Opinion Making the new member comfortable

An earthquake might have been an extraordinary situation,but every newborn brings along a lot of concern for the parents. Trying to ensure everything is normal with the baby,the new parents get anxious to see any abnormal appearance.

In my case,the joy of seeing my baby for the first time was marred by the sight of a big reddish patch on his forehead. There was a small one on his nose too. But according to doctors,these are harmless and clear on their own. The skin peeling off his tummy,hands and legs,too,was a cause for concern,but my son’s paediatrician said it happened in a few babies and there was nothing to worry. But in case the skin underneath the peal is raw,the baby needs medical intervention.

My son also had physiological jaundice,which usually appears after the first day and disappears within a week.

Though the last USG I had before the delivery had shown my baby’s weight as 3 kilos,he was 2.6 kg at birth. He lost another kilo in the next few days,along with the extra fluid he was born with. While I was not happy to hear that,the doctors said that babies usually lost 5-8 % of the birth weight in the initial week,and regained most of it by the time they are around three weeks old.

Feeding the baby was another stressful factor for me. Having given formula milk on the first day,as happens in Caesarean cases where the groggy mother needs at least a day to recover from the effect of anaesthesia,my son would not latch on when he was handed over to me the next evening. Both of us spent the first two nights crying on our failed attempts,but adhering to the strict instruction of “no top feed”,issued by my doctor and my son’s pediatrician,we fell in line by the time we were home.

For a first-time mother like me,every day is a new day spent learning new things about how to take care of a newborn. Initially,I would be happy that my baby stopped crying after a feed and I would put him to sleep without burping him. It took me some efforts to remember the exercise after every feed. Babies swallow air during feed and often feel uncomfortable because of that. This can be avoided by burping regularly during feeds. According to experts,babies will swallow less air if kept upright during feeding and burping. A baby may even cry when in need of a burp.

To me,the most challenging task is to control my baby when he is crying. In fact,I would initially get the ‘baby blues’ when he would not stop crying. While most of the time babies cry because of hunger,I realised after several trials and errors that sometimes they just want to be held,especially by the mother.

Crying is the only way of communication known to the baby. Apparently,mothers gradually learn to differentiate between the reasons — hunger,tiredness,wet nappy,feeling hot or cold,or generally uncomfortable. Often,babies also cry because of colic pain — a form of indigestion. The mother’s diet is often blamed for this. During the session with the paediatrician before I was discharged from hospital,I was told to always keep three medicines at home — an anti-colic drop,one to be given during fever and the other a nasal drop to be given during cold or allergies.

Babies also wail at times for sheer boredom or no apparent reason. Rhythmic rocking,cuddling and swaddling help in such situation — at least they do in my case. A warm water bath,too,has a soothing effect,but not in the middle of night. Taking a walk in the house or outside carrying the baby may be tiring,but does the trick at times as the change of air and scene lifts their mood.

It’s important to work at knowing and understanding the baby and its needs. Like all new parents,I am learning all tricks of the trade to become a successful multi-tasker mother.