Makes the child the first days of life. What you need to have before the arrival of the child at home. Does the child need examinations

Parents feel some confusion when they have their first child, because this little man needs their care from the very first day. But what does a baby need in the first days of his life? What does he feel? What are the features of caring for a child in the neonatal period?

Newborn needs

While still in the maternity hospital with, the mother gradually begins to adapt to new circumstances. In this short period of time, she learns to care for her newborn child. What does a baby need in the first weeks of his life?

Of course, newborn babies sleep most of the time. The duration of a newborn's sleep in the first days of life can be about eighteen hours a day. For the most part, babies do not sleep soundly, sometimes shuddering and grimacing. To make the baby's sleep as comfortable as possible, monitor the air temperature in the room, ventilate it well.

is another important part of his life. In the first month after birth, the child spends at the mother's breast almost all the time, except for sleep. The number of attachments of the baby to the breast in some cases reaches fifteen. Is the child eating that much? Not necessarily, newborn babies suckle at the breast not only to satisfy the feeling of hunger, but also to satisfy the sucking reflex. In addition, the baby feels safe when it is at the mother's breast.

Baby hygiene

A loving mother must learn to properly care for the child's body, keep it clean. What needs to be done for this?

Regular shift is a must. Pediatricians recommend changing them every three hours, and if the baby has defecated, then immediately.

At each diaper change, the child's genitals should be thoroughly washed with baby soap, following certain rules. If you have a girl, then you should wash it from front to back so that the feces do not get into the genital tract. This will help avoid infection.

Every day, you need to gently clean all the folds of the baby with a cotton ball dipped in baby oil to prevent the formation of diaper rash.

The child needs both and. At first, it may seem that doing this is very difficult, but it is still necessary to learn how to do it. The nose is cleaned with cotton flagella, after dropping sea water into the nasal passage. It is better to clean the ears with special cotton buds with a limiter so as not to injure the baby's ear.

The baby should be washed every day using a cotton pad moistened with boiled water. For each eye use a cotton pad.

Nails in young children grow quite quickly, so it is recommended every four to five days, and on the legs - once every ten days.

- Another duty of a loving mother. Until the wound has healed, it must be treated every day with a solution of hydrogen peroxide, and then lubricated with brilliant green or Chlorohexidine.

Causes new parents mixed feelings, because the baby is so tiny! You need to bathe the baby every day in warm water, about 37 degrees. At the same time, the room should also be warm. While bathing, the baby's folds are washed well using plain water, and the baby is washed with soap once a week. Until the umbilical wound has healed, it is better to use boiled water for bathing.

What does the baby feel in the first weeks of life?

It used to be thought that after birth, the child does not hear anything, but now it has been proven that this is not the case. Already in the hospital, on the third or fourth day of life, the baby is carried out - the so-called audiological screening, the purpose of which is to identify possible hearing problems. In the first days of life, a newborn child hears sounds, he especially likes the gentle voice of his mother, the ticking of the clock, the monotonous sound of water.

From the very first days, the baby sees the outlines of objects that are in close proximity to his face, which is why mothers are advised to lean closer to the baby.

The taste buds of the crumbs are able to respond to various stimuli. The child likes the taste of mother's milk, he eats it with pleasure.

How nice it is for a baby to feel mother's warmth, to feel the gentle touch of her hands and lips, so do not neglect the opportunity to lie down next to the baby and caress him.

Being parents is a big responsibility, but also a great joy. Enjoy every moment spent with your child, give him your love, because children grow up so fast!

During the first seconds after birth, the child is almost completely immobilized, does not perceive sound and light, does not respond to painful stimuli, his muscles are devoid of tone, and no reflexes are caused. This state is called "birth catharsis", which in Greek means "purification". This happens because of the colossal amount of a wide variety of sensations and stimuli that fall on the child in the last moments of childbirth. A protective mechanism is triggered to prevent information shock. The fetus, which has been in the womb for nine months, suddenly finds itself in completely different conditions. Instead of a constant temperature of 37 ° C - the temperature of the room, which seems very low to the child, and one must adapt to it. Instead of the aquatic environment that constantly surrounded him, there was air that he had to learn to breathe. Instead of weightlessness - the force of the earth's gravity, to which one must get accustomed. It was dark - and now there is a bright light around! It was quiet - and now a flurry of the most diverse sounds! In those seconds that pass between birth and the first cry, the baby is in a special state.

In order to protect the tiny newborn creature from shock, evolution created this protective state - the state of not responding to external stimuli. The birth catharsis lasts a very short time and ends at the moment of crossing the umbilical cord. At the moment when the obstetrician's hand cuts this channel that connected the mother and the child, his life begins as an independent organism. As soon as the blood flow through the vessels of the umbilical cord is interrupted, the child takes his first breath. This is facilitated by the fact that during the last minutes of childbirth, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the blood of the fetus increases, and the concentration of oxygen decreases significantly, which has an irritating effect on the respiratory center located in the brain of the child. . A powerful impulse comes from this center, signaling a growing hypoxia (lack of oxygen), and the child screams loudly, taking the first breath in his life. His lungs, filled with liquid throughout the entire period of intrauterine development, straighten out, fill with air and begin to carry out one of the main life-supporting functions - breathing.

At the same moment, the pulmonary circulation begins to function, which, due to its uselessness, did not work for all nine months. Its purpose is to carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart and carbon dioxide rich blood from the heart to the lungs. Since the lungs of the fetus are inactive during intrauterine life, the pulmonary circulation does not function either. Instead, there are channels (shunts) that are characteristic exclusively for the fetal circulation - an oval window between the right and left atrium, an arterial duct between the aorta and the pulmonary artery. These shunts stop functioning gradually over several hours and sometimes days. But their existence no longer plays any role in blood circulation. Their presence is one of the manifestations of the transitional state from intrauterine life to extrauterine existence. It is their presence that can explain the bluish coloration of the extremities of a newborn in the first hours after birth.

In the first thirty minutes of life, the child is in a state of maximum tension of adaptive reactions. There is a cardinal restructuring of the respiratory and circulatory systems, which was mentioned above. During this period, the child is in a state of excitement, he almost constantly screams loudly (this is necessary for the complete expansion of the lung tissue), he is active, his pupils are dilated, muscle tone, which was practically absent in the first seconds of life, increases significantly .

Why is it necessary to put the baby to the breast after childbirth

Being closely connected with the mother for 40 weeks of intrauterine life, the baby is used to constantly feeling the rhythm of her heart. Now, when the umbilical cord is cut, he suddenly finds himself excommunicated from this rhythm, from the usual warmth. But contact with the mother's skin returns to the child a sense of security; this also applies to the voice that the baby has heard over the past four to five weeks of intrauterine development. There is an assumption that the child is able to recognize the mother by the rhythm of her heart, which he feels when he is in close proximity to her. Moreover, with an increase in the mother's pulse, the child begins to worry and, it would seem, to cry for no reason. Conversely, when the mother's pulse is even, calm, the baby is content and sleepy. Therefore, your peace of mind after childbirth is the basis of your baby's peace of mind.

Laying the baby on the mother's stomach is the logical conclusion of childbirth. It signals to the mother and baby that the stressful situation ended successfully, that both of them did not work in vain and emerged victorious. Skin-to-skin contact is necessary because the tactile analyzer is the leading one in newborns and is most developed in the mother's womb. It is known that mammals not only and not so much wash their babies when they are licked, but rather create a powerful stream of impulses that enter the brain and make all body systems work.

Of particular importance is the attachment of the baby to the breast immediately after birth. It contributes to the speedy completion of childbirth - the separation of the placenta as a result of reflex contraction of the uterus. Early application (in the first half hour after birth) also helps to increase the amount of milk and the duration of the lactation period. Even if the child does not suck, but only licks the nipple, then at least a few drops of colostrum will get into his mouth. Thus, early attachment to the breast is a “passive immunization” of the child, that is, a kind of vaccination against many diseases, since protective antibodies enter the baby’s body along with colostrum. Early application also reduces the likelihood of bilirubin toxicity causing jaundice in newborns; it contributes to the formation of a healthy microflora in a child. The intestines, skin and mucous membranes of the newborn are sterile. During the first contacts with the outside world, they are colonized by microorganisms. Microorganisms from the skin of the mother take root better than others in the child.

Deprived of this support, the child becomes defenseless against the onslaught of the outside world. But, fortunately, almost always the birth of a baby is a long-awaited and happy moment, the mother is next to him, he knows that he is already loved and remembers this feeling, which is an indispensable condition for the harmonious development of his psyche.

Joint stay of mother and baby after childbirth

In the next six hours of a child's life, a period of relative stabilization of all the main body systems begins. Those successes in primary adaptation that were achieved in the first minutes of his life are fixed, and the baby is resting. If he successfully coped with the first tasks set before him by life, he falls asleep. The heart rate slows down, breathing becomes less deep, muscle tone decreases. During these hours, there is a decrease in body temperature for two main reasons. First, the body of a newborn, placed in a much cooler environment, cools rapidly due to heat exchange and moisture evaporation. And secondly, during this period, the level of metabolism decreases and, accordingly, the production of heat. In addition, all newborns have a relative functional immaturity of the thermoregulation system, it is difficult for them to maintain a constant body temperature. The child needs additional heating, otherwise he may get a so-called cold injury or, conversely, overheat if the baby is overwrapped, which is also undesirable for him. This is especially true for children born before term, in whom this borderline condition, like everyone else, manifests itself more acutely, often moving from a physiological state to the initial stage of the disease.

Another very important moment of adaptation is immunological. Being in the mother's womb, the fetus is in sterile conditions. The mother's placenta is permeable to some immunoglobulins - protective antibodies, and the fetus receives from her antibodies to those microbes with which her immune system is familiar. This immunity is called transplacental. The own immunity of the newborn is very imperfect, although it is quite mature. In particular, there is a very low content of class A immunoglobulins, which are responsible for protecting the body from the penetration of pathogens through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, stomach, as well as an insufficient content of interferons - substances that protect against viral infections. In any case, a child is born in a state of immunodeficiency. This condition is aggravated by such pathology of pregnancy as intrauterine growth retardation, intrauterine hypoxia, birth asphyxia, intrauterine infection. Once in a new environment, a newborn is surrounded by countless microorganisms that literally attack his immune system. His skin, mucous membranes immediately begin to be populated by bacteria that will accompany him for a very long period of time. Therefore, it is very important for someone that these microorganisms pass to him from his mother. Therefore, direct contact of the skin of the child with the skin of the mother in the first minutes after birth is so desirable.

Faced with our by no means sterile world, the child begins to develop its own antibodies. Otherwise, every bacterium that entered his body would threaten to become the cause of an infectious disease. But the attack is too powerful, and the forces are unequal. Therefore, a newborn baby is very vulnerable to a potential infection, which is why he is surrounded within the walls of the maternity hospital with such sterility, which is why the requirements for the regimen in the children's departments of maternity hospitals are so strict. Immunity will train, strengthen literally every day. Active production of antibodies will begin. But this does not happen immediately, but only by the middle of the first month of a child's life. With this in mind, take care of yourself and him.

Considering all that has been said, I would like to emphasize once again the importance of the joint stay of mother and baby after childbirth. Having the mother and baby in the same room after childbirth helps both the woman and the child to get through this difficult period more easily, to effectively establish breastfeeding, because when staying together, the mother usually feeds the baby on demand, and not by the hour.

More recently, the baby kicked you from the inside, and now you hold him in your arms, joyfully accepting congratulations on being discharged from the hospital. ahead - first week at home with baby , one of the most exciting for parents and important in the life of the baby.

The baby has a new stage - now all its systems and organs must completely function outside the mother's body. A newborn baby needs to learn to breathe, eat and adapt to external sound and light stimuli on their own.

Parents have to help the baby in this difficult matter and provide proper care . How to care for a newborn, let's find out together.

We wake up, we wash

After the baby woke up in the morning, it must be washed. With the help of a loving mother, cotton pads and warm boiled water, this will be very easy.

First wash our eyes . To do this, take a cotton pad, moisten it in boiled water and wipe the baby's eyes from the outer edge to the inner. For each eye, be sure to take a new cotton pad. The eyes of a newborn baby often turn sour, why does this happen?

After birth, the baby's immune system only wakes up and the baby's eyes often watery. This is the body's defense system that will help protect the child's eyes from infection. In the first tears of the baby, in addition to water and salt, there is still mucus, so a crust sometimes forms on the eyes of the child. It is her that we need to carefully remove with a cotton swab, trying not to damage the delicate children's eye.

Then pay attention to baby nose . If the nose is visually clean and there are no extraneous sounds indicating congestion when the baby breathes, then you can simply wipe it from above and around with a cotton swab dipped in water. Sometimes crusts can appear in the nose of a newborn that will prevent the baby from breathing freely. In this case, a cotton pad or a special children's cotton swab with a limiter must be moistened with baby oil and gently wiped inside each nostril of the crumbs, without penetrating too deeply.

A clean baby's nose is an important condition for the baby to be able to suckle freely at the breast. After all, eating if breathing is difficult will be problematic for the crumbs.

During the morning exercise, do not forget examine the ears child. With visible accumulations of sulfur, they can be cleaned outside and around the auricle with a cotton swab dipped in warm boiled water. However, do not be zealous, usually excess sulfur is removed from the ear itself.

Washing and changing diapers

Every morning you need change baby's diaper and wash away baby. You need to wash it after each bowel movement and you can do this under ordinary running water.

To wash the baby, undress him to half, put him with his stomach on your arm, substituting the lower part of the body under the tap. If the contamination is not washed off simply with a stream of water, lather the dirty places of the crumbs with special baby soap and rinse thoroughly.

After washing, blot the baby's skin with a towel or diaper, hold the baby in an air bath for a while and, if necessary, spread with diaper cream.

If it is not possible to wash the crumbs, you can use special and remove all contaminants with them.

Most mothers use to care for their baby. Remember that the child should not be in the same diaper for more than four hours.

It is necessary to put a diaper on a newborn so that it does not cover the umbilical wound and it can heal faster. It will be great if the baby has the opportunity to lie down for a while without a diaper at all, so that his skin can breathe.

It is also important to ensure that the skin under the diaper does not form diaper rash . To prevent diaper rash, do not overheat the baby, and you can also use a special diaper cream.

Important nuance : the change of the aquatic environment to the air and the release of the baby's skin from the original lubricant can cause dry skin and redness in the crumbs. In the event of such symptoms, and after consulting a pediatrician, special oils or other children's cosmetics can be used.

Bathing

Another question that is of great interest to the whole family of the baby: when can I start after discharge from the hospital?

The answer is given by Marina Skiba, neonatologist at the clinic "Dobrobut": “You can bathe the child immediately after discharge, but if the baby was vaccinated with BCG, then after it for 1-2 days it is better not to bathe the child so as not to wet the injection site. Water for bathing a child should be 37 degrees. If the baby's umbilical wound has not yet healed, in order to avoid infection, the bath can be filled with boiled water, bathing time is 3-5 minutes. If the crumbs do not have allergies and their skin is not overdried, decoctions of herbs can be added to the water.

After heal umbilical cord you can already bathe the baby in a regular bath in tap water , gradually increasing the bathing time from 5 to 20 minutes.

Be sure to support the child’s body in the water, gently wash the baby’s head, arms, legs and body, wash your face and don’t worry if water gets into your ears or eyes during bathing, there’s nothing to worry about.

Umbilical wound care

The process of caring for the umbilical wound causes particular excitement for a young mother, because now she requires careful and appropriate care.

As a rule, the wound is treated once a day: you can do this either in the morning or in the evening, after bathing, when all the crusts are soaked from the water and it will be easier to remove them.

Feeding

The most important thing for the crumbs now is on demand. And it is important here not only the intake of essential nutrients into the body of the newborn, but also the psychological component of the process.

The kid is just adapting to this world, for him everything around is new, unusual and unfamiliar. This is a rather difficult condition in which the child needs help and support.

The stay of a newborn baby at the mother's breast is not only nutrition, but also reassurance, because the mother is the only familiar person for the baby in this world. And feeling her smell and heartbeat, familiar to the baby from the moment of being in the tummy, the newborn calms down and relaxes.

Feeding on demand helps a young mother to establish lactation and establish the necessary contact with the baby. And if the mother has breast milk, the baby does not need any nipples and bottles.

Mother- MariaMashasays:“In the first days after being discharged from the hospital, it was a completely new sensation. It was difficult for me to get used to the fact that my body is now not quite mine. It reacted to the child sometimes completely without my knowledge: the baby will cry - the milk stays by itself. Or I feed Masha from one breast, and milk is actively, right in front of my eyes, in the other. But Masha was calm next to my chest as never before. She was so happy to settle down on the handles and put her mouth up, which is just lovely. In general, the first weeks I very often carried the baby in my arms and fed on demand. Later, everything stabilized, we had a regimen, and Mashenka more often agreed to stay in the crib, and not on the handles.


  • Development by week
  • Breast-feeding
  • The first days and weeks of a child's life are difficult for both parents and babies. Moms and dads in the neonatal period, which lasts 4 weeks after birth (28 days), learn to care for and take care of the baby, and the child adapts to new living conditions. How successful these processes will be depends on many factors. And one of them is understanding exactly how newborns develop in order to respond in time to any problems and turn to a pediatrician to eliminate them.


    Immediately after birth, the baby needs to adapt to the world around him, and his mother will help him best.

    Milestones of development

    Even during the stay in the maternity hospital, the child begins the stage of adaptation to the changed living conditions. At this stage, all organ systems of the crumbs adapt to new conditions:

    • The lungs begin to work, and blood circulation is rebuilt to function with the inclusion of a small circle.
    • baby head in the first days of life, it is quite often elongated, which is associated with the compliance of the bones of the skull and the passage of the baby through the birth canal. Its shape becomes correct by 2 weeks of age. In addition, many babies have a birth tumor on their heads, which disappears without a trace after 1-2 days.
    • The skin immediately after childbirth has a reddish tint. In many children, from the third day it acquires a yellow tint - this is how physiological (non-dangerous) jaundice manifests itself, which normally disappears by 2 weeks of age.
    • The nervous system is very sensitive and works actively. Various unconditioned reflexes appear, among which the main ones are search and sucking.


    In most cases, the skin of a newborn has a reddish tint, which disappears by the end of the first week of life.

    • Thermoregulation is still imperfect, therefore, the crumbs often have sudden changes in body temperature. The baby overheats easily and freezes quickly.
    • The newborn has well-developed hearing, smell, taste and touch. At the same time, the child's vision is weak, he sees everything fuzzy and blurry.
    • Many babies have a slight strabismus after giving birth, caused by weakness of the eye muscles.. This condition goes away on its own with time.
    • Urination in the first day occurs 4-6 times, and then the number of urination per day reaches 15-20 times. In many children, urine becomes reddish on the first day, which is normal and is associated with a low water content in colostrum.
    • Various microorganisms enter the intestines of the crumbs, which were previously completely sterile. Meconium (the so-called dark feces that have accumulated in the baby's digestive tract at the time of birth) begins to stand out from the intestines, and then the feces lighten and become more liquid.

    The release of the program of the famous pediatrician E. Komarovsky, dedicated to newborn babies, see below:

    At the next stage of development, which begins after discharge, parents have to face various difficulties, for example, colic, which often bothers the baby from 2-3 weeks of age.

    Also, a new mother can expect difficulties in establishing lactation, which are best dealt with by frequent applications.

    By the end of the neonatal stage, babies change markedly - their facial features become clearer, postpartum puffiness disappears, and the gaze focuses on faces and objects.

    The muscles of the crumbs are strengthened, which allows him to briefly raise his head and move his limbs. In addition, the baby pleases loved ones with a “complex of revival” - recognition of their faces, active movements and the manifestation of positive emotions.


    By the beginning of the second month, the baby's skin becomes pink, the head evens out, and the birth swelling disappears on the face.

    Development calendar by weeks in the table

    Age

    Skills

    Week 1(7 days)

    Holding the head for a few seconds.

    Focusing the gaze at a distance of 5 to 15 cm.

    Involuntary closing of fingers and hands.

    Involuntary smile.

    Recognition of the smell of breast milk.

    Response to bright light by blinking and closing eyes.

    Animation at the approach of parents.

    2 weeks(14 days)

    Looking at an adult, involuntary winks and funny grimaces.

    Fixing the gaze on a bright toy with a diameter of up to 10 cm.

    3 weeks(21 day)

    Holding the head up to 5 seconds, raising it after a short rest.

    Recognition of mom and dad.

    Looking at objects and faces at a distance of up to 50 cm.

    Fading at the sight of something new and sharp unfamiliar sounds.

    Grabbing fingers and hair of parents with handles.

    4 weeks(28 days)

    Active movements of the legs and arms.

    Focusing on objects and faces at a distance of up to 1 m.

    Expression of emotions by different cry (dissatisfied, joyful).

    Raising the head in the supine position for up to 5 seconds.

    Holding the gaze on the mother's face or a fixed object in the field of view for a long time.

    Active examination of the world around from the hands of an adult.

    Firm grip on an adult's fingers.

    Keeping your eyes on a moving object for up to 7 seconds.

    Cooing.

    Calculate the vaccination calendar

    Enter your child's date of birth

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 18 18 19 20 20 21 22 22 22 22 22 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 January February March April June July August September November 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

    Generate a calendar

    First week

    In the first days of life, the baby and mother get to know each other, and The basic need of the baby is close contact with the mother. The best food for a toddler is colostrum, which after a few days is replaced by mature milk, adjusting to the needs of the crumbs.


    After birth, it is very important to attach the baby to the mother's breast as soon as possible.

    Outwardly, the child does not yet look like babies on the pages of a magazine. The face of the baby after childbirth is asymmetrical, swelling often occurs on the head, and the head itself is flattened and slightly elongated into an oval.

    The skin is often red and only turns pale towards the end of the first week. Some children on the 3-5th day of life have peeling of the skin on the chest and tummy. A slight yellowness from the 3rd day of life is also considered the norm.

    In addition, the following features are noted in the first week:

    • Muscle tone increased in the first week.
    • The baby has no tears in the first weeks of life, and the sweat glands are still developing (their function is getting better by the 7th day of life).
    • There should be no plaque on the mucous membranes, it should normally be moist and pink.
    • By the end of the first week, the umbilical wound dries up and tightens.
    • The baby's nose sometimes covers a rash in the form of small white dots.
    • The heart of the baby is reduced 110-170 times per minute, and the normal respiratory rate per minute is 30-50 times.
    • From the second or third day, instead of meconium, a yellowish stool with a sour smell begins to stand out about 4-5 times a day (with breastfeeding).

    To see how the baby looks in the first days after childbirth, see the video:

    Second week

    Skin redness, swelling and jaundice often go away this week. The baby begins to gain weight, and hypertonicity in the limbs, which is considered the norm for a child in the first month of life, is still preserved. The baby has not yet learned to hold his head, but the movements of the legs and arms of the baby are still involuntary and chaotic.

    There are also such nuances:

    • The baby sleeps most of the day (about 16-20 hours).
    • Thermoregulation has not yet improved.
    • The palms and feet are covered with dry skin.
    • The nails are growing, so they already need to be cut.
    • The skin of many children begins to peel off.
    • Urination counts at least 15 per day.
    • The child's intestines are emptied 3-4 times a day, and the feces are mushy, yellow.


    At 2 weeks old, babies spend most of their time sleeping.

    Third week

    The movements of the limbs of a toddler older than 2 weeks are already becoming less chaotic, and the skull of most babies of the third week of life has restored its shape.

    The activity of the baby is growing, and due to the abundance of impressions, many babies become irritable in the evening.

    The crying of the crumbs changes, acquiring intonation, for example, when something disturbs the baby, the cry will be loud and demanding.

    For a child of the third week of life, the following features are also characteristic:

    • The baby's sense of smell becomes sharper.
    • The baby begins to feel the balance and position of his own body in space.
    • Breastfeeding meals at this age are at least 10-12.
    • The peanut begins to recognize the faces and voices of loved ones.
    • The daily routine is only being established, the baby still spends most of the day in a dream.

    Bowel emptying at this age occurs from 2 to 8 times a day. When breastfeeding, the stool is yellow, with butter-milk odor and mustard consistency . If the baby receives the mixture, the chair is 1-4 times a day, and the feces are darker and harder, with an unpleasant odor and a brownish tint.


    A 21-day-old baby still performs most of the actions and movements reflexively

    Fourth week

    The development of the baby this week is going at a high pace. The baby is getting better and better at adapting to the world around him, rejoices at his parents, follows the toys and begins to coo. Sleep in the day of a child of the fourth week of life takes approximately 17-19 hours, and the number of feedings is at least 6-7.

    The following features of development are noted:

    • The child's legs and arms are still bent, and the fists are clenched.
    • The child has not yet learned to coordinate his movements well.
    • The baby is actively learning to hold his head.
    • When dissatisfied, the little one cries loudly and moves sharply, for example, kicks his legs when he is bothered by colic.
    • The eyes of most babies are blue, but with age they can change color.
    • Vision is not yet fully complete, so it is difficult for the baby to concentrate his eyes.
    • Tears begin to flow.

    That is your first 7 days. Well, if you ended up in an old-fashioned hospital, where the child is taken away and brought only for feeding. Then the only problem you have is to learn how to feed properly. And if you ended up in a modern, modernized hospital, where the child is placed on your chest immediately after childbirth and left to you forever, then hold on.

    Finally understand. That the first 7 days your child is trying to adapt to life on earth, in the air. Just imagine, if you lived all your life in the water, and then they took you and pulled you to the surface, how would you feel? And so some babies have problems that are quite normal and understandable, which every mother should know about before panicking and flying to the hospital.

    The life of your child in the first days is divided into 3 phases:

    1. phase is the first 30 minutes of life. When your baby's lungs expand and circulation returns.
    2. phase - this is the first 6 hours of life, when the baby gets used to extrauterine life, and the stabilization of the work of all vital organs.
    3. phase - this is the fifth day when internal changes occur in the child in connection with the transition to breast milk.

    You just imagine how many cardinal changes in life! Well, how can some thing not appear here that will terribly alarm mom. If they occur in the hospital, the doctor will of course reassure you, assuring that everything is in order, but what if it happened at home? Moms! In 80% of newborns, there are various transitional states that are not dangerous for the life and health of the baby.

    Here are the most common and most terrifying:

    transient fever.

    If a child is malnourished, loses weight, body temperature is 38 degrees or more, this does not mean that your child has a cold. Feed your baby, wipe with a damp towel, talk quietly and calmly and all these symptoms will disappear on their own.

    Physiological jaundice.

    Usually appears by the end of the second day and lasts up to seven to eight days. When breastfeeding, it can last up to two weeks. No panic! Completely normal baby.

    Physiological weight loss.

    The first 3-4 days of life the baby has a normal primary weight loss. Imagine, he has been eating through tubes for all 9 months, and now he has to work with his mouth in order to get enough. You have to get used to everything! Yes, and at first, mother’s milk is not so saturated with rich substances. You wait, look how fat he will be in a month!

    Physiological toxic erythema.

    Small compacted peeling sometimes with a gray-yellow tint or a bubble in the center on the baby's skin protruding 2-5 days after birth are not the cause of any disease. It's just that all this time, from the moment of birth, the baby's body is inhabited by various molecules that live on the human body. After all, in your stomach, mothers, the child was absolutely sterile! Most often, these erythema settle in the folds, on the arms and legs, on the ass, chest, and sometimes on the stomach and face. The child's condition is normal. The only thing that can be said from these rashes is that your baby is prone to allergies.

    Sexual crisis.

    It occurs in 2/3 of newborns, more often in girls. Breast engorgement. This usually happens 3-4 days after delivery. The duration of gland growth is 7-8 days. Then there is a full recovery. Treatment is not required! In no case should you squeeze out the secreted liquid from the baby's breast. This will only make it worse. Everything will pass by itself.

    Deokvamative vulvovagin.

    Abundant mucous discharge of a grayish-white color from the genital slit for the first 3 days. Completely normal cleansing of the genital tract.

    Bleeding from the vagina.

    Yes, dear mothers, it happens. Usually appear on the 5-8th day and last 1-3 days. It does not require any treatment, no pads! Everything will pass, especially since it does not carry anything bad.

    Milia.

    Whitish-yellow nodules appear on the nose, forehead or chin. They also go by themselves. In no case do not touch them and do not try to burn them.

    infarct urine.

    Usually observed throughout the first week. It is yellow-brick in color and disappears by the end of the week. It does not require any treatment, because this is also a completely normal cleansing of the body.

    Transient intestinal catarrh, dysbacteriosis.

    The usual transitional state of development of the body in newborns. This also happens due to the population of the body with microorganisms, due to the restructuring of the intestines to feed on breast milk. In the middle of the first week, cinnamon-greenish frothy stools may appear up to 6-8 times a day. Adaptation of the child to extrauterine life is long and difficult. But all these problems disappear on their own if they are approached correctly. It is best for you to see a doctor now so that you can be taught how to feed properly, as this is the most difficult step in your life together now. It is the doctor who will show and explain everything to you.

    Over time, when you learn to feed properly, it will stop causing you inconvenience and pain. Usually, mothers hold their breasts with their hands when feeding, as it seems to them that the baby rests his nose on the chest and may suffocate. Do not be afraid. With proper attachment, the baby sucks and breathes perfectly without your intervention.

    Do not forget about the rules of hygiene.

    Treat the child's eyes, ears, nose and fold zones. Don't forget your oral cavity. If you find thrush (a small curd coating on the tongue and palate), treat your mouth with 2% soda solution 5-6 times a day. If your child farts frequently and has bloating, it's all your fault. First, express up to 50.0 ml before feeding. first milk. Secondly, make sure that the child does not take the breast excitedly, but evenly. Avoid air ingestion. And after feeding, keep the baby in a column not for 1-3 minutes, but for 10-15 minutes. That's when to avoid bloating in your baby.

    We told you about swimming on the previous pages. Be careful. After all, your child's health depends on you. You are a mother, you have a beautiful baby. Be healthy and don't panic over trifles.

    Magazine "Kangaroo" No. 2