Key aspects of the first few days after the birth of your baby.

That your baby enjoys good health depends largely on feeding during pregnancy. Find detailed nutrition information that you should carry during this important stage.

Skin coloration: 90% of newborns may have a yellow tint on the skin that appears from the second day of life and disappears progressively in the first week with exposure to sunlight.

Breath rate: should be between 40 and 60 times per minute.

Crying: Newborns regularly cry for hunger, but they may also cry cold, wet diaper or when they have gas.

Deposition: The number of stools is almost equal to the number of times the baby feeds. Initially they are blackish green (meconium). After the first week they become lumpy yellow (similar to diarrhea). At the end of the first month of life, there are between one and three bowel movements per day.

Food: you should look for a quiet environment and a comfortable position that allows you to breastfeed, which should be started as soon as possible and on demand, that is, what the baby asks for. Due to the low initial volume, the newborn should be fed 10 to 12 times a day in order to provide the necessary nutrients and reduce the risk of jaundice.

Temperature control: the newborn should remain in a comfortable and stable temperature environment; This will allow adequate growth and good control of the respiratory pattern. In premature infants or weighing less than 2,000 grams, skin-to-skin contact with the mother is recommended, as ‘kangaroo mother technique’, since it will avoid a greater consumption of its few reserves and loss of calories when generating heat.

Medical check-up: After leaving the clinic, it is ideal to do this first review between the third and fifth day of life to evaluate the feeding technique, weight control, mother-child interaction, skin coloration, results Of TSH (thyroid hormone) screening to rule out congenital hypothyroidism and reinforce aspects of childcare that will allow safer management of the newborn.

When to go to the emergency room

• Uncontrollable crying: verify that it is not out of hunger and change the diaper if it is wet. Ask when in addition to the above you have to charge your baby, pet him, talk to him and warm him up and you do not manage to comfort him.
• Color: the doctor should be consulted when the skin color becomes yellow or bluish (cyanosis), there is pallor and this is related to difficulty breathing or excessive sweating during feeding.
• Rejection, vomiting or intolerance to breast milk.
• Irritability or drowsiness: the change in the daily habits of the newborn in relation to its activity should be considered an alert.
• Both permanent crying with the presence or not of complaining, such as weak crying and lack of activity are signs for medical evaluation.
• Fever: should be consulted once excess shelter is discarded.
• Abdominal distension accompanied by absence of deposition.
• Scarce urine: less than three mictions per day, measured by the number of diapers changed, approximately one diaper per micturition.
• Secretion, bad odor, redness and sensitivity of the skin around the navel.

Things to Avoid

• Use soft mattresses or pillows in the crib where your baby sleeps.
• Place your child in the stomach position (face down) to sleep.
• Smoking in the area where your newborn lives.
• Contact with people who have an acute respiratory infection.