When your baby is born after a long wait of nine months, it is the most special moment for every parent. Your newborn has just arrived and finally you are holding him in your arms. But when your baby enters the new world, there are so many things that you need to do to make sure that your infant is safe, secure and well protected. It is important that some examinations are conducted just when he is born to make sure that his physical, hormonal and metabolic functions are proper.
The First Five Minutes
Just when the baby is born, the first and most important thing to be done by the doctor is to give suction his or her mouth and nose. This is done with the purpose to clear away all the mucus and amniotic fluid so that he can comfortably start breathing all by his own self. The next thing to be done is to clamp and cut his umbilical cord. Then the baby’s Apgar score is determined which is calculated on the basis of his heart rate, color, reflex response, activity and muscle tone and breathing at one minute and five minutes after the delivery. The scores can vary across a range of zero to ten. Any score seven is considered as a healthy score for the infant.
First Look of the Newborn
The baby is born with a thick whitish coating that protects his skin in the mother’s womb. After the delivery, this skin is washed off in the first bath. When you will see your baby for the first time, he will either be completely bald or with some hair patches or with complete head of hair. The babies who born early are mostly covered soft, fine hair that don’t last more than a week. The face of your infant will be fluffy. The skin tone varied from shades of gray blue color to an attractive pink. The toes and fingers may have slight blue color which may prevail for a couple of hours after birth. The infant will change in look with every passing day and the marks of his childbirth will fade away with time.
Newborn Baby’s Breathing
As soon as the baby is born, he coughs and wheezes in order spit out all the fluid that he has in his system. This happens in normal delivery. When the baby is born by C-section then he tends to take shallower and quicker breaths in order to make the airways clear from the fluid. In the start, the breathing of the newborn will be irregular or periodic. There is nothing to worry as the baby’s respiratory rate and heartbeat is faster than that of the adults.
Infant’s Cry
As soon as the baby is born, within the first 30 second to one minute of his life, he should start crying. In order to accomplish this, doctors give a tender stimulation by rubbing his back or spanking his butts. For long he is going to cry will depend upon how tired he has become after the labor. And once he is done crying, he will naturally fall asleep. Sometimes, the baby may stay awake because he is hungry. It is important for the baby to cry.
Baby’s First Feed
After a short while of your baby’s birth, he must be given his first feed. As his stomach is small, you will have to feed him frequent small meals which are up to 5 ml per feed. Although just after the delivery, you will not have milk but at that time your breasts are producing colostrum which is made in the last few weeks of pregnancy and in the very first week after the baby is born. Your infant will be required to be fed once in every 1-2 hours. As soon as you feel that your baby is ready for the feed, breastfeed him. Hold him close to your chest and leave no gap.
If you have had a normal delivery then you will be discharged after a day or two. In case of C section, you will have to be in the hospital for 3-4 days. Don’t hesitate to ask for help and advice and gradually you will learn to handle your baby.