What to do when your partner goes back to work and relative visits become less frequent, try not to worry, and remember you can call your gp, midwife or hv whenever you need to - they are used to it! You may try to leave the house with your baby this week, and it will take a lot longer to prepare than you originally thought! Follow these tips for a smoother run...
Try to feed baby immediately before leaving, as then baby probably wont cry from hunger for a good hour after you leave.
Change babies bum and put a bid on him immediately before the feed so less chance of spillage on his clothes!
Get your nappy bag ready in advance- you will need
Nappies (one for each hour you will be out is a good rule to follow)
Wipes
Your keys, phone, wallet etc...
Milk and bottle if not breastfeeding, poncho perhaps if you are breastfeeding and want a cover up.
Spare outfit for baby in case of leaks
Bibs
Camera- to capture those first moments!!
And don't forget baby :P
Baby Sleep
16-20 hours a day with no pattern.
It's still too early for a routine, so continue to feed on demand as your baby is too young to go hungry between feeds. By the end of this week he should be sleeping for slightly longer at night though, hurrah! To encourage baby to sleep more at night, try to make the nighttime feeds less interesting. Keep the room darkened, talk quietly and try not to liven baby up too much so he realises nighttime is a quiet time. On the flip side, during the day make sure its light and keep the tv and other background noises going, and dont let baby sleep for longer than 3 hours in one stretch,
Cot Death - minimising the risk
ALWAYS put your baby to sleep on his back, with his feet at the bottom of the cot so he cant wiggle down and get trapped under his covers. Make sure relatives etc know to put baby to sleep on his back, as this minimizes the risk of cot death by 75%, and older people are more likely to not know this and try to put baby on his front.
Don't smoke - smoking is the highest risk factor in cot death now all babies sleep on their backs. Don't smoke in your house, and keep smokey clothes away from the baby. Smokers should not co-sleep with their children as this increases their chance of cot death phenominally.
Breastfeed your baby- bottle fed babies are 3x more likely to suffer cot death than breastfed babies.
Keep baby cool - don't put too many blankets on baby, and he never needs a hat on when inside, he needs to lose some heat from his head. Ideally the temperature should be between 16-20'c. Get a nursery thermometer to keep track of the temp!
Baby Crying
Your baby may cry for 2-4 hours a day
Your baby will probably cry more and more each week until week 6 when it peaks and then will get better, honestly! Always offer milk first as this is likely to be the cause.
Milk
Your baby will take betweem 18-23oz a day, up to 3oz per feed, up to twelve feeds a day.
If you are breastfeeding you may find your nipples are a little sore, but over the next couple of weeks that should improve as your technique gets better. Nipple shields and creams can help with this problem.
Nappies a day...
wet - 8-12
pooey - 0-12
Washing Baby
You may try give baby his first bath around now. Don't expect too much, keep the bath shallow and top and tail him as usual. Put around 2-3inches of water in, and just try get him used to being in water rather than trying to actively clean him :) make sure the water is nice and warm, but not hot, always put the cold in first and last to minimise the risk of burning baby. Get someone to help the first few times as its a hard job to get used to, or buy a specially designed baby seat to help. Try for a couple of minutes at a time in the bath at first, though if baby hates it just 20 seconds is long enough, don't try to keep him in if he seems very upset. And never leave baby unattended!
Development
Baby will start to recognise your face this week, so pull gentle faces and coo at him. Also, continue to touch his palm and let him grasp you, every movement baby makes helps to strengthen his muscles!
Whats happening to you
You may find that you wee a little when you laugh or cough, but thats normal and should clear up by week 6, do your pelvic floor exercises ten times every time you feed your baby and you should be fine. Do this even if you had a section as your pelvic floor muscles will have become weakened by pregnancy.
Your breasts will probably be leaking a lot at the moment, just keep feeding on demand and use breast pads to avoid any embarrassment :)
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