What to do during the First Week with the Baby?
The first week of your baby’s life brings big adjustments for both of you. You are adjusting to being a mother and your baby is adjusting to life outside the womb. Don’t expect too much of yourself during these first days, although you’ve been preparing for the birth of your baby for months. If anyone offers you help — take it!
During the first few weeks of life, your baby eeds to be handled so that life outside the womb seems as little different as possible to life inside the womb. He will be concentrating on getting to know you and his surroundings. What your baby need is wrap him snugly and warmly, hold him closely, handle him slowly, and feed him when he’s hungry. You can also use this time to bond with your baby with lots of skin to skin contact.
Whether you decide to breast or bottle feed, feeding in the first few weeks is not an effortless process. Try to have early feeding sessions in a quiet setting with as few distractions as possible. Make sure you are in a comfortable position as it takes new babies a while to eat and you don’t want to end up stiff and sore. Cuddle and caress your baby as feeding time is a wonderful opportunity to show your baby how much he is loved.
If you are breastfeeding, be patient and keep in mind though it may take several weeks until you both feel comfortable and get a feeding schedule down. Most new moms feel and experience:
• Discomfort or pain in the perineal area if you had a vaginal delivery Incision pain or numbness if you had a cesarean delivery
• Exhaustion!
• Bloody vaginal discharge for the first week or so
• Abdominal cramping (afterpains) as the uterus contracts
• Breast discomfort or engorgement
• Elation or depression or swings between both
• Fears about your adequacy as a mother
• Profuse sweating after the first couple of days
• Although it may be tempting to try to be a ‘supermom’, now is not the time. The best advice that I received as an new mom was to accept the help of others, eat regular meals and sleep when the baby sleeps. Now it’s my turn to pass that advice on to you.