One contest winner for today’s drawing!
You Could Win!
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CONTEST! WIN YOUR FREE COPY!
Enter to win your free copy of Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos
You Could Win!
‘TIS THE SEASON
In the spirit of giving I would like to give away my book to 6 lucky winners in this easy contest. There will be 3 eBooks given for iPad, and 3 eBooks for Kindle. The drawings will be held on the last 3 Sundays in December 2013. Odds of winning this weekend Dec. 15th are high with only a couple of days to enter!
PURPOSE
I have been sharing observations, experience, wisdom, and research about newborn babies, and about the experience of having a newborn. Perhaps I’ve missed some things along the way that are important to you. Here is an opportunity for you to share your newborn concerns, questions, requests for more or new information about newborns and newborn care. You may enter as many times as you like.
RULES
Anyone may enter the contest.
You may enter as many times as you like, a different concern or question per entry.
You may give you winning prize as a gift to someone else.
If you have an iPad, start your contest entry with the word iPad for the Apple version of the book.
If you have a Kindle or Kindle Reading Application, start your contest entry with the word Kindle for the Amazon version of the eBook.
Entries will be numbered consecutively as they appear on the website. All iPad entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list. All Kindle entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list.
Research Randomizer will be used to generate the random winning numbers, one for each group, each week, for a total of 6 winners.
Winners will be posted on Sundays, the day of the drawing.
Each week will start with a new Post to announce the last winner and to request new entries. You may resubmit entries from a prior week, and you may add new entries too.
You will have 2 days to accept your winning eBook. After 11:59 PM on the Tuesday following the Sunday drawing your win will be forfeited if not claimed.
Prizes will be sent via email.
Apple Codes expire 4 weeks after issue.
THAT’S IT!
So jot down all of those questions that have popped into your mind, and go ahead and start entering them here at the end of this blog. Remember to start each entry with iPad or Kindle.
GOOD LUCK!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Note: There were no entries for the first drawing Dec. 15, 2013.
Baby’s Stuffy Nose Keeping You Awake?
Your baby’s stuffy nose may sound really bad.
Sleeping Baby
First Cold
When your baby gets older and has his or her first cold it can be very distressing. It is very difficult as a parent to see your baby suffering from any illness. Here are some tips that may help to guide you.
Behavior
When your baby gets sick the first symptom you will notice is a change in behavior. Perhaps your baby is more quite than usual, more sleepy, or more fussy. You’ll just know that something is not right. Your doctor has learned to pay attention to the expression “something is not right” because it frequently is the best way you can explain what is happening with your baby. And your doctor already knows that a change in behavior is typically the first symptom of illness that usually precedes fever, rash, runny nose, or any other symptoms that may be part of the illness. Your baby’s behavior is also a guide to how sick your baby is as the illness runs its course.
Stuffy Nose
If a stuffy nose is part of your baby’s symptoms, sleep can be difficult. Because your baby’s nasal passages are so tiny, even a small amount of mucus can cause an obstruction that sounds really bad. The first question an advice nurse or doctor will ask you about your baby’s stuffy nose is “Does it keep your baby awake … or does it just keep you awake?” Your answer to that question helps determine treatment, if any, and is also meant to give you reassurance. If your baby is sleeping just fine, even though you can hear that your baby has a stuffy nose, the treatment is to let your baby sleep. Being aware that your baby is sleeping fine despite this symptom will hopefully give you the reassurance you need to go back to sleep too. Rest for both of you is the best help for getting through this difficult time of illness.
When to Call the Doctor
If your baby is less than 3 months old you should call your baby’s doctor when you first suspect that your baby may be sick. There will be an advice nurse to guide you and help you make decisions about care. Fever in this age group is not common, so if fever is noted (a temperature greater than or equal to 100.4 degrees) you must see a doctor as soon as possible.
Information Is Good
Unfortunately science has not been able to eliminate the common cold from the human experience, but hopefully it will be a very long time before your baby does get sick. And hopefully this information will help you manage more confidently, and perhaps give you some measure of reassurance when that time does come.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
http://www.aboutyournewborn.com
Learn Newborn Care Before Your Baby Is Born!
Be safe and confident learning newborn care.
Grab a Bear, a Blanket, a Diaper, and a T-Shirt!
I Want to Help
My passion as a baby nurse is to help you enjoy your newborn baby from the first moments of your new life together, without letting fear of the unknown get in the way. I believe feeling confident in handling and caring for your newborn will help tremendously. I have witnessed this transformation repeatedly in my practice, and I have now figured out a way for you to gain this confidence before your baby is born. Feeling confident in your ability to provide newborn care will allow you to truly enjoy your new baby, starting on Day 1.
Here’s How
Remember how you learned to drive a car? … someone with experience was by your side to keep you safe and give you confidence to try new things. Now, you can learn newborn care the same way. And with this new approach you can practice and perfect your baby-care skills before your baby is born!
Your Virtual Baby Nurse
With today’s technology you can have an experienced baby nurse “by your side” to keep you safe, give you peace of mind, and make learning easy and fun. Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos gives you your personal baby nurse to demonstrate baby care, step by step, through delightful how-to videos embedded into the text. Learning to change a diaper, change clothes, give a bath, trim tiny nails, swaddle your newborn, and more, becomes easier too with the gifts of instant replay and repetition as you watch and learn in the comfort of your home.
Practice Makes Perfect
And like learning to drive, you can practice what you learn too! Grab a 15-inch teddy bear … your newborn baby stand-in … a diaper, a T-shirt, and a blanket. Watch the videos, imitate each step, and practice! … over and over again until you feel good about your new baby-care skills.
Confident and Optimistic
Imagine feeling confident and optimistic when providing baby care from the very first moments with your newborn. This confidence, and peace of mind, will give you the freedom to truly enjoy your newborn baby. So, get this video book, grab a bear, and start practicing today! You’ll be glad you did.
Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos is available for iPad and for Kindle.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
A World of Beautiful People
I believe the future holds a world of beautiful people.
Beauty
Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And beauty can mean different things to different people. But for this particular observation about newborn babies let’s go with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition: “the qualities in a person or a thing that give pleasure to the senses or the mind.”
Observation
As a baby nurse specializing in newborn care I have seen literally thousands of newborn babies. All of them are beautiful in their own way. But, over the years I have made the observation that the newborns of mixed-race parents definitely stand apart in their “qualities … that give pleasure to the senses.” Other baby nurses have shared this same observation, that these babies have something beautiful about them that gets your attention.
The Future
I believe that when we become a world of people without judgement about our differences, that we will become a world full of beautiful people. I believe we will no longer have distinct differences that today keep some of us apart, but rather we will be universally open to the beauty that surrounds us with everyone we meet.
What If
And what if that beauty was not only skin deep. What if the beauty we see on the outside that gives pleasure to our senses, actually goes much deeper and gives pleasure to our mind too. What if the world of the future is full of beautiful people, both inside and out. Imagine the possibilities!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Golden Hour Benefits
The Golden Hour offers benefits for both of you.
Skin to Skin in the Golden Hour
What Is the Golden Hour?
As you may remember from the last post, the term Golden Hour is used to refer to the time immediately after your baby is born when being in close contact with you is beneficial for both of you. Holding your baby skin to skin is one of the most important parts of this practice that allows a myriad of benefits to unfold.
Special Opportunity
Because your newborn has a sustained period of wakefulness in a quiet-alert state, this hour or so after birth presents the perfect opportunity for bonding, imprinting on each other, and learning about each other to occur. Although other shorter periods of wakefulness will present themselves later, the high levels of oxytocin present right after birth play an important role in establishing, and maintaining, this special bond between you and your baby. Oxytocin acts to lower stress levels for both of you, setting the perfect stage for short and long-term benefits to unfold. Oxytocin generates changes in brain chemistry that increase your desire for nurturing, and creates the desire for further contact for both you and your baby. Dads who have significant contact with their newborns also experience a rise in oxytocin that creates this desire for further contact too. All of this bonding activity is beneficial for your new family, and provides long-term benefits for your baby’s overall health and development.
Benefits
Skin to skin contact makes it easier for your newborn to transition from the womb to the outside world. Research has shown that your baby will be able to regulate heart rate and rhythm more easily, will breathe more regularly and easily, and will be able to maintain a warm body temperature more easily when held skin to skin. These three things are the important measurements of your newborn’s stability and vitality. Scientists first made these observations about the power of skin-to-skin contact in the early 1980s when the practice of Kangaroo Care (mothers holding their premature babies skin to skin) in Bogotá, Colombia more than doubled the survival rate for these pre-term babies. We now know skin-to-skin holding is beneficial for all newborn babies.
Skin to skin contact also encourages successful breastfeeding, but especially during this first hour after birth. Your body chemistry during this Golden Hour promotes more successful letdown and latching, allowing breastfeeding to occur more easily. The same hormones that help you push your baby out also help to release the flow of milk for your baby (letdown). The readily available milk makes feeding more interesting for your newborn. The smell of the milk, the instant gratification, and the calm-alert state work together to help your newborn “figure out” a proper latch for sustained and successful feeding. And for your benefit mom, the combination of skin contact and breastfeeding releases hormones which cause the uterus to contract and to stop bleeding, both of which are desirable outcomes after delivery.
Overall
The Golden Hour with your newborn held skin to skin offers many wonderful benefits. My hope for you is that you both get to have the intimate and amazing experience of sharing this first hour of life together.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour and Your Newborn
Dad Helped Too
What Is the Golden Hour?
Golden Hour is a term used in photography, labor and delivery wards, and in war … and it refers to that small window of opportunity when the action taken, or not taken, directly affects the outcome of an event. Acting quickly with practiced and proven expertise, defined by the circumstances of photography, birth before 32 weeks gestation, or a traumatic injury, significantly increases the probability of a positive outcome. Leaving this small window of opportunity, usually about an hour, to fall by the wayside leads to a less than optimal outcome.
For Your Baby Too
Today, as research documents its benefits, it is becoming the norm rather than the exception to capture the Golden Hour following uncomplicated deliveries of healthy newborns. More and more the expectation is that the first hour of your baby’s life will be spent in close contact with you, one of the most important practices of this golden hour concept, so that you and your newborn can enjoy these benefits too. If needed, medical interventions to save or improve your newborn’s life of course are always performed first, and your baby returned to you as quickly as possible.
Communication
If you would like to have this Golden Hour with your newborn you can start the communication process by talking with your OB/GYN. When you check in to the hospital you can talk with the medical personnel who will be taking care of you. Expressing your wishes verbally, using only positive words to describe what you imagine to be the best possible way for this magical hour to unfold, will bring you more success than writing a list of everything you “don’t want” to happen in a Birth Plan. This suggestion has everything to do with Mother Nature, and nothing to do with hospital personnel. Acknowledging and trusting medical expertise, and talking positively about your desire to have this Golden Hour with your baby, will work wonders to help you realize this dream.
Benefits
A lot happens in the first hour of life as your newborn engages in a play of interactions with the new environment. After the initial crying that brings air into the formerly fluid-filled lungs, your baby typically will transition into a calm alert state, a state of being that is proven to be the perfect state for learning to occur. Being skin to skin with you during this quite alert time adds to the benefits your baby receives. The next post will go more deeply into these benefits, but just know that taking advantage of this Golden Hour, if possible, will provide positive, short and long term, benefits for both of you.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
What’s In a Hug?
Hugs are pretty powerful … let’s take a look.
Hugs are Good
Definition
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a hug is “to put your arms around someone especially as a way of showing love or friendship.”
Hopefully you have experienced a hug as defined above, and hopefully you’re fortunate enough to get hugged a lot. And if not, perhaps after reading this you may want to exchange hugs more frequently, every opportunity you get.
Benefits of a Hug
For some insight into the benefits of a hug you can turn to that familiar Kaiser Permanente voice, currently on the radio, talking about hugs as part of their continuing efforts to support you in your quest for health. They say that a hug can lower blood pressure, improve memory, and reduce stress. That’s amazing! And besides that, they say that a hug makes you feel good, and is proven to be good for your overall health. There’s a lot happening when you engage in this simple gesture of wrapping your arms around someone, beyond showing love or friendship.
For Your Baby
So, if a hug is good for you, you can see that a hug is definitely good for your baby too. Perhaps there is no high blood pressure to lower, but hugging your upset or crying baby will definitely reduce some of the stress of the situation, probably for both of you. And sometimes you might, for no reason at all except that you are so filled with love, just give your baby a hug. A gentle little squeeze with your arms that brings your baby even closer and gives your baby an infusion of your love. Who knows? Perhaps hugging does improve your baby’s memory too!
Hugs Are Powerful
Hugs have the power to improve your overall health and make you feel good, I believe, because they offer an infusion of loving energy combined with human touch. Your baby, a little version of you, is capable of receiving this loving energy too, and can experience the benefits of a hug for improved health and happiness.
Hugs, straight from the heart, can only do you … and your baby … good. You’ll see!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN, BSN
Choices that Shape Your Baby’s Future
Research shows how baby care choices shape your baby’s future.
How Will You Choose for Me?
Abundant Research
Perhaps you remember the (linked) post “Intentional Baby Care” that talked about human touch, love, and attention, and the positive, long-term effects of these baby care choices. Here are some other choices you may want to make for your newborn as you think about the person you want your baby to become. In 2013 we have technological advances that make information readily available at the touch of your finger, and we have an abundance of research that only time can make possible. Here is a small sample of what we now know.
“The Primacy of Human Touch”
http://www.benbenjamin.net/pdfs/Issue2.pdf
Ben E. Benjamin, PhD begins by talking about unwanted babies of a hundred years ago in orphanages who died, not from lack of food or lack of clean surroundings, but from lack of touch. When given touch in an outside environment, the babies from these institutions thrived. He goes on to mention that today’s cuddlers (volunteers who hold babies in the hospital) not only help those babies improve physiologically so that they grow and heal faster, but the cuddlers themselves experience “lower anxiety levels, fewer symptoms of depression, and improved self-esteem.” He asks the important question worth exploring: “And what is the connection between physical human contact and virtually every aspect of health and well being?” And after some discussion he makes this observation about newborn babies: “But it does make sense that during this most vulnerable time of our lives we would form patterns and expectations about how the world works, specifically, about how safe and valued we are in the world, through our skin.” Human touch is a powerful force, easy to give to your newborn, that will help shape the person your baby will become.
“Crying Babies: Answering the Call of Infant Cries”
http://www.childcarequarterly.com/fall10_story2a.html
Melodi Faris cites in her article the research of many investigators as she gives us ample documentation to support responding immediately to the call of a baby crying. “Ideally, a caregiver would evaluate the infant’s cries, choose a method of care to ease the infant’s distress, and respond quickly. This process, if consistent, should instill security and trust in the infant.” Security and trust provide the foundation for development of the long-term benefits of “a more balanced self-concept, better language skills, better problem-solving skills, greater conscience development, and more mature and positive interactions,” skills that may influence greater success in life. Many more research findings are presented that will help you explore this choice for your own baby care.
“Books and Babies and Brains! Oh My!”
https://multcolib.org/parents/early-literacy/brain-development
We learn from the “Brain Development” section of the Multnomah County Library that your baby’s brain development is influenced by “simple acts – singing silly songs, talking about colors and textures…., holding and reading….daily” that cause connections in the brain to form. The article goes on to say that “Babies and young children learn best through warm, responsive caregiving. Clear evidence has emerged that suggests that activity, experience, attachment, and stimulation determine the structure of the brain.” This research documents that “warm, responsive caregiving is essential to healthy brain development.”
“Rocking Chair Therapy Research”
http://www.rockingchairtherapy.org/research.html
Champ Land’s article cites many sources of research demonstrating the positive benefits of rocking, not just for babies, but for people of all ages. Rocking is proven to be good for the mind, body, and spirit. Studies in the elderly population have demonstrated that rocking benefits include a decreased need for medication, improved balance, and more happiness for patients and their families. They also noted in these studies that it’s possible to “rock away anxiety and depression.” Other studies found that post-operative and C-section patients recover more quickly with rocking. Perhaps if you have a Cesarean delivery you would also like to know that “rocking mothers had less gas pain, walked faster, and left the hospital one day sooner than non-rocking mothers.”
It’s commonly known that “rocking soothes fussy babies and relaxes mothers.” But did you also know that rocking “stimulates the balance mechanism of the inner ear. It assists an infant’s biological development and ability to be alert and attentive.” Rocking is also proven to enhance the bonding process for mother and baby. And, it has been discovered that, beginning the 10th week of pregnancy, “rocking promotes the development of the fetal nervous system.” It seems that no matter the age or condition, rocking is truly a simple, relaxing, and fun way to enhance the human body.
Your Baby’s Future
Perhaps you have learned, or been reminded of, some things that may influence your baby care choices. You do have the power, as a parent to this little person who came to live with you, to influence your newborn’s overall healthy development as you make choices that will shape your baby’s future.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
A Valuable Tip for the Early Days of Breastfeeding
Here is a tip that may help you in the early days of breastfeeding.
Yawning Baby
Story
As you may remember from one of the stories in the book my son happened to be born in a hospital without rooming in and without any offer of breastfeeding support. When the nurses would bring my baby to me for feeding, they’d leave him in the crib and disappear very quickly. As a first-time mother, prior to my nursing career, I would look at the empty doorway, and look at my baby, and wonder what I was supposed to do. Without any offer to help me I concluded that I should, as a mother now, know how to breastfeed.
Inexperienced
I was so excited to hold my baby and so in awe of him, this tiny person who came to live with me, that I would end up just visiting with him as I got lost in the wonder of it all. He slept (so it seemed to me) on my chest as I explored fingers and toes and got to know him. My inexperienced eye judged him as sleepy rather than hungry. I never managed to feed him while in the hospital even though milk ran down both sides of my body in response to holding him. When the nurse would return to check on me I would say “He’s not really hungry” … and they would let me! They’d whisk him away back to the nursery and, thankfully, feed him a bottle of formula. I was discharged 24 hours after birth, and it never occurred to me that breastfeeding might have some challenges.
From Home to ED
After breastfeeding my baby by connecting baby and breast as best I knew how, my baby developed projectile vomiting. I took him to the Emergency Department to rule out stomach problems. After examining him and viewing the X-ray the doctor was surprised to report that my baby was “90% air!” A few questions about feeding revealed that I needed help with breastfeeding. The ED nurse watched what I was doing and then gave me this valuable tip that I want to share with you.
Valuable Tip
She realized that with my lack of experience I was not waiting for my baby to open his mouth wide enough before trying to latch him for feeding. Consequently he had a poor latch and took in a lot of air with feeding. The nurse suggested I take a good look at how wide his mouth opened when he was crying. I was so surprised at the shape of his mouth! She told me to wait until I saw his mouth open about that wide before trying to connect him for feeding. She guided me to the perfect latch and let me feed him for awhile before leaving. Breastfeeding suddenly became very easy and very rewarding … for both of us. I was able to breastfeed for 14 months, and even today I am so grateful for the help.
Success
Perhaps this little tip will help you when you are first learning about breastfeeding your newborn. A good latch involves a wide-open mouth, and your baby will define “wide open” during crying or yawning. Now we know!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
When Your Baby Needs a Break
Sometimes even your newborn may need to take a break.
So Far, So Good
Activity
Like adults, babies sometimes get overly tired and need a change from the current engaging activity. Perhaps there are a lot of people visiting, or perhaps there is more noise than usual in your new location outside your home, or perhaps brothers and sisters want to keep playing with their new baby but your newborn has already tired of the interactions. These are just some of the times your baby may need a break, but it gives you an idea of things to consider.
Baby Cues
We have addressed some of your baby’s cues in this linked post “Your Baby’s Language,” but I believe this set of baby cues are worth mentioning too because they may be very subtle and easily missed. There are a few ways your newborn will let you know it’s time for a break.
The more subtle cues include turning away from the interaction and breaking eye contact. Looking away may be accompanied by frowning or by having a glazed look. Other need-a-break cues take the form of a raised hand with splayed fingers and palms out … almost like holding up a stop sign, falling asleep, or arching back away from you. If any of these baby cues are missed your newborn may resort to crying to get your attention to let you know something needs to be changed.
You see how these cues may be easily misinterpreted as part of a wide range of behavior. But now that you are aware you might consider the possibility that your baby has grown tired and wants to have a change when you see these cues.
What to Do
When you recognize these baby cues you may honor your baby’s needs by changing the situation. Using the examples above, if there are lots of people visiting, perhaps letting them know your newborn will be disappearing for a nap may give your baby the calm environment needed at that time. If it is unusually noisy where you are, perhaps finding a more quiet place to hang out if possible would be a good change. And if siblings are enthusiastically playing with your newborn, perhaps giving them a new activity that doesn’t include your baby would be a welcome change for awhile. These are simple suggestions that perhaps you would want for yourself if you were overly tired and unable to enjoy the current activities anymore.
In the Beginning
When your newborn is learning to feed, to hold up his or her head, to coordinate movement of arms and legs, and to interact with the environment and with the people in his or her life, it is all work. Inside the womb things like feeding and moving come relatively easy and without effort in a warm, relatively quiet, and comfortable environment. All of that changes very abruptly when your baby is born. So, until muscles develop more, and experiences become more commonplace, your newborn may tire easily.
Knowing
Now that you are aware of these subtle cues your baby may give you when rest, quiet, or a change of activity or environment are needed, you can help your baby more easily. Responding to your baby’s needs is proven to help your newborn develop trust and an optimistic outlook, qualities that will help give your baby the best start in life. Truly life is good when someone cares.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
New Version of Newborn Baby Manual
If you have a copy of this ebook you will be interested to know that an updated version is now available for your added reading and viewing enjoyment.
What’s New
Font change in the videos makes it easier to read captions while keeping your focus on the demonstrations.
List of Baby Care Videos is hyperlinked to give you easy access to any video any time.
“Praise for Newborn Baby Manual” page shares insight into what this book offers from the readers point of view.
Simplified cover art captures the unique feature of embedded videos. All of the “Things You Should Know” are still the same.
Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy the new version of your book. I think you will like the video changes!
D. Fravert, RN
Pacifiers are Good
Pacifiers are good when used to help your baby.
Pacifiers are Good
Learning to Feed
When your baby is in your womb, nutrition is easily provided without requiring your baby to do any work. From the moment your baby is born, everything changes. Outside the womb, your baby suddenly needs to work to get food. This work consists primarily of sucking, swallowing, and breathing. Although it seems to happen spontaneously, your baby needs to learn to coordinate these new feeding activities. Coordinated sucking, swallowing, and breathing prevents choking, makes the food easier to get, and helps your baby conserve energy needed to complete the work of feeding. Most babies learn this quickly and easily.
When Feeding Is Challenging
For some babies feeding can be a little tricky. If your newborn finds feeding to be challenging, using a pacifier as a learning tool is a good way to help. Sucking on a pacifier will help teach your baby to coordinate sucking with breathing, to coordinate swallowing without having to manage a large volume of fluid, and to learn proper tongue placement to help accomplish these important tasks for feeding.
More Sucking
The pacifier is also good for providing sucking time outside of feeding time. It is possible that your baby may want more sucking without necessarily wanting more food. Hunger may be satisfied earlier than sucking, and a pacifier is the perfect tool designed for your baby’s sucking needs. Once satisfied the pacifier usually falls out of your baby’s mouth as your relaxed newborn gives in to sleep.
For Comfort
The most familiar use of a pacifier is to provide comfort to your baby. Most babies are pacified by sucking, ergo the name “pacifier.” Sometimes sucking has the power to calm your fussy baby and to provide the perfect comfort your baby is seeking.
Rejecting the Pacifier
But sometimes your fussy baby may need more than just a pacifier to provide comfort. If your crying baby quickly rejects the pacifier, it’s beneficial for both of you if you respect that rejection and offer some other measures of comfort. Perhaps food, and/or a diaper change, are needed to soothe your baby, and the pacifier of course won’t provide the comfort your baby is seeking. Your baby will let you know.
It’s Your Choice
As with all preferential decisions regarding your new baby, it’s best to gather lots of information and make an informed decision. You’ll be happier with your choice.
As part of information gathering, observe the babies in your world who use pacifiers, as well as the baby in the photo “Pacifiers Are Good.” Make true observations to help you make an informed decision. It’s your choice, for your baby.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Tummy Time
Tummy time is the perfect complement to back to sleep.
Tummy Time is Important
If you practice “back to sleep” for your baby’s safety, you’ll want to practice “tummy time” for your baby’s overall health and development.
Back to Sleep
Positioning your baby on his or her back is the current recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help reduce the chance of your baby having SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. This simple practice has reduced the incidence of SIDS significantly.
But when your baby is lying down on the back it is not possible for your baby to lift the head. In fact this position that provides total support does not allow movement that challenges the neck and upper back muscles. These are the muscles that will help with head control and body mechanics.
Tummy Time
The AAP also recommends tummy time for your baby. The baby in the picture is a few weeks older than your newborn and is demonstrating tummy time very well. Notice the lifted head, the arm and hand positions, and the leg position.
The tummy position places your baby’s arms and legs next to a firm surface (such as a pallet on the floor), which provides resistance during natural movement. Your baby may be a flurry of activity, pushing, pulling, and lifting up with arms, legs, and head. All of these resistance activities will strengthen your baby’s muscles.
Muscle Development
Placing your baby on the tummy for short periods of time when awake helps your baby to develop muscles necessary for both fine and gross motor skills. Development of these muscles will assist your baby with crawling, rolling over, and sitting up. Lifting the head will strengthen the neck and upper back muscles and will assist with head control. Head control plays an active role in helping your baby with eating, sleeping, and general body mechanics.
Have Fun!
Always stay with your baby, and play with your baby, during tummy time. Whether your baby is on a pallet on the floor, across your lap, or leaning forward into your hand, you can help your baby practice tummy time skills. Interacting with your baby makes it fun for both of you.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Just a Note
Hello Everyone,
Just a note to let you know that I am revising my videos to enhance their clarity and your viewing enjoyment.
The videos are now submitted in HD, with improved font that is easier to read.
They also include the appropriate music and copyright credits that need to appear in the stand-alone videos in addition to being in the book.
Thank you for your patience as I make these conversions as quickly as possible.
D. Fravert, RN
Fourth of July Newborn Tips
Happy 4th of July!
Your Happy Newborn
Today is traditionally a time to celebrate with families and friends, with most of us getting together to share food, fun, and fireworks. If you have a newborn, here are some tips for you.
Sharing Your Baby
When you get together with family and friends you can count on everyone wanting to hold your new baby. That’s just the natural response to being in the presence of new life, so tiny and precious. And thank goodness, because babies love to be held. Not only that, but it’s good for them. You’ll find some of the important benefits of holding your baby by clicking this linked post “The Magic of Human Touch.” Sharing your baby, in general, is a good thing for both of you.
Germs
While your baby is still a newborn, that is 28 days old or less, you should make sure that the person who holds your baby washes their hands first. Hand washing is the best way to prevent the spread of germs.
As you probably learned when your baby was born, hand washing is actually recommended for the first two months of life, not only for the first 28 days. And of course, your baby should not be around anyone who is sick.
Peace of Mind
The medical recommendation for taking your newborn out to be with others has two parts to consider.
One, if you are going to be with family and friends, following the above recommendations should be safe for your baby and should give you the peace of mind you desire.
And two, taking your newborn to a public place such as the movies, or the mall, is not recommended until after your baby is two months old. You are not able to know who might be sick when you are out in the general public, therefore it is not worth the risk.
Happy celebrating!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Simple Tool to Guide Your Baby Care Choices
A Tool to Guide You
What would I want if I were you?
I’d like to offer a tool to help you when you are trying to choose the best care for your baby. There are so many choices to make throughout your day. The benefit of this particular tool is that it will help you immensely with every choice you need to make. It’s “simple” because you simply have to ask yourself one question.
Baby Version of the Golden Rule …
It’s the same question every time:
“What would I want if I were you?”
Only the Best
When choosing for your baby, and that’s what baby care is, if you stop and ask yourself this question you automatically consider the care and response you would want. Since it’s natural to want only the best for yourself, no matter the situation, you will automatically be choosing the best for your baby too.
Try It
So, for example, the next time your baby is crying, stop and ask yourself “What would I want if I were you?” You will automatically begin to make a mental list of options based on the circumstances at that moment. Having this awareness to mentally stop and ask will help guide your response and your choice for the baby care you provide.
Even When You Know
This tool not only helps you figure out what your baby wants and needs, but it also influences how you choose to provide your baby care. Even when you know, for instance, that the care your baby needs at that moment is a diaper change, being in this Baby-Golden-Rule frame of mind will help you provide the best possible care. Because you would want nothing less for yourself, it may come automatically to you to provide your baby care with an abundance of love, human touch, and attention.
Now That You’ve Thought About It
Because your baby is totally dependent on you, your days and nights will be filled with many choices you need to make on behalf of your baby. “What would I want if I were you?” is a tool that is yours … forever. It’s the happy-baby choice. You’ll see!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Look Inside Newborn Baby Manual
The Table of Contents
The complete list of Baby Care Videos
The important benefits provided by Newborn Baby Manual
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Table of Contents
Happy Father’s Day!
For all Dad’s everywhere …
A special Father’s Day message just for you!
I hope you enjoy it.
D. Fravert, RN
Music Stock Audio File # 1576249 http://www.istockphoto.com. ©D. Fravert, RN
SF Bay Area Birth and Baby Fair
The SF Birth & Baby Fair is coming!
If you are in the SF Bay Area you might want to check out the Baby Fair! Next weekend, June 22nd, there will be a variety of exhibitors with wonderful things for your baby. Whether your baby is about to be born, recently born, or a few years old, there is sure to be something worthwhile and interesting for you to explore.
Here are some of the things you can expect for this year!
If you do go to the Fair, please stop by to say hello. I will have a booth with a display of my ebook Newborn Baby Manual, and a continuous showing of all of the videos that you will find in the book. I will be happy to answer any questions for you about your newborn. And if you would like to learn about swaddling, I will show you my baby-nurse inside tips for securing a perfect swaddle for your newborn. Perhaps you would like to practice before your baby is born so you can be ready on your first day together.
My friend will have a display of her App, “Out In My Stroller” that is sure to entertain the little ones in your family. She will show you how the flowers jump, the kites fly, and the birds sing, as you make your way across the scenes.
Hope to see you there!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Can We Influence Breastfeeding With a Positive Expectation?
The role our thoughts and expectations play in breastfeeding.
Happy Newborn Happy Mom
When you first know you want a baby in your life, you begin to plan for the best experience for both of you. You realize you have many choices to make, and one of those important choices is how to feed your baby. If you choose breastfeeding, I believe there is something you can do to positively influence your experience. Epigenetics, and my own experience, each convince me that it is possible, and therefore worth sharing.
Epigenetics
There is an interesting article I just discovered about epigenetics. The scientist in me is intrigued by the results of the experiment shared in “Genetics, Epigenetics, and the Mind-Body Connection” by Eric Nelson, posted in the PaloAltoPatch 6/6/13. (Click here)
Essentially the experiment demonstrates that taking identical stem cells (growing in a Petri dish), and dividing them into three different Petri dishes with three different environments causes the originally-identical stem cells to grow into three different things (in this case muscle, bone, and fat). The only change was their environment. I find that amazing!
What It Means for Us
The article goes on to say that the human body is just a Petri dish full of cells (about 50 trillion cells) covered by skin. Like the stem cells in the experiment above, our environment has an influence on us. Everything from what we eat to how we think influences the cells in our body. Think of the possibilities!
My Breastfeeding Experience
Because I’ve loved babies all of my life I started making choices about the baby in my future long before I became pregnant. When I discovered the benefits breastfeeding offers babies, I decided at that moment that I would breastfeed my baby.
It was several years before I had my baby, but my conviction to breastfeed held true. The thought never ever crossed my mind that I could not breastfeed.
My positive thoughts and unwavering conviction about breastfeeding gave me a wonderful experience. I sincerely believe your positive thoughts and beliefs can do the same for you too!
The Future
And now, inspired by the thought that I am a walking Petri dish, I am excited to think about the possibilities!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Your Newborn’s Skin
Your newborn’s skin is interesting.
Picture Perfect
Amniotic Fluid
When your baby is in the womb, the skin is in constant contact with amniotic fluid which is mostly composed of water. Mother Nature provides this fluid layer to act as a cushion to protect your growing baby from injury, to help develop your baby’s lungs, and to provide the space and means for your growing baby to move easily. Being able to move is important because movement helps to promote your baby’s muscle and bone development.
Vernix
Mother Nature also provides a protection for your baby’s skin while living in this fluid environment. That protection is a cheesy-like substance known as vernix. You will see various amounts of vernix on your newborn’s skin, from a little to a lot, depending on when your baby is born.
Peeling Skin
As your baby matures over the first few days to weeks you may notice the skin peeling on your baby’s lips, hands, and feet. If your baby is born after your due date, your baby may have peeling skin at birth. The skin after peeling will be soft and smooth. This process is normal as part of the transition from the fluid environment of the womb to the air environment outside the womb. No lotions or creams should be used on your baby during this time as they will interfere with this natural shedding of the top layer of skin. Soon all of the peeling skin will be gone and your newborn’s skin will be soft and smooth.
Lanugo
If your baby is born early you may see a fine downy layer of hair on the ears, the temples, the forehead, and the back. This abundance of hair is known as lanugo. Lanugo begins to fall out while your baby is still in the womb, and it will continue to disappear on its own after your baby is born.
Milia
It is very common for your newborn’s skin to develop little white spots that are known as milia. These tiny spots are usually found on the nose and face. Milia are formed by dead skin cells that do not slough off (due to a still developing oil gland system) and the cells get trapped in tiny pockets in the skin. These tiny white spots are harmless and will go away on their own within a few weeks.
Baby Acne
Baby acne is another possibility for your newborn’s skin experience. Small pink to red spots may appear in patches or alone, usually on your baby’s cheeks, chin, and forehead. This rash is thought to be caused by the hormones your baby is exposed to in the last trimester of your pregnancy. Baby acne may last for a few months. The best treatment is none at all. Just continue your usual face washing routine, using warm water only, and your baby’s skin should clear up on its own.
Picture Perfect
So you see, your newborn’s skin may be very different than picture perfect. All of these skin conditions are normal, and come and go on their own.
With or without vernix, peeling skin, lanugo, milia, or baby acne, your newborn’s skin is perfect. With peace of mind you can embrace all of these events as a natural part of the adventure of being a newborn.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Tips About Your Newborn’s Head
The shape of your newborn’s head may surprise you!
A Few Hours Old
At Birth
When your baby is first born you may notice the shape of your newborn’s head is not what you expected. In all of the pictures you see, newborn babies have perfectly rounded heads that imitate the natural shape of humans. But when they hand you your newborn for the first time, your baby’s head may have a noticeable ridge along the top of the head, or the head may be markedly oval and not rounded at all. No worries. These unusual appearances are temporary, and not uncommon.
By Design
By perfect design, your baby is born with the bones of the skull separated into primarily five plates that are held together by fibrous membranes. This design accommodates both you and your baby during delivery to allow for safe passage through the birth canal. These separated plates also accommodate the rapid growth of your baby’s brain during the first year of life.
The First Week
Because of these shifting plates, your baby’s head may also assume a variety of unusual shapes during the first week of life. These changing head shapes are caused by the position of your baby’s head at rest, and usually create a noticeably flat area on the side in contact with the sleeping surface. To help return your newborn’s head to a more natural shape, you can gently rotate your sleeping baby’s head so that the pressure of the mattress, or your shoulder, is on the opposite side. Changing the position of the head as needed will help it become more naturally rounded over time. Your back-to-sleep baby may just turn the head back to midline after your attempt to rotate the head to one side or the other, but it’s worth the try.
Babywearing Helps
Holding your baby or having your newborn in a soft cloth carrier will help to keep your baby’s head more rounded too. Because your baby’s head will not be pushing against a plastic carrier, or against a firm mattress for sleep on some occasions, wearing your baby will help to maintain a nicely rounded head.
The Future
Just for fun, notice the adults you encounter in life and the shapes of their heads. It will be easy to appreciate a nicely shaped head for your baby. And, your grown-up baby will be very grateful for a nicely shaped head that can sport any hairstyle, even the currently popular shaved look for men or the partially shaved styles for young women.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Talking to Your Newborn Increases IQ!
Talk to your newborn and raise your baby’s IQ
Your Voice and Your Attention Are Powerful
Perhaps it comes naturally for you to talk to your newborn baby about most anything that crosses your mind. Or, perhaps you have never really thought about talking to a person who cannot yet hold a conversation with you. You might be surprised to learn how important it is to simply talk to your baby … a lot!
Reading versus Talking
You are already aware that reading to your baby helps your baby differentiate the sounds of words and the intonation of your language, making it easier for your baby to imitate language when needed. But, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), not only is reading to your baby highly beneficial, but the less formal times of sharing everyday “conversations” with your baby are very important too. You can enhance your baby’s brain development and have a smarter baby just by talking to your baby. That’s amazing. Learn more about the AAP’s findings in their article
“The Secret to a Smarter Baby”
There’s More
Recently a friend shared another interesting article that documents the research supporting the importance of talking to your newborn. Apparently the continuous monologue that you can have with your baby … What shall we wear today? Do you like the yellow one or the red one? Ok, the red one it is! … is extremely important and has the power to increase your baby’s IQ. According to Tina Rosenberg in this new article
“The Power of Talking to Your Baby”
(based on the research of Hart and Risley, University of Kansas, 1995) “the greater the number of words children heard from their parents or caregivers before they were 3, the higher their IQ and the better they did in school. TV talk not only didn’t help, it was detrimental.” Simple, direct, and remarkable.
More is More
So in this new article, it is emphasized that the more words your baby hears, the greater the increase in your baby’s IQ. This seems like such a simple thing to do … yet it has such a profound impact. Now you (and everyone you share this information with) can intentionally help your baby have a more positive outcome in life. Being smart has its advantages … for a lifetime.
Your Attention
The last line of Rosenberg’s comment is valuable because hearing your words, not those of any TV program, are the language and sounds that make a difference. I believe this significant difference is influenced by the attention that goes along with the words you share with your baby. Paying attention to your newborn while sharing the events of the day in a streamed monologue is a very easy way to give your baby the best start in life. Your words and attention are very powerful.
Give your newborn a brighter future by talking to your baby as often as you can.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Will You Be Helping Someone Through Labor?
Here is a guide to help you prepare.
Deliver! —A concise guide to helping the woman you love through labor by Julie Dubrouillet and Simon Firth.
Deliver! is an easy read, detailing how you as the supportive Dad (partner, friend, grandparent …) can offer the most productive help throughout the labor process. As labor conditions change, the help you offer will change too.
Gentle guidance is the theme of this book, giving you plenty of room to experiment and modify the support you offer. You will be expertly guided to discover what works best for the two of you, while helping you to create very special memories you’ll share for a lifetime.
As stated in Deliver! “Women who feel they were taken care of, respected and listened to, will typically look back at labor as a positive experience.”
If you’ve been wondering how you can be supportive and involved in this wonderful adventure you’re about to experience, you will find the encouragement and guidance you desire in Deliver!
For more information go to their website
http://www.deliverbooks.wordpress.com.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Happy Mother’s Day!
Here’s a special Mother’s Day message for you.
If you have a newborn in your life … past, present, or future … this is for you.
I hope you enjoy it.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Music “Tomorrow’s Child” Kevin MacLeod http://www.incompetech.com. ©D. Fravert, RN.
First Time Holding Your Newborn
Holding your newborn baby is both exciting and scary.
Holding Your Newborn
The First Time
When you are handed your newborn baby for the first time your heart races as you tentatively reach out to encompass the tiniest person you have ever seen! It is so exciting! Immediately you are cautioning yourself to be very careful, to support the head, and to somehow manage all of those floppy parts in unison to make holding more comfortable for both of you. You are grateful when the nurse swaddles your baby in a blanket. With everything contained you can now relax and enjoy your new baby.
Perhaps This Will Help
There is an easy and delightful trick that will help you learn to hold your newborn with confidence. Try holding your baby without a blanket!
To make this time together more enjoyable for your baby, make sure your hands are warm, and the room is warm too. For your peace of mind, make sure you are seated in the middle of a bed so there’s no chance of dropping your baby.
Start by unwrapping your newborn, placing your baby in a sitting position in your lap, then using both hands to support your baby’s body, neck, and head. As your baby uses arms and legs to try to maintain balance, your gentle support will help your baby gain control. You will learn together during this symphony of checks and balances.
Start Slowly
Although you will find it delightful to discover your newborn this way, try it for just a few minutes at a time because your baby, like you, will be working hard to gain control and coordination. Learning to manage all of those newborn baby parts is work … for both of you
I hope you enjoy these special, tender moments learning about your newborn.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Video: If you would like to see how this little trick actually works, and build your confidence before you start, you’ll see how 3 week old Vanessa responds to being held this way in “Holding Your Newborn” in Newborn Baby Manual. I think you will like it.
Ease Your Fears About Having a Newborn
Is it possible to ease your fears about having a newborn?
Newborn Care
I believe … yes, it is.
Experience Is a Good Teacher
My own experience as a baby nurse allowed me to observe first hand that new parents’ fears were easily quelled and quickly changed to confidence with a newborn care professional by their side. Without fail, demonstrating baby care and sharing tips to make life easier worked miracles for new parents, and for their newborns. With just a little help, happy babies were fed, burped, changed, swaddled, and cuddled with confidence and with ease.
The experience of trying to provide hands-on newborn care for the first few times with a baby professional by their side made all of the difference in the world. Professional support quickly changed fear to confidence and allowed new parents to enjoy having a newborn.
Now You Can Have This Experience Too
Wanting to help ease your fears too by offering this same support to you, and to new parents everywhere, is what prompted the creation of Newborn Baby Manual—Tips & Videos. You can now have a baby nurse by your side 24/7 to provide visual demonstrations of baby care (videos) and share professional tips to make your new life easier.
Repetition
Repetition is the perfect way to learn most anything in life. This guide to newborn care provides that gift of repetition.
You now have the opportunity to learn the important basics of newborn care, even before your baby arrives. Learning tips and techniques in advance can help take the guess work and trial and error out of this new experience ahead of you.
And, having video demonstration at your fingertips can give you the opportunity to reference “Changing Your Baby’s Diaper” for instance, as needed, once you are home alone with your newborn.
Knowing What to Expect
Newborn Baby Manual also provides important information about the first 30 days with your newborn. Learning about your baby’s cues, the perfect design of baby sleep, feeding your baby whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, positively influencing your baby’s body and brain development, and the wonderful benefits your baby care choices can provide, etc. will also help build your confidence about newborn care.
Conversations about these topics happen spontaneously at the bedside when new parents are learning to care for their newborns. Now you can have these same “conversations” before your baby is even born. Having most of your questions answered in advance will help you know what to expect.
Ease Your Fears
Knowing what to expect will ease your fears.
Understanding your newborn will ease your fears.
Practicing newborn care tips and techniques will ease your fears.
The Unknown
There is always the element of the unknown that is part of any new experience … and with it may come a fear of the unknown. But, I believe that the support provided in Newborn Baby Manual will ease your fear of having a newborn, and will allow you to truly enjoy this new experience, starting on Day 1.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Babies are Smart!
Perhaps you have already noticed … your baby is smart!
Rooting: The Hungry Baby Cue
Even your newborn gets this praise. Babies, from Day 1 of life, are smart. They are born with a way of “talking” to us that doesn’t necessarily involve crying. Many of us think of crying as the only way babies have to let us know what they need, but that’s not true.
Body-Language Cues
Actually, your baby is born with a set of body-language cues that let you know, way before the crying starts, what your baby needs. Let’s take a look at hunger. When your baby is hungry you need to know, right? It’s good for ensuring the survival of the human race.
Rooting
So, Mother Nature gave your baby a few cues to let you know. At first, your baby may use the body-language cue known as rooting. Rooting is a combination of sucking on fingers or fists, flailing hands, and turning the head as if looking for something. These body gestures alone are reliable signals to let you know your baby is hungry.
An earlier post “How Do I Know If My Baby Is Hungry?” offers a video demonstration of rooting.
Crying Out
But if you are not able to respond right away to these signals, perhaps you are in the middle of changing your baby’s diaper, your baby will let you know in other ways that food is the number one request at that moment, not a diaper change.
So, to get your attention, and to resend the message more clearly, your baby will add short bursts of crying out … loud, but short, bursts of sound that get your attention … while still signaling with sucking on fists, flailing hands, and head turning.
Fussy-Baby Talk
If the short calls for help aren’t getting the food any faster, your baby will add fussy-baby talk to the mix. This is more like crying, but not full-on crying because your baby is still trying to signal you with the body-language cues too. That’s a lot of work to get your attention!
Full-On Crying
If the diaper change is taking longer than usual, and feeding is delayed, the only tool your baby has left is full-on crying.
It Gets Better
As you learn to recognize the early hunger cues sooner, and as changing a diaper becomes smoother and faster, your baby will be fed before full-on crying is needed. With consistent reliable baby care, your baby will also become more patient with the diaper change when hungry, knowing from experience that the routine is followed by a feeding.
Perhaps you’ve already noticed how smart your baby is, having experienced this scenario many times throughout your day. And, if your baby is yet to be delivered, you now know how smart your newborn is, and can look forward to the adventure of learning together.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Your Baby’s Language
Yes … your baby has a language!
Baby Talk
Your baby’s language is composed of coos, cries, and body gestures universal to all babies, no matter where you are in the world. This means that your baby can “talk” to you in a language you can learn and understand.
Coos
When your baby is happy you may hear coos and babble, particularly if you initiate the “conversation” and engage your baby. Your happy, awake, newborn is capable of being engaged and paying attention. You should try it!
Cries
Crying is the sound your baby makes when something is wrong. Since your baby cannot right the wrong alone, your baby is “asking you” for help. Not only that, but your baby makes different crying sounds in response to the different things that could be wrong. The pain cry, familiar to all of us because it sounds the same no matter the age, sounds different than the hunger cry, or the discomfort cry. You will easily learn to recognize the differences as you pay attention to your baby. The gift of repetition will enhance your learning too!
Body Gestures
Your baby also has a set of body gestures, or cues, that help you understand what your baby wants and needs. These cues usually precede crying. Learning to recognize your baby’s body language cues will help you offer food, comfort, a dry diaper, or soothing care for sleep without the need for your baby to cry. Frequent holding, wearing your baby, staring at your little miracle of life, and paying attention to your newborn’s behavior will help you learn everything you need.
For Example
One body language cue that you will quickly learn to recognize in your newborn is the rooting cue demonstrated by two-week old Vanessa in the earlier post
“How Do I Know If My Newborn Is Hungry?”
Rooting tells you your baby is hungry … and can happen any time!
Learning your baby’s language is not as difficult as it sounds. Your baby is a good teacher. And, as mentioned above, the gift of repetition is very helpful. It’s so rewarding when you figure it out … and I have no doubt that you will!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
How to Wake a Sleeping Baby
You might ask, “Why would I want to wake my sleeping baby?”
Talk to Your Sleeping Baby
Wake My Baby?
The most common example of when you will need to interact with your sleeping baby is when you have arrived at your destination and your baby has fallen asleep in the car seat.
Wake Without Startling
There is an easy tip that will help your baby wake without being startled. A startled baby usually cries. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Works Like Magic
From the first time you take your newborn out of a car seat you can make the transition easy for both of you. The seemingly magic tip is to start talking to your baby before you touch your baby. A baby in light sleep will hear your voice before coming awake. Your familiar voice, and the calm way you are speaking to your baby, will both be very reassuring. It just takes a second or two of hearing your voice to reach your baby’s awareness. That awareness of your presence is reassuring, and your baby can be unfastened and picked up with ease.
Does Cell Phone Talking Count?
The sound of your voice seems to make a difference in the response you get from your baby. When you actually talk to your baby, your voice is more intimate, and the focus is on your baby. Talking on a cell phone will still be your voice, but who knows what the tone of the conversation might be. Your baby has no reason to respond to a conversation you are having with someone else. So, for an easier and happier life for both of you, simply talk to your baby. “Here we are SweetPea” may be all the magic you need.
Staying Asleep
As your baby becomes used to this reassuring routine you will sometimes be able to make the transition from car seat to front-pack carrier while your baby stays asleep. This usually happens when your baby is in deep sleep. Once transferred your baby should settle easily in the carrier, snuggled safe and warm next to you, and return to blissful sleep.
Happy Baby
Any time you need to interact with your sleeping baby you will have a happier baby if you talk to your baby before touching your baby. It’s one of the easier baby care practices that gives you lots of happy returns.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Tips for Scheduling Your Newborn’s First Appointment
Perhaps this inside information will be helpful for scheduling your baby’s first visit with the doctor.
Day of Discharge – Going Home
Magic Words
When you call the doctor’s office to schedule your baby’s first appointment, mention that your newborn was just released from the hospital. These are magic words. Baby doctors routinely allow special appointments in their schedules to be set aside for newborns. You should be able to easily schedule an appointment for your baby.
Special Waiting Room Area
When you make your baby’s first appointment, also ask if there’s a special place in the waiting room for parents with newborns—away from the patients who are sick. Most clinics offer this option, or will try to room you and your newborn right away after check-in. Just ask.
Timing for First Visit
If your baby’s doctor examines your baby on the day of discharge (the day you take your baby home) from the hospital, the usual appointment time for that first visit is 2 weeks after discharge.
If your baby’s doctor does not have privileges where you deliver your baby and is not able to examine your newborn, then the first visit will be 1-2 days after you take your baby home. Since your baby’s doctor has never seen your baby, the visit is scheduled right away.
Now you can anticipate your new baby’s first appointment feeling a little more relaxed.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Can’t Stop Staring at Your Newborn?
The natural response to newborn babies is to stop and stare in wonder.
Your Captivating Newborn
Whether your newborn is asleep or awake you’ll find you can hardly take your eyes off of your new baby. You’ll catch yourself staring at your newborn for long stretches of time without even realizing it. Your new baby is captivating, and rightly so! Perhaps this natural response serves a purpose, another clever design by Mother Nature.
Perhaps this purpose, other than the sheer pleasure it gives you, is to help you learn your baby’s cues. Recognizing body-language cues will help you learn about your baby. Being able to “read” your baby’s behavior will help you know what your baby wants and will be very beneficial time and time again.
One baby cue that you’ve probably already discovered is the body-language cue called rooting.
Rooting consists of head turning to the side with mouth open as if “looking for something,” flailing hands, and an effort to suck on those flailing hands as coordination allows.
Rooting is an early cue (before crying) that “tells you” your baby is hungry.
Staring at your baby comes naturally. And learning your baby’s cues can come naturally to you too.
With the gift of repetition, and the unique message attached to each baby cue, you’ll soon be able to say … “When my baby does this ____it means this ____.”
So enjoy staring at your baby, as often as you can. It’s good for both of you.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Tips for Happy Bathing: Part II
Another important tip: Gather supplies first!
Safe, Hands-Free Bath Area and Supplies
Supplies
Here is a screen shot of the supplies used in the video Sponge Bath. Having all of the supplies you need at your fingertips allows you to work easily and confidently, and helps you keep your baby warm. A warm baby is a happy baby, and keeps bath time fun!
Build a Pallet
Fold a baby towel (or absorbent baby blanket) so that it’s ready to use for swaddling your clean baby at the end of the bath (before the hair wash) and cover it with a waterproof pad to keep it dry during bathing. You can see a small part of the green pad in the picture, and of course the baby towel is protected and hidden.
Fold one adult bath towel and place it on top of the pad to provide the soft and absorbent area where your baby will lie during bathing. Be sure to leave room on the waterproof pad to place used wet washcloths. Your pallet is complete!
Towel for Baby
You will need a small towel for covering and drying your baby during the bath.
Baby Soap
Any baby soap you choose for hair and body is good. You can get baby shampoo and baby body soap separately, or purchase a combined head-to-toe baby soap. The choice is yours.
Baby Washcloths
Baby washcloths are gentle on your newborn’s skin because they are softer. You will need 6-8 of them for each bath so that you can just grab a new cloth for every step (wash/rinse/wash/rinse etc.) and not worry about trying to get the soap out of the washcloth for rinsing. This method will remove more soap from your baby’s skin and will keep your basin of water relatively clean for more effective rinsing.
Diapers and Wipes
Have 2 diapers ready, the extra one is just in case. Baby wipes should be used to clean a dirty baby bottom. You will wash this wiped-clean bottom with baby soap and water during the bath. Keeping baby stool out of your bath water is a measure of safety.
Change of Clothes
Clean clothes picked out and at your fingertips make it easy for you to dress your baby right away. You guessed it … getting dressed will help keep your baby warm too, the key ingredient for happy bathing.
Basin of Water
For your baby’s comfort consider preparing the warm water last, just prior to getting your baby. Warm bath water is essential.
Warm Room
Because it’s worthy of repetition, your baby will be happier if you set up the bath in a warm spot in your home. It just might be the kitchen!
Once you know how to do the sponge bath the tub bath comes easily.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The video demonstration for a newborn sponge bath is available in Newborn Baby Manual.
Tips for Happy Bathing: Part I
Bath time can be a fun part of baby care, for both of you.
One Towel is Safe for Bathing
Two keys to happy and safe bath times are warmth and hands-free bathing.
Warmth
Warmth applies to the room temperature as well as to the water temperature. The warmth of the room, and the warmth of the water, help your baby to relax and enjoy this new experience. When giving your newborn a sponge bath you may set up a bathing area in any warm room. It might even be the kitchen!
Hands-Free Bathing
Whether sponge bathing or tub bathing, you’ll need two hands free to safely manipulate your baby’s soapy, slippery arms, legs, and body. Safe means your newborn is protected from falling or drowning, without requiring you to hold on to your baby during the bath. This safe bath area allows you to have both hands free to safely wash and rinse your baby. Safe, as you know, also means never leaving your baby unattended during bathing.
Sponge Bath
The newborn in the picture is sleeping on a pallet of towels much too high for safe bathing, but perfect for an adorable picture. For your newborn’s sponge bath, one folded adult bath towel should be sufficient to provide the desired softness and absorption, as well as give you a safe area for hands-free bathing. Keeping bath supplies close to the towel pallet allows you to work easily and quickly, helping to keep your baby warm.
Tub Bathing
Currently the common guideline for when your baby can be placed in water that covers the abdomen, is after your baby’s cord has fallen off and the skin has healed completely. Using a baby bathtub may be a great way to make this transition easily. There are a variety of colorful tubs to choose from, offering a variety of options for your baby’s safety and comfort.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
“Sponge Bath” Video: You will be able to see a demonstration of safe and hands-free bathing, and a happy newborn Baby Vanessa, in Newborn Baby Manual.
New Baby New Emotions
Having a new baby awakens new emotions.
That First Night
Emotions
Although everyone’s experience is different, most every new mother feels her emotions are overwhelming at some time in the days to weeks following childbirth. A combination of hormones, fatigue, and the desire to do your best with the little experience you have as a first time mom all play together and can throw your life out of proportion at times. Just knowing this common experience is both normal and possible may be helpful for you. Here are some examples.
Responsibility
That first night after giving birth, as you realize there is no going back, an overwhelming sense of responsibility may engulf you. Your life has changed dramatically. Not that you really want to go back to the way things were, but the “24-hourness” of having a baby is no longer a general concept, but is now your reality. Suddenly you have a tiny person totally dependent on you. It can feel overwhelming.
Let Them Help
This overwhelming sense of responsibility may make you feel that you alone must do the work of caring for your baby. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. You may have family and friends willing to help you. They know they will never change as many diapers as you will during your baby’s diaper stage, and a few now and then are just part of sharing your baby. Letting someone help you requires trust, and the person who helps is aware of the gift.
Inconvenience
Your overwhelming emotions may make you feel that your baby somehow is an inconvenience to others around you, particularly when your newborn is unhappy and letting everyone know. I assure you that those around you choose you and your baby and delight in the time together no matter what. Your baby is just being a baby, not an inconvenience, something your family and friends (whose emotions are not running rampant) already know.
It Gets Better
Taking the moments as they come, and giving your best in those moments, will help you through these emotional times. And, when the opportunity presents itself, letting someone help you will be beneficial for all three of you. As you become more experienced, and as your helpers prove trustworthy, you will be able to feel more relaxed, and not so easily overwhelmed, allowing you to truly enjoy this new adventure. Little by little, it gets better.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
When Babies Rock
Rock your baby … every chance you get.
Rock On
It seems that Mother Nature has given us a natural response to rock back and forth when holding a fussy baby. And, sometimes you’ll even find yourself rocking back and forth, without even thinking about it, when your happy baby is in your arms. This natural movement is soothing to your baby, and relaxing for you. But there is a lot more going on than just settling a fussy baby. Thank you Mother Nature!
You may be surprised to learn that rocking provides benefits for your baby, and for you too! Thank goodness for rocking chairs. This simple invention makes it easy to rock in comfort, for longer periods of time, enabling you to indulge in these benefits.
Developmental Benefits
Rocking gently challenges your baby’s balance and equilibrium and improves coordination, head control, and motor development.
Rocking motion stimulates your baby’s internal balance mechanisms helping the muscles, eyes, and brain work in harmony. Studies have shown that your baby will have better head control and will sit, stand, and smile earlier when rocked.
Healthy Emotional Benefits
Rocking enhances your special bond with your baby. Something happens, almost like magic, when you sit quietly rocking your baby that makes the experience truly wonderful, even in the middle of the night.
Rocking is not only soothing for your baby, but feels very relaxing for you too. Because of these pleasurable benefits you might try to plan, or steal, these rocking moments as often as possible.
Rocking makes you feel good.
Enhances Feeding
Rocking during feeding, breast or bottle, improves sucking and coordination and makes feeding more successful.
Feeding your baby in a rocking chair is comforting for both of you, making feeding more enjoyable.
Promotes Sleep
After giving your baby a warm bath, settle into a rocking chair and prepare yourself for quiet time. These precious moments with your baby create memories for a lifetime. You’ll see.
Other Benefits
There are many remarkable benefits to be gained by rocking that perhaps will enhance other areas of your life. I want to share them with you because they are so impressive. In this article by Champ Land you’ll get additional information and the research behind the developmental benefits of rocking mentioned above. And you’ll also discover other valuable life-enhancing benefits for all ages.
“Rocking Chair Therapy Research”
Rock as if it improves quality of life … because it does!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Dressing Your Newborn: How Many Layers?
Deciding how to dress your newborn can be challenging at first.
How to Know if Your Baby is Warm
How Many Layers?
There is a simple rule of thumb that you may find extremely helpful when wondering how many layers to put on your baby. That rule is, put one more layer of clothing on your baby than you put on yourself. For example, if you need long sleeves and long pants to stay comfortably warm, your baby needs long sleeves, long pants, and a sweater or blanket.
A Word of Caution
If you’re a new mom, you might want to use someone else as your guide to comfortable warmth. Some new moms experience an increase in body temperature for awhile after birth related to their pregnancy hormones. You may be warm in a tank top in the middle of winter!
How Do I Know If My Baby Is Warm?
The one-more-layer rule of thumb is a baseline guide. To be sure your baby is warm you can touch the back of your baby’s neck. If the skin is warm and dry, your baby is dressed perfectly. Yay!
If the skin is warm, but damp, your baby is too warm. When this happens the clothing next to your baby’s skin gets damp too. Therefore you should change all of your baby’s clothes and eliminate one layer of clothing or blanket.
Finally, if you touch the back of your baby’s neck and the skin feels cool, you should add a blanket or another layer of clothing, including a hat and socks.
Temperature Check
Anytime you use this quick check for warmth and your baby feels too warm or too cool you are advised to do a follow-up check with a thermometer. Your baby may be just fine, but you need to know.
AAP Guidelines
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a temperature above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C) or below 97 degrees F (36.1 degrees C) may be of concern and requires a call to your baby’s doctor.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Tips for Changing Baby’s Clothes
Here are a few tips for changing your baby’s clothes to make it easier for both of you.
Changing Baby’s Clothes
Two Hands Are Better Than One
If your baby is lying down while you’re changing the clothes, not only will you have both hands free for manipulating arms into sleeves for instance, but your baby will be safer in the process.
Change the Diaper First
It’s smart to change the diaper first. Putting clean clothes on your baby when the diaper is dirty is definitely tempting Fate. It’s usually when you’re running late that whatever mess is in that dirty diaper escapes onto the clean clothes before you get to the diaper change. That puts you back to where you started … changing your baby’s clothes. This tip will save you time, laundry, and frustration.
Make a Big Hole
When dressing your baby in clothing that goes over the head, here’s a tip that protects your baby’s face and ears. First gather the clothing in a ring so that it makes a big hole formed by the neckline and the bottom opening gathered close together.
Slip the clothing over your baby’s head by putting the ring under the back of the head first, then slip the large opening over your baby’s face, clearing the face and ears.
Taking clothing off over the head is just the opposite. First take your baby’s arms out of the clothing, one at a time, and gather the clothing around your baby’s neckline. Make a big hole to first clear the face and ears. Then gently lift your baby to remove the clothing from the back of the head.
This tip will make dressing and undressing your newborn, your baby, your toddler, and child much easier for you and more comfortable for your baby.
Socks Are Really Good
Warmth is vital to maintaining your newborn baby’s health. Warm feet help to warm your baby to the core. Socks provide an extra level of comfort that promotes sleeping, feeding, and all of the things your baby needs to do to grow and thrive. Socks are really good.
How Many Layers
The Post “Dressing Your Newborn: How Many Layers?” (click here) will provide tips to help you know if your baby is warm enough, and tips to help you figure out the number of layers your baby needs.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Watch 5-week old Baby Vanessa in a video demonstration of these tips in the ebook Newborn Baby Manual.
The Magic of Attention
Paying attention to your newborn makes baby care magic.
Attention is Magic
This mom is showering her newborn with undivided attention … and her newborn is paying attention right back. They both are offering human touch to focus even more intently.
Interacting with your newborn with your full attention sends an important message to your baby.
Attention teaches your newborn to trust in you. Trust is the foundation from which independence, self-confidence, and optimism develop.
Attention allows you to provide consistent, reliable baby care … the care that is proven to promote overall healthy development.
The simple act of paying attention to your baby lays the foundation for success in your newborn’s future … like magic.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Magic of Love
Love makes baby care magic.
The Magic of Love
Love is the primary building block that permeates intentional baby care. As you remember, intentional baby care is the phenomenal care you give to your newborn (or baby or child) when you intentionally fill your care with attention, love, and human touch.
Love has a powerful influence on the person receiving the love … no matter the age …like magic.
Love is the bridge between you and your newborn that allows the magic to happen.
Confidence, trust, and self-worth develop in your newborn in the presence of love.
Love makes baby care easier and more fun … for both of you.
Love expands within you when you give it away.
Loving baby care makes both of you happy.
You can choose intentional baby care … and watch an amazing human being unfold.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Magic of Human Touch
Human Touch Makes Baby Care Magic
Human Touch Creates Magic
Holding your baby, wearing your baby, stroking your baby’s downy head and tender skin are ways you can provide loving human touch in your baby care.
Intentionally touching your baby is beneficial for your baby because it promotes healthy growth and development, both mentally and physically.
When you provide abundant human touch for your newborn you are giving your baby the long-term gifts of:
self-confidence
independence (less clingy)
healthy emotional development (less aggressive behavior)
healthy body development (newborns held skin to skin regulate breathing and heart rate better, maintain normal body temperature better, and have fewer infections)
Abundant human touch in baby care is proven to have a positive influence … like magic.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Magic in Baby Care
Because it’s Christmas, and because I’m a baby nurse, I found myself thinking about the baby care that Baby Jesus received.
Without strollers, car seats, and separate bedrooms, Baby Jesus must have been held a lot. Holding provides an abundance of human touch and attention. And we know from history that Baby Jesus was loved and adored.
Here is a video created to celebrate this very special baby care and the magic it holds for all newborn babies … for all time.
Unleash the magic in baby care with human touch, attention, and love.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Music Stock Audio File # 1576249 http://www.istockphoto.com. ©D Fravert, RN.
Nipple Confusion: A Misnomer
It is my observation as a baby nurse that “nipple confusion” is not what it seems.
No Nipple Confusion
Bottle versus Breast
When you introduce a bottle to a baby who is learning to breastfeed, some babies do refuse to nurse at the breast again … temporarily. This is what lactation consultants call “nipple confusion.” But I believe your baby is not “confused” but is simply choosing the path of least resistance.
By comparison, at the very beginning of feeding it’s easier for your newborn to get milk from a bottle than from your breast. Milk from a bottle flows easily and immediately. Milk from your breast requires some sucking without reward until letdown (release of milk from the glands) allows the milk to flow easily. Your baby made a discovery, and wants the path of least resistance. There is no confusion about it.
No worries.
Helping Your Baby
Knowing this may happen, there are some things you can do to help your baby transition from bottle back to breast.
You may express some milk with your hand or a pump to stimulate letdown and get the flow of milk started before you put your baby to breast. This readily available milk makes it easier for your baby to get instant gratification without too much work.
You may also leave some expressed milk on your nipple to give your baby the smell and taste that promotes a good latch (that is, a wide-open mouth as full of mom as possible) that will help your baby get the milk more easily.
You might also try putting your baby to breast before fully awake, letting natural sucking cues take over while your baby is still sleepy.
Both Ways
After successfully feeding with a bottle, and returning successfully to feed at the breast, your baby should be able to switch between the two methods of feeding as needed. It just may take a little patience and understanding.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Benefits of Breastfeeding
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health article “Why Breastfeeding Is Important” breastfeeding is not only beneficial for your baby, but as you will soon see it’s beneficial for you, and for society too!
Newborn Breastfeeding
Baby Benefits
Breast milk composition changes naturally (like magic) to exactly match your baby’s growing needs.
Breast milk proteins are easier for your baby to digest than cow’s milk proteins.
Breast milk is rich in antibodies and nutrients that help your baby’s immune system provide protection against: ear infections, stomach viruses, diarrhea, respiratory infections, atopic dermatitis (dry itchy skin), asthma, obesity, diabetes types I and II, leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). That’s powerful!
Mommy Benefits
Breastfeeding burns calories and has been shown to help mothers with weight loss after birth.
Breastfeeding releases the amazing hormone oxytocin which helps you to relax, gives you that feel-good sensation, and acts to create a special bond between you and your baby.
Breastfeeding is less expensive because you don’t need to purchase food (until solids of course) or bottles.
Breastfeeding saves you time and money, with fewer trips to the doctor for yourself and for your baby.
Moms who breastfeed their babies have a lower risk for diabetes type II, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, postpartum depression, and osteoporosis … thank you Mother Nature!
Society Benefits
Babies who are breastfed are protected against many diseases and illnesses, therefore:
There are fewer visits to the doctor.
There are fewer medications prescribed.
There are fewer admissions to the hospital.
Breastfeeding reduces health care costs.
Fewer mothers miss work, given that their babies are healthier.
Work productivity is higher and medical costs to the employer are lower.
Breastfeeding is environmentally friendly, due to less waste from plastic bottles and cans.
In Summary
As you see breastfeeding your baby has many life-affirming outcomes and benefits for you, your baby, and society.
For the full article click here.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Benefits of Bottle Feeding
Here are some benefits that bottle feeding provides.
Powerful Connection
Benefits
Bottle feeding is usually easier for mothers and babies to learn.
It’s comforting to see how much your baby is taking at each feeding.
Any trusted person of your choice can feed your baby.
New mothers may take a baby-feeding break and get much needed rest.
Bottle feeding in public is easily accepted.
Mothers who bottle-feed may take medications as needed without worry of passing unwanted chemicals to their baby.
Mothers who bottle-feed may wear non-baby-related clothing sooner.
Mothers who bottle-feed may practice estrogen-containing oral contraception sooner, as concerns about decrease in breast milk volume do not apply.
Human Touch, Attention, and Love
You can enhance your baby’s bottle-feeding experience by intentionally adding human touch, attention, and love, the three elements of intentional baby care. The mom and baby in the picture above are sharing this powerful connection that accompanies intentional baby care.
All of the care you give your baby, whether bottle-feeding, changing a diaper, or soothing your baby is elevated to extraordinary care when you intentionally add attention, touch, and love.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Bottle or Breast for My Newborn?
Gathering information will help you choose for your newborn.
Hungry Baby
Making the decision to feed your newborn by bottle or by breast can be confusing for some new mothers. Here are some thoughts that may help you.
Whether your baby is in your womb, in your arms, or in your future, you have within you a reliable guide to help you make decisions on behalf of your newborn. This guide is the feeling you get when presented with any choice … most commonly known as your gut response.
As you gather information for and against bottle and breast this guide within you will react to the information you find. When you “feel good” about what you are learning, adopt that information or belief as your own. When you “feel bad” about what you are learning, discard that information and choose another direction.
This internal guide, that responds to the information you gather, works for all of your decisions for your baby, not just for feeding decisions.
When you make a choice that feels right for you, you will be happier. And when that happiness persists, it acts to confirm your decision.
Because your baby naturally takes his or her cues from you, you’ll see that when you are happy your baby will be happier too!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Power of Human Touch in Baby Care
The power of human touch is life affirming.
Kangaroo Care with Intentional Baby Care
We know from historical events that babies deprived of human touch will not survive for very long. Here is a more recent event that again demonstrates the power of human touch for newborns.
In 2010 in Sidney, Australia, a premature twin boy was pronounced dead shortly after birth, unable to survive despite medical efforts to save him. My heart goes out to anyone who loses a baby.
The mother of this newborn held him snuggled on her chest in Kangaroo Care, a special way of holding premies and newborns skin to skin, to say her farewell. She was talking to him, loving him, and gently touching him as a mother naturally does with her baby. Incredulous as it sounds, this premature baby, pronounced dead at birth, started to move.
Not sure if it was just a reflex or true movement the mom continued to hold her son, and continued to shower him with her love, attention, and touch.
The combination of human touch (provided by the special skin-to-skin connection as well as her gentle caresses) her love, and her attention gave her newborn life!
Kangaroo Care, and abundant human touch, are within your ability to give to your newborn baby too. Both are powerful forces that bring a world of goodness to your baby, and a world of happiness to you.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Having a Baby
What does it really mean to have a baby?
Newborn Babies
When you have a baby, if you think about it, you don’t just have “a baby” but you truly create another human being, a person who will make a difference, large or small, in our world. This person you create will be a newborn for only 28 days, and will be an infant/baby for only one year. Your baby will be a baby for a very short time.
So the message is this:
Enjoy your newborn, enjoy your baby, while you can.
Take advantage of your baby’s perfect design and carry, hold, and wear your newborn or baby often to reap all of the wonderful benefits available to both of you.
Pay attention to your newborn and to your baby.
Provide an abundance of human touch, love, and attention (intentional baby care) at every opportunity.
Intentional baby care is proven to help you nurture a capable, independent, self-confident, loving, trusting, optimistic human being … starting from Day 1.
Having a baby means you have the power to make baby care choices that can make a world of difference, literally.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Being Born is Challenging
- A Few Hours Old
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