FamilyCosm

Knowing when an infant is ill can be a challenge for new parents. Sometimes a parent’s concerns can be treated as a casual inquiry by medical workers who are accustomed to soothing new-mother nervousness. Mothers can begin to doubt whether or not to trust their instincts.

Fortunately, even new parents can objectively measure their baby’s health.

WEEK ONE
From the start, newborns will need to nurse for no less than 15 minutes, 8 times per day during the first week of life. You should be able to hear the baby swallowing milk. Baby’s first sticky-black stool - called meconium - should pass. You should see it progress from greenish-black to a brown soft play-dough consistency. The color will appear yellow by the 4th or 5th day. Wet diapers will appear by the second day. By the end of this week, the frequency of wet diapers will increase to 2 or 3 per day.

A baby that is not doing well will also give hints to his condition during the first week. There is reason to be concerned if a baby has a weak sucking reflex, little or no desire to nurse and cannot sustain a feeding for at least 15 minutes, 8 times per day. If a baby falls asleep before nursing for 15 minutes, makes a clicking sound when nursing, and has dimpled cheeks when sucking, these are also indications that there is some difficulty. If the pattern of stools don’t progress and transition and there aren’t wet diapers within two days of birth, this is not normal. If these symptoms are observed for two days in a row, seek medical assistance.

THE INITIAL 30 DAYS
A healthy baby will continue to have healthy signs for the next month. The second to fourth week, babies continue to have two to four yellow stools and nurse eight times per day. Wet diapers will likely occur between six to eight times per day with clear, not yellow, urine. Along with observing some milk and hearing your baby swallow during nursing, you should see a strengthening of the suck reflex. The baby should increase in weight and alertness.

However, in this 2nd to 4th week, you should make a note of anything that is out of the ordinary such as a baby not eating at least 8 times per day, infrequent or small stools, too few wet diapers, or if the urine becomes bright yellow. Your baby should gain weight and grow longer. Should the baby have a weak or tired sucking reflex, if you can’t hear swallowing, if the baby becomes sluggish, slow to respond or refuses to sleep between feedings, these are all indications that something is not right. Should you observe these behaviors for a couple of days in a row, seek out a health care provider.

WEEKS 5 TO 10
In the second month of life, a baby might reduce the number of feedings to seven times per day. As your little one grows, he can take larger feedings. Further changes may be noticed in bowel movements: they can either increase to several small stools per day, or one large one every third day. In breastfed babies, this is normal because the body assimilates much of the milk with little waste. Check the wet diapers to make sure the urine isn’t bright yellow; there should be six to eight wet diapers daily. Expect increased alertness, strengthened suck, audible swallows and a little milk dribbling at feeding time.

There may be reason for concern if a baby fails to produce the right amount of wet diapers without bright yellow color, or if the baby doesn’t nurse at least seven times daily. Length and weight should increase for baby. Babies that can’t be heard swallowing and have a weak suck are not likely to be getting enough nourishment. Should the baby become sluggish, slow to respond and be unable to sleep between feedings, seek medical assistance in rectifying this problem. Two consecutive days of these behaviors indicate something is wrong.

MONITORING YOUR BABY
Knowing when your baby last ate and how often can be complicated enough if you were operating on a full night’s rest. It can be overwhelming to expect a new mother to know this with reduced sleep. Have note paper and a pencil near the baby’s bed. At each feeding or changing, jot down the time and any other notes. For example, you might write: “4:00 p.m., b-fed 15 min., wet diaper - clear, no poop” It may help you to start a new page each day with the date written at the top.

This way, should anything seem out of the ordinary, you can refer to your notes and present them to a doctor if needed. Your notes can also help you bond more effectively with your little one. You may be too tired to figure out why your baby is crying, but a quick check of your notes will tell you if it’s been too long since he ate (hunger) or if he hasn’t had a bowel movement that day (constipation). This helps mama learn the different sounds of her baby’s cries. In turn, the new mother gains confidence in her ability to identify and meet her child’s needs.

Yet, BEST advice is often the most common advice, and it comes from the not-so-new mothers. Don’t take for granted any of those first weeks. There’s nothing more important than getting acquainted with your new baby. They aren’t little for long.

Interested in more child training tips? No Greater Joy is a ministry dedicated to helping parents bring up children they enjoy. They have written a bestseller called To Train Up A Child that has helped thousands.