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The early weeks: your baby Babies enjoy a variety of movements when awake and it is good for them and their development to experience different positions. This should include sometimes lying on their tummies to play during the day, when they are awake. You can protect your children by keeping their playing, sleeping and eating areas completely smoke free. 122 THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE Small babies are not very good at controlling their own temperature. It’s just as important to prevent them getting too hot as it is to avoid getting chilled. Overheating is known to be a factor in cot death. Remember: • If the room is warm enough for you to be comfortable wearing light clothing (16–20°C), then it is the right temperature for your baby. • Give your baby one light layer of clothing (or bedding) more than you are wearing. If the room is hot for you, keep your baby’s clothes or bed-covering light. • Although it’s fine to take your baby into your bed for comfort, a baby who falls asleep under your duvet may get too hot. • Don’t give your baby a pillow or duvet (quilt) until he or she is one year old. • Keep your baby’s head uncovered when inside (unless it’s very cold) as babies need to lose heat from their heads and faces. • Never use a hot-water bottle or electric blanket. Babies have delicate skin which scalds or burns easily. • Ill or feverish babies don’t need any extra bedding – in fact, they usually need less. • Remove hats and extra clothing as soon as you come indoors or enter a warm car, bus or train, even if it means waking your baby. CLEAN AIR Babies should not be exposed to tobacco smoke, either before birth or afterwards. If you, or anyone else who looks after your baby, smoke then don’t smoke anywhere near the baby. Ask friends to smoke outside or before visiting you. It would be even better if everyone could make an effort to give up completely. Smoke is present in the air that is breathed out for a considerable time after smoking has taken place. Babies and young children who breathe in cigarette smoke are also more likely to get coughs, asthma and chest and ear infections. For more advice on giving up smoking, see page 13. COT MATTRESSES Current research has found that there is absolutely no risk of cot death from fire-retardant materials found in some cot mattresses. Following the advice given above will help to reduce the risk of cot death. If your baby seems at all unwell, seek medical advice early and quickly. Do remember that cot death is rare. Don’t let worrying about cot death spoil the first precious months you have with your baby. NAPPIES Babies need their nappies changed fairly often, otherwise they become sore. Unless your baby is sleeping peacefully, always change a wet or dirty nappy and change your baby before or after each feed, whichever you prefer. Organise the place where you change your baby so that everything you need is handy (see page 85). There are several types of reusable nappies available today. They fasten with poppers or Velcro and are either a one-piece nappy (a nappy with a built-in waterproof backing) or two-piece (with a waterproof cover to go over the nappy).
The early weeks: your baby CHANGING NAPPIES You need to clean your baby’s bottom carefully each time you change a nappy to help prevent soreness. • Take off the nappy. If it’s dirty, wipe away the mess from your baby’s bottom with tissues or cotton wool. • Wash your baby’s bottom and genitals with cotton wool and warm water and dry thoroughly. Or use baby lotion. For girls, wipe the bottom from front to back, away from the vagina, so that germs won’t infect the vagina or bladder. For boys, gently clean the foreskin of the penis, but don’t pull it back; clean under the penis and the scrotum. • You may want to use a cream, such as zinc and castor oil cream, which forms a waterproof coating to help protect the skin. Or you can just leave the skin clean and dry, especially with disposable nappies since cream may prevent them absorbing urine so well. • • Don’t use baby powder as it can cause choking. If you’re using a cloth nappy, place it in a waterproof cover (if needed) and put a nappy liner inside. Lay your baby carefully on the nappy, bring the centre of the nappy between your baby’s legs and then fasten the poppers or Velcro. Check that it fits snuggly around the waist and legs. NAPPY • If you use disposable nappies, be very careful not to get cream on the tabs or they won’t stick down. • Wash your hands. HYGIENE Disposable nappies If the nappy is dirty, flush the contents down the toilet. Roll up the nappy and re-tape it securely. Put it into a plastic bag kept only for this purpose. Fasten the bag and put it outside in your bin each day. Cloth nappies • If the nappy is dirty, flush the contents down the toilet. Biodegradable, flushable nappy liners are available to make it easy. • Have a lidded bucket ready to store the dirty nappies. You can soak them in a nappy cleanser (follow the instructions on the packet) or just store them here until you have a load ready for washing. • Wash nappies every two to three days. Follow the care instructions on your nappies, but a 60ºC wash is usually OK. If you didn’t soak the nappies before, add an antibacterial nappy cleanser to your normal washing detergent (follow the instructions on the packet). Don’t use enzyme (bio) washing powders as these may irritate your baby’s skin. Make sure you use the correct amount of detergent and rinse thoroughly. Don’t use fabric conditioners as they may irritate the skin and also reduce the absorbency of the nappy. NAPPY RASH Most babies get soreness or a nappy rash at some time, but some have extra sensitive skins. If you notice redness or spots, clean your baby very carefully and change nappies more frequently. Better still, give your baby time without a nappy and let the air get to the skin (keep a spare nappy handy to mop up). You will soon see the rash start to get better. PUTTING ON A DISPOSABLE NAPPY With disposables, the end with the sticky tapes goes under your baby’s bottom. Fasten the tapes at the front. 123
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Pre the nancy gbook Your complete g
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Pre the nancy gbook Your complete g
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11 LABOUR AND BIRTH Getting ready f
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Your pregnancy at a glance 16-20 we
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Introduction Every parent is differ
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Your health in pregnancy • Eat pl
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Your health in pregnancy VEGETARIAN
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Your health in pregnancy S MOKING W
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Your health in pregnancy P HYSICAL
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Your health in pregnancy Foot exerc
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obstetrician. If you do catch toxop
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2 Conception To understand about co
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Conception T HE WOMAN’ S MONTHLY
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Conception T HE BEST TIME TO GET PR
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Conception K NOWING THAT YOU’ RE
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How the baby develops WEEKS 4-5 Wee
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How the baby develops WEEKS 15-22 T
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4 Deciding where to have your baby
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Deciding where to have your baby HO
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Deciding where to have your baby B
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5 Feelings and relationships From t
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Feelings and relationships WORRYING
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Feelings and relationships FAMILIES
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Feelings and relationships C OPING
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6 Mainly for men Some pregnancies h
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Mainly for men PRACTICAL SUPPORT Yo
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7 Antenatal care and antenatal clas
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Antenatal care and antenatal classe
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The feeding question B REASTFEEDING
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The feeding question Support contac
Page 73 and 74: The feeding question HOW OFTEN AND
Page 75 and 76: The feeding question B OTTLE FEEDIN
Page 77 and 78: The feeding question The temperatur
Page 79 and 80: 9 Problems Your body has a great de
Page 81 and 82: Problems FEELING HOT IN PREGNANCY D
Page 83 and 84: Problems can empty it properly. The
Page 85 and 86: Problems VAGINAL DISCHARGE Almost a
Page 87 and 88: 10 What you need for the baby This
Page 89 and 90: What you need for the baby O UT AND
Page 91 and 92: 11 Labour and birth This chapter de
Page 93 and 94: Labour and birth PAIN RELIEF IN LAB
Page 95 and 96: Labour and birth • your contracti
Page 97 and 98: Labour and birth AT THE HOSPITAL Go
Page 99 and 100: Labour and birth • The heartbeat
Page 101 and 102: Labour and birth You can have your
Page 103 and 104: Labour and birth treatment takes ab
Page 105 and 106: Labour and birth A vaginal breech d
Page 107 and 108: When pregnancy goes wrong been due.
Page 109 and 110: 13 The first days with your new bab
Page 111 and 112: The first days with your new baby c
Page 113 and 114: The first days with your new baby b
Page 115 and 116: Babies who need special care I NCUB
Page 117 and 118: The early weeks: you L OOKING AFTER
Page 119 and 120: The early weeks: you T HE ‘ BABY
Page 121 and 122: 16 The early weeks: your baby The b
Page 123: The early weeks: your baby Sadly, w
Page 127 and 128: The early weeks: your baby WASHING
Page 129 and 130: The early weeks: your baby W HERE T
Page 131 and 132: as green, leafy vegetables and brea
Page 133 and 134: Rights and benefits How much is it?
Page 135 and 136: Who gets it? Pregnant women and new
Page 137 and 138: Rights and benefits You must have n
Page 139 and 140: • your baby is born before your M
Page 141 and 142: Rights and benefits (MAT B1 form),
Page 143 and 144: Rights and benefits Giving notice f
Page 145 and 146: Rights and benefits If you return t
Page 147 and 148: • state that this is an applicati
Page 149 and 150: USEFUL ORGANISATIONS Some of these
Page 151 and 152: In Northern Ireland: Northern Irela
Page 153 and 154: INDEX A abnormalities tests to dete
Page 155: The Pregnancy Book “It contains e
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