Last night Kurt and I had our last baby class. This one was about newborn care. There wasn’t anything exceptional about this class. It was a good class, but I think it could be skipped. It was pretty basic and the things that I didn’t know prior to taking these classes were actually covered in “feeding your baby” class and the “childbirth preparation” class. About the only things I came away with was how to swaddle the baby snuggly so she doesn’t come undone easily (we actually went over that in another class, but I had already forgotten how) and that it is recommended that NO powders are used on baby. For the powders it’s because most contain talc which has been linked to respiratory problems and even those powers that are corn starch based are not good because they can cause yeast problems.

Now that I think about it there were a couple other things and that’s bathing the baby and care of the cord stump. For bathing in the first month I didn’t know that all you use is water while they adjust to life outside the womb. I didn’t think about the baby’s skin being water logged despite knowing what my sick and twisted little melon headed baby is currently swimming in. Everyday she said to use a wash cloth to wipe each eye, clean each ear (absolutely no q-tips) and wipe the face. Once or twice a week we can bathe baby and the only places we might use soap at first would be on the head and the bottom. At the hospital our departing gifts will include a brush to help with cradle cap. She said that despite the dry skin that babies have while adjusting that we shouldn’t use any lotions or oils and especially not petroleum jelly. I’ve never even heard of putting petroleum jelly on a baby. I would think that would be a given, no? Bath water should be the same as baby’s temperature which should be around 98 to 99 degrees. One interesting tid-bit for me was that baby’s temperature should become normal 48 hours after birth and then if we take baby’s temperature (armpits with a digital thermometer – no more rectal – Yay!) that will be the normal temperature for the rest of her life.

Caring for the umbilical cord stump is just a matter of keeping it dry. She said that if it gets “gunky”, which can happen usually after about five days, just take a q-tip (the absolute only time ever to use a q-tip on baby) and wipe it out. No rubbing alcohol, just a clean q-tip.

I’ve never read the book but I keep hearing about, The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer. I’ve heard that it’s excellent, but if you don’t have the time to read it or don’t want to spend the money I’ve also heard this book can be summed up with the five S’s, “swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging and sucking”. This is apparently what grandmothers have been doing for eons to soothe a crying baby, but this author is making bank on it because it’s now written in a simple list and added the assertion that this is all you need to know and it works 100% of the time. This book was brought up in class and in the “Feeding your baby” class. The nurses teaching the classes say that the five S’s are a great place to start and work most of the time for most babies, but it isn’t the end all list. It was also mentioned that for the “sucking” part that breastfeeding moms should use a “Soothie” instead of regular pacifiers because a “Soothie” forces the baby to use it’s tongue in the same way it would to breastfeed. The other thing that works is your finger, but she said that it’s more likely to soothe if your finger positioned so that it curls upward in baby’s mouth vs. curling down (as in if you were to curl your finger in baby’s mouth the tip of your finger would touch the roof of the mouth instead of the tongue). – Make sure to trim your nails!

Related posts: