This is normally done by your GP, who needs to check that your body has recovered properly from pregnancy and childbirth. Your doctor will check that your bleeding has stopped and any stitches have healed. She’ll check your heart and blood pressure, will ask you about contraception, and should check when you last had a cervical smear test.
Newborn peculiarities
Newborns can be perplexing: strange blisters, bumps and rashes pop up with alarming regularity. Here are some of the first worries you may encounter.
Skin
RASHES
Little yellow or white pinhead spots on the face are ‘milia’ or ‘baby acne’. They are caused by inexperienced skin glands unplugging themselves and are very common in the first few days and weeks. They are totally harmless. Tiny, flat, red pinhead spots, mostly on the face, neck and torso, may be heat rash. If your baby seems happy and healthy, rashes are usually not something to worry about; but if in doubt, always ask your health visitor. If your baby seems unwell (for example has a fever) with any rash, or if a rash seems to be getting worse, see your GP. Some serious illnesses like meningitis may come with a rash, but your baby will be obviously very unwell if this is happening–see here.
Mouth
SUCKING BLISTERS
White blisters on the lips are common, don’t need treatment and should disappear in the first few weeks.
THRUSH
This is a common yeast infection of the baby’s mouth: it looks as if patches of milk curd are stuck to your baby’s cheeks, tongue or the roof of his mouth (they won’t wipe off). This does need medicine so see your GP for a prescription.
Eyes
STICKY EYES
One or both eyes ooze or stick together when your baby has been asleep. This is usually just an irritation from the fluids your baby has encountered at birth. To treat it, wipe your baby’s eyes with cooled boiled water (use a different piece of cotton wool for each eye) from the inner corner then outwards, every few hours.
BLOCKED TEAR DUCT
This is also common–white gooey stuff collects in the corner and edges of the eyelids, which can get stuck together. The eye may also seem ‘weepy’. Treat as for sticky eyes, and massage your baby’s tear duct several times a day by gently rubbing it at the side of the nose, beneath the corner of the eye. If regular cleaning and massaging for a day or so is not helping, or anything seems to be getting worse (with this or sticky eyes), see your GP–it could be conjunctivitis, an infection that is contagious and often treated with antibiotic eye drops.
CROSSED OR SQUINTY EYES
These are common in the first twelve weeks or so because a baby’s eyes don’t work together yet. Talk to your GP if the squinting goes on beyond three months.
Scalp
Some new babies get a swelling on the scalp because of bleeding under the skin at birth. This is normal, won’t do any harm, and can take a few weeks to go away (show your health visitor if you are anxious). Most babies also get cradle cap–scaly, flaky skin on the scalp. It’s not dandruff or scurvy, and you can remove some of it by massaging the top of your baby’s head with olive oil. Or just ignore it–it’s normal and harmless and will go away eventually.
The umbilical cord stump
The stump will drop off somewhere between five and ten days. It’s best just to leave it alone and be gentle when bathing/dressing your baby (it’s fine to get it wet, but pat it dry carefully). A bulging navel, however, might indicate an ‘umbilical hernia’, so if you notice this, call your GP or health visitor: these are usually harmless but can take up to a year to go away. If you notice that the stump is oozing pus or discharge, is very stinky or looks red, call the midwife or your GP the same day as it could be infected.
Some things your baby will do
Cry
See Chapter Five for the lowdown on crying.
If your baby was all peaceful and sleepy for the first few days then goes off like a siren on day three, you may or may not find small comfort in the knowledge that this is entirely normal. It often coincides with your return from hospital and the shock of being alone and–supposedly–in charge, and it can shake your confidence. It also tends to coincide with the dad’s return to work, so it’s no wonder many new mothers feel they’re not a ‘natural’. At least some of the time, you are bound to feel despairing, worried, angry or desperate about your baby’s cries. You wouldn’t be a parent if you didn’t.
Eat
By now you’ve decided how you’ll be feeding your baby. Or have you? For some new parents, feeding the baby is totally straightforward. For the rest of us it is, initially, a changeable scenario. It may take a few weeks to establish feeding properly, and you may need help and support, particularly if you are breastfeeding.
Chapter Six will give you the feeding basics from day one to one year.
There are also some by-products of your baby’s eating, and you should know how to deal with them.
WIND
A baby that’s taking in too much air with his milk will writhe around, tuck his legs up towards his chest and probably cry after or during a feed. He may make loud sucking noises at the bottle or breast. ‘Trapped wind is the number-one problem I see with parents and newborns,’ says baby consultant Su Moulana. ‘You have to learn to wind your baby properly, so that he can get enough milk at every feed and settle well afterwards.’
There is probably no harm in trying products like gripe water and Infacol that help babies burp up trapped wind (you can buy them in chemists and some supermarkets). I had three very windy babies and tried all sorts of things. Eventually with Ted, my third, I went to a breastfeeding specialist who showed me how to latch him on properly. He turned from a writhing windy baby to a calm, peaceful one overnight–something gallons of gripe water had not achieved.
Good wind-minimising strategies depend on whether you are bottle-feeding or breastfeeding.
IF YOU ARE BOTTLE-FEEDING:
Check that when you’re tilting the bottle, the teat and neck are filled with milk (there should be no visible air).
Try sitting him in a more upright position as you feed him. Try switching to a different brand of feeding bottle or formula (ask your health visitor for advice on appropriate brands).
IF YOU ARE BREASTFEEDING:
Get help with your latch-on technique. It is the number-one cause of windy babies.
Some people say breastfed babies can react windily to certain foods in your diet: the main culprits are cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, and obvious things that make you windy, like beans and cabbage.