Your Newborn Baby's First Week: may lose up to 7% of birth weight

 Your new baby will use much of his/her time sleeping during these weeks. This week is referred to as quiet alert because your baby is often just looking around quietly. Normal newborns may lose up to 7% of birth weight in the first few days. Your baby will eventually sleep through the night.

Your Newborn baby will probably look scrunched up for a while, with his/her arms and legs not fully extended. For the first few days after birth, your baby's bowel movement will be sticky and greenish-black. This substance, called meconium, is perfectly normal. 

The first 'little stools' your baby has will likely be black in color. These stools are referred to as meconium. The color of and reliability of your babies stool will change to reproduce the way you have chosen to nourish your baby. If you are breastfeeding your baby his stools are likely to be yellowish in color, and very loose. The color can be from yellowish, to brown, and possibly much firmer, making it seem like your baby is constipated when she/he is trying to have a bowel movement. The frequency of a baby's bowel movement varies from a few times a week, to once a day, or even every diaper change.

Newborn eye color changes over the first couple of months, so you won't really know the true hue till baby is between 6 and 12 months old.

For the first week or two(until the cord stump falls off) a sponge bath is your entire baby needs.

Baby Care of First Week

To give his/her one: 

• Keep the parts of your baby's body you are not washing covered with the towel to keep her warm. 
• Clean the upper eyelids gently with a washcloth soaked in warm water. Remove drainage from the eyes with moistened cotton balls. 
•  Collect your materials: a basin of warm water, mild baby soap, shampoo, a washcloth, cotton balls, and a baby towel 
• Undress the baby, wraps his/her in a towel, and lay him/her on a padded surface. Never take your hands or eyes off him/her
• Wipe the outer part of the ears. 
• For the genital area, gently wipe from front to back. If you have a boy and he's uncircumcised, don't retract his foreskin; a gentle cleaning is sufficient. Do the same for a circumcised penis, and wash under his scrotum. 
• Wash the creases of the neck, arms, and legs 
• Rinse off shampoo by squeezing clean water from a wet washcloth onto your baby's hair while holding his/her securely over the sink. 

       Beware about Newborn Jaundice


Your Baby's First Year: Week by Week
New Born Baby< ### > Next Stage

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