Caring for a Newborn

Many know how to care for a newborn, but I had my last baby at home and my midwife gave me a few tips and tricks for caring for a newborn. Here they are:

1. Olive Oil: Use olive oil on the babies bottom each time you change a diaper, this is especially important for the first few days because of the meconium that they are eliminating from their systems. The olive oil keeps the meconium from sticking to their bottoms.
   
2. Alcohol & Cotton balls or Q-tips: We all probably know this one, but doctoring their umbiblical cord stump with alcohol and a cotton ball or Q-tip with each diaper change will help their cord to dry up & fall off faster.
3. Blanket Swaddling: Wrapping your newborn up in a blanket with his/her arms to their sides can help to calm the baby and make them feel secure. It also helps the mother in her attempts to nurse.
4. Colic: If your baby is colicky it could be due to low magnesium levels. Low magnesium levels can cause a great deal of pain from gas or any disturbance in a newborn. If you are nursing, you can simply take extra magnesium or you can give your baby homeopathic colic medicine (liquid or tablets). Vitamin B deficiencies and food allergies could also be possible problems with your baby. You could also try a catnip/fennel tincture--2-3 drops in distilled water--given to your baby; that helped with my last baby.
5. Burping Baby: Have you ever had trouble burping your newborn? My last baby screamed for 3 hours after she nursed right after birth, she needed to burp. I nursed her and nursed her; finally while lying on her right side, she burped and settled down to sleep for the rest of the night. There are many ways to burp a baby, I often try setting them up and placing my hand under their chin while patting them gently on the back. Rocking them back and forth in this same position also helps. But when they start to wiggle, that usually means that they have to burp.
6. Cradle cap: When your baby has cradle cap they have this yellowish scaley skin all over their head. Their are a few treatments for this: olive oil, vitamin E, or baby oil can be rubbed into their scalp; let it soak in for several hours and then brush it out with a soft brush.
7. Increasing Your Milk Supply: A few herbs that can help with your milk supply are: alfalfa, blessed thistle, fenugreek, red raspberry, fennel, and anise. Low milk supply could also be from fatigue or sickness, if so try taking zinc, brewer's yeast, selenium, and vitamin E. Drink plenty of water, 8 ounces in between each feeding is recommended, but you may need more. Low fatty acids can inhibit the milk supply also; flax seed oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil (taking one of these supplements) and walnuts can help to restore the balance.
8. Positioning baby while Breastfeeding: A quote from one of my readers, "For encouraging the milk to come in and for increasing milk supply it has really helped me to use all sorts of different nursing positions. From the traditional cradle hold to the football hold and everything else in between. the reason being that with each new position the baby is sucking from a different angle and the milk ducts get fully opened."~written by Mama at Mama's Thoughts and Questions
   

I am sure that there are many other things that I could include, if you have any additions or ideas, leave me a comment and I will continue to tweak this list until I feel it is complete.