Taking care of a newborn can be a very difficult and grueling endeavor, but it can also be highly rewarding. Seeing the progress of a newborn is nothing short of amazing and is one of the most rewarding parts of life. The tips discussed in this article are things that you should discuss with your nanny to make sure you are on the same page about how to handle your child and things they should avoid.
1. Make sure the baby is napping on his back
One of the common mistakes that can be easily missed when taking care of a newborn is incorrectly laying them down for a nap. A baby should never be placed on his stomach until at least one year of age. This will prevent the baby from choking and will keep his airway clear. Another good tip is to not have any items such as blankets or stuffed animals in the crib to prevent the child from accidentally covering their airway.
2. Overstimulation
After spending nine months in a womb with only a heartbeat to listen to, a newborn can easily be overstimulated by the business of daily life. This includes colors, noises, toys, etc… and can easily cause the newborn to become grumpy and fussy. To counteract this, take your baby into a dark and quiet room to give them a moment to gather themselves and calm down.
3. Use white noise during their naps
Like mentioned before, newborns can become easily overstimulated by the outside world because their whole life before this was relative peace and a repetitive patterns of sounds. To help your baby sleep better, try to play some white noise to drown out other sounds from the world. This repetitive sound should help the baby calm down and get much better sleep.
4. Put the baby to sleep every 90 minutes
Baby’s obviously cannot communicate very well and because of this they often cannot show you that they are tired. Many parents believe that when a baby is tired they will just fall asleep, but this cannot be further from the truth. If you do not put the baby to sleep at the appropriate time (on a schedule) then the baby will just get fussy and start crying and it will become that much harder to put them to sleep or for a nap. One helpful tip is to create a schedule for the baby, something like putting the baby to sleep every 90 minutes so that they develop their own schedule that their bodies can adjust to.
5. Feed the baby as soon as he wakes up
One of the common things many new parents experience is the newborn falling asleep during nursing. This may not seem serious, but it can often lead to poor sleep and the baby not getting all the nutrition he needs, leaving him fussing and crying. The easy solution to this is to feed the baby immediately after he/she wakes up. This will not only ensure the baby is properly fed, but will also take some worry off your shoulders knowing your baby is properly fed.
