About to Be a First-Time Parent?

Here’s Help for Baby-Care Concerns

During your hospital stay, make sure to ask the nurses for help with basic baby care.  Don’t hesitate to ask the nurse to show you how to do something more than once.  Before discharge, make sure you and your partner are comfortable with handling a newborn, changing diapers, bathing, dressing, swaddling, feeding and burping, cleaning the umbilical cord, caring for a healing circumcision, using a bulb syringe to clear nasal passages, taking a newborn’s temperature, and soothing your baby.  If you are breast-feeding, ask for support from a lactation consultant.

Your baby’s first doctor’s visit is another good time to ask infant-care questions.  Also ask about reasons to call the doctor and about what vaccines your baby needs and when.

Source:  Office on Women’s Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services