibarina, chief neonatologist Ministry of Health and social development RF gives answers to the questions: “They carried it out, gave birth, and what next? What awaits young parents outside the walls of the maternity hospital?”

“In fact, everything is not scary at all, parents are taught a lot at motherhood school even before giving birth, and in the maternity hospital itself - after all, there you have already picked up the child, fed it, and even began to understand why he is crying,” says Baibarina.

Parents in any case experience fear while raising a child. This is especially evident in mothers; as a rule, concern for the child is part of the maternal instinct. Mothers should be reminded that fear for their own child will never leave her. You just need to learn to live with this fear so that it does not develop into overprotectiveness syndrome. Overprotection will harm the child no less than inattention.

If you are afraid of freezing your child

After you arrive home, you should have a special corner prepared for your child, in which everything is laid out Kids' things, such as diapers, clothing, nappies, and care products.

The room for your baby should be draft-free, and the air temperature is best maintained at 22-24 degrees Celsius. The room must be regularly ventilated, but heaters should absolutely not be used. If you turn on the heater in a child’s room, the baby’s delicate nasopharynx will become dry.

To check if your child is cold, you just need to touch the tip of his nose, or maybe his forearm. If these places are not cold to the touch, the child is quite comfortable.
No less than cold, too warm a temperature in the room can also harm the baby. If your child's clothes become damp and there are no beads of sweat appearing on the tip of his nose, these are signs that the baby is hot.

What to wear for a newborn baby at home?

The best clothes for a newborn at home can be considered a diaper and sleepsuit (overalls). In a sleepsuit, the baby can move his arms and legs completely freely. The baby's movements are his initial physical development In addition, with the help of movements, the child can more easily pass gases, from which children suffer so much in the very first months of life.

If you are leaning towards diapers, then you should not swaddle your baby too tightly, this will hinder the movement of the legs inside the diaper. The diaper should end at the level of the baby's armpits, so he can easily move his arms and legs.

“The need to swaddle tightly, in a column, in order to avoid curvature of the legs, is a misconception of our great-grandmothers. The legs become crooked from rickets. And movement is an excellent prevention of such problems.”

In the first months of life newborn baby You can put on an outer blouse or a vest with sewn-up sleeves, so the baby won’t accidentally scratch his face. To protect against scratches, there are also special mittens - “scratch mittens”.

In order for a child to sleep well and develop properly, he needs to sleep on a flat surface. The baby does not need a pillow; place a diaper folded in four under his head - if the baby burps, it can be easily replaced. Cover the child with a small and not too warm blanket.

What to do after you bring your baby from the hospital?

After you bring your baby from the hospital, change his clothes and diaper. If the child is hungry, then feed him. Pediatricians recommend breastfeeding on demand, not on a schedule.

It is most convenient to feed your baby while sitting, with back support. You can also feed unhindered in a chair or bed, placing pillows under your back.

As soon as the baby eats and falls asleep, the young mother should think about her rest; the body needs recovery after childbirth. “Besides, it is unknown how much sleep you will be able to sleep the next night,” notes Baibarina.

Birth of a baby- great joy, but it’s not worth throwing a magnificent feast with happy relatives. Parents and child must adapt to the new life.

Remember:

Fear for a child is a completely natural feeling for a young mother. But the baby does not require greenhouse conditions; you should not place the baby in an overly heated room and cover it with a duvet. The most comfortable temperature for a child is 22 - 24 degrees.

The first day after maternity hospital alone with the baby often turns out to be very difficult for parents. What to do with this little tiny person? How do you even take it without breaking something?

In fact, everything is quite simple. In any case, experience is needed. It is much easier for those young mothers who were in the maternity hospital with their baby; during this time (4-5 days) you can learn a lot. Therefore, do not hesitate to pester the midwives with questions. This way you will feel much more confident at home.

A newborn baby doesn't need much. Yes, he still doesn’t know how to do anything on his own, he needs your help in everything, but this help is quite feasible if everything is organized correctly. A child after maternity hospital - what does he need? So let's get started.

Caring for a newborn baby in the first days

In the first days and months of life, it is very important for the baby to be in his mother’s arms as much as possible. But many people are afraid to take the baby, lest he break something. Here's how to do it correctly:

Then the baby needs to be changed. Sometimes you have to do this many times a day, and the faster you learn the wisdom swaddling , the easier it will be.

In addition to the traditional means of diapers, immediately after birth the baby can also be dressed in clothes for newborns. This could be a vest, bodysuit or rompers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v1YApVjmcGY

Even if you decide to use only the most advanced disposable diapers, contact of your baby's skin with urine is inevitable. This means we need to think about preventing diaper rash .

Many babies from birth have very long nails. And since they wave their arms without purpose or need, these sharp claws love to leave marks on the delicate skin of the face. At the very beginning, you can put scratches on your child’s hands, but soon you will have to master the technique
nail trimming :

A feature of newborns that other children do not have is umbilical wound . Sometimes it happens that due to careless care, an infection appears and the child may even get sick. Therefore, it is very important to handle it correctly.

Even for those babies who were born absolutely healthy, a baby first aid kit is needed for the first time. It will include both belly button care products and some others just in case.

Already in the first days after discharge from the maternity hospital, even if it’s raining outside, you need to walk . Start with short outings for 20–30 minutes, maybe twice a day.

In the evening, after sunset, the baby could be given a bath. Although newborns are not yet running around the nooks and crannies of your yard and do not collect all the dust from under the bed, you can bathe them simply for pleasure, calmness and for the sake of early accustoming to water.

Well, that's probably all. Evening has come and the baby needs to be put to bed for the night. How to do this, whether to leave him alone in the crib or take him with you, and also how to make your nights calm - in the section Children's sleep .

Feeding a newborn

Feeding a child is a separate huge stone in the foundation of your baby’s life. Therefore, we have allocated it to a special section.

The first thing that worries young mothers is how to properly attach their baby to the breast. Proper technique will help avoid cracked nipples and other breast problems.

Many mothers who have chosen their mother or grandmother to guide them face a problem -
feed the baby on demand or on schedule?
And also: should I express the remaining milk after feeding or not?

And for those who have too much milk, so that the baby does not have time to suck it out, chest pain may begin in the first days
and swelling - lactostasis. This is where you can come to the rescue
manual or electric .

And almost everyone is afraid, how will the baby grow when he spits up almost everything he eats?

Most new mothers are healthy enough to breastfeed their baby. But if for some reason she loses milk, the child has to be transferred to

The first days spent at home with a newborn are of great importance for his future life. It is very important for a baby to feel needed, to feel the love of mom and dad... But how can you make the first “family” days as comfortable as possible for mother and child? Your baby is a real miracle. It smells deliciously of childhood and something familiar and painfully familiar. He is small, small, and his tiny arms and legs are touching. He, quietly snoring, imperceptibly falls asleep in your arms, but wakes up just as quickly. He constantly demands your attention - and you cannot and do not want to refuse it. But is it easy to constantly be near a newborn and devote all your time only to him, when your husband, for example, wants to eat, you need to tidy up the apartment, do endless laundry? diapers-vests...And this means that you need to prepare in advance for your arrival from the maternity hospital. Preparing a dowry You may have heard the advice of grandmothers and mothers that say, “Don’t buy anything for your child in advance - it’s a bad omen!” Any experienced mother will tell you that it’s better to forget about this sign. Nobody better than mom doesn’t know what to buy for the baby, what will be useful and what won’t. Those who don’t buy the baby’s dowry in advance often end up in trouble - the mother is at home, has not yet left after giving birth and cannot leave the baby even for a minute. Dad in the store he buys the first things he comes across at crazy prices, and then it turns out that what he bought will be useful in a year. We recommend that before giving birth you buy the following standard set of clothes for a newborn: - an envelope for discharge from the maternity hospital on sheepskin,
- 10-20 thin diapers,
- 10-20 thicker diapers, - 3-4 diaper vests,
- 2-3 “people” for sleeping,
- 2-3 blouses, - 2-3 pairs of rompers,
- 2-3 “bodysuits”,
- 1-2 pairs of socks,
- 2 thin hats and 1-2 warm ones. Domestic companies mark sizes according to height. For a newborn, size 56 is suitable, but you can take 62 - the child will grow to it in just a month. From household items, you will definitely need a sling, a bathtub, special children's scissors, children's cotton swabs, a first aid kit (hydrogen peroxide, brilliant green, potassium permanganate, string, chamomile, etc.), powder, baby soap and shampoo. And don’t forget about diapers! Size 1 will suit you, for children from three to six kilograms. Do not buy diapers labeled Newborn. They are suitable for low birth weight babies, and for most babies they are already cramped in the second week of life. A crib and stroller are useful things, but usually the first time a newborn is constantly in your arms and in bed with your mother, especially if you - supporters breastfeeding. These items will be needed, but not right away. Cleaning the apartment It is believed that the main enemy of a newborn is microbes, so it is necessary to very carefully clean the apartment before the mother and baby arrive from the maternity hospital. It is especially important to do this immediately the day before the mother and newborn return home. It’s funny: the future dad, placing his wife in the hospital for safekeeping before childbirth, immediately cleans the apartment sterilely; a week or two or three passes - not a trace of cleanliness remains. Finally, when the wife gave birth and returned home, the apartment is no longer as clean as it should be. Dear future fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers! Let's do everything on time. My wife gave birth - we got together and did a thorough cleaning: we vacuumed and knocked out all the carpets, sofas and armchairs (just don't give the carpets for dry cleaning), washed all the floors, wiped off the dust, washed the curtains, cleaned the kitchen, etc. bathroom and toilet. It is very important for a mother to come to a cleanly cleaned apartment - both psychologically and for physiological reasons. Every woman who has given birth wants to feel that she is loved, needed and cared for. On the other hand, after giving birth, a woman does not immediately everything is healing, and in order not to introduce an infection, cleanliness is needed. As for the degree of sterility, a healthy balance is important here. Practice shows that the first cleaning before the mother and newborn arrive from the maternity hospital should be very thorough - using detergents like Domestos, and in the first week you have to clean every day. But cleaning a house where a newborn baby lives has its own specifics. You should wash floors and wipe off dust without aggressive chemicals. In principle, this problem can be solved by using environmentally friendly detergents. However, most pediatricians will advise you to refrain from using any detergents in the first week after the baby is born. Therefore, in the first week or two of your newborn’s stay in the apartment we wash the floor with plain water, ventilate the rooms in which the newborn is not currently located (so as not to catch a cold), approximately every 30-40 minutes for 10-15 minutes. Meeting from the maternity hospital Many young fathers do not quite understand the specifics of the event. It is very important to realize that a newborn and a young mother, after arriving from the maternity hospital, need, first of all, cleanliness and peace. Therefore, it is best if, upon returning from the maternity hospital, a woman sees a clean, ventilated apartment in which she can relax and comfortably accommodate her child. Meeting from maternity hospital is not a reason for a stormy feast and receiving guests, because the mother has yet to arrange her life with the baby. And the baby may immediately require care and attention (for example, he has colic). So, despite the fact that the newborn baby is still immune to sounds and light, there is no need to exhaust the mother. She still has many exhausting events ahead, so she needs to save her energy. Can I come visit you? Often, having learned about a joyful event, relatives and friends try to come visit to congratulate her on the new baby in the family. Some mothers and fathers perceive this as normal, but others are strongly against such visits. When receiving guests, one must proceed from the fact that the child does not yet have a developed immune system. Moreover, he has just begun to “get acquainted” with the bacteria that are in the environment. It follows from this that a newborn does not need contact with guests. However, this is not a reason to close your doors. After all, people bought gifts and come with good things! You can explain your motivation for not receiving guests in the first days after the birth of the baby and postponing visits from guests, say, for a month or a month and a half. Usually people are sympathetic to this position of caring parents. In any case , here it is better to play it safe than to infect your newborn with some kind of infection out of false politeness. Also, when you are planning visits from guests, try to have one or two visits per day. Anything more is tiring for mother and baby. Distribution of responsibilities If the birth went well and the mother is fine with lactation, the woman often feels a surge of strength after arriving from the hospital. She has enough for everything - making cabbage rolls, nursing a baby to her chest 30 times a day, washing the floors, doing exercises, taking care of herself, and she also finds work on the Internet and in her free minutes does website design, writes articles or programs. After a couple of months It’s simply hard to believe in such a life that in the beginning there was so much strength. A person begins to function in half-asleep mode and slowly go crazy from a screaming baby, a hungry husband and work partners demanding results. Therefore, it is simply necessary to balance the responsibilities of caring for the baby and the home in such a way that so that the mother does not overwork. In the first month or two, it is necessary to organize the life of a young mother so that she has the opportunity to deal only with herself and the baby - monitor lactation, enjoy spending time with the child, eat well and take care of herself. It happens, of course, vice versa. In cases where there was a difficult birth or C-section, it takes more time to recover. And if there are also problems with the breast and the baby has colic, the mother generally has a hard time. The golden rule of family life works great here: help and distribution of responsibilities. For example, when a mother is tired of rocking a screaming baby, she is replaced dad. Dad bathes the baby. The grandmother or a visiting assistant cleans and cooks. Advice for family and friends: do not expect to be asked to help. Just take on some of the responsibilities - at least for the first time. Health and happiness to you and your baby, and may only peace and tranquility reign in your family!