First Days with a Newborn (HUS)
Welcome home! The first days with a newborn are full of cuddles and learning. Our public health nurse Niina shares tips for your first days with a new family member.
The best place for a small baby is in someone’s arms. Hold your baby often.
At the same time, offer touch and skin-to-skin contact, talk to the baby and look them gently in the eyes.
The closer your baby is to you, the better their needs will be met. Physical touch reinforces the baby's understanding of themself and their environment.
In the first few days after birth, your newborn will spend most of its waking hours lying on your chest. Provide milk frequently and whenever the baby asks for it. This will increase the amount of milk you produce.
If you struggle with breastfeeding, express milk by hand or with a pump, if possible. If necessary, you can express milk every three hours or so around the clock until the milk supply evens out.
Small babies are prone to spitting up after nursing. If your baby spits up large amounts of milk, handle them carefully after feeding. You can also ease your baby's discomfort by carrying, patting and rubbing them.
If necessary, you can burp your baby after feeding but do so gently and calmly.
Breast milk or baby formula is your baby's main source of nutrition for the first year. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until 4–6 months of age, after which your baby can start trying solid foods. Exactly when to start exploring solid foods depends on the baby's individual abilities and needs.
Change your baby's nappy as needed.
Do not leave a soiled nappy on for too long, so that the baby’s skin does not become irritated and inflamed.
Even if the nappy only contains pee, it should be changed, especially for small babies.
Night nappies
As baby grows older, their sleep cycle changes, and they may be able to sleep for longer periods at a time. This may mean that you no longer need to change the nappy at night, unless it leaks or irritates your baby's skin.
Newborns usually pee a lot during the night, so it is a good idea to change a full nappy during the night feed. Soiled nappies should be changed as soon as possible, even at night.
Go out with your baby
Babies enjoy fresh air from a very young age, and being outdoors contributes to good sleep. So, depending on the weather, you can start going out with your baby fairly soon after you come home from the hospital.
We do not recommend going out with your baby if it is minus ten degrees Celsius or colder outside.
In summer, you can protect the pram with a mosquito net. Avoid leaving the pram in direct sunlight.
You can bathe your baby from the very first days.
Bathe your baby at least once a week. If your baby's skin is in good condition, you can take a bath every day. Even a baby with dry skin can be showered every day.
Bathe your baby in 37 °C water. Fill the tub with enough water so that the baby does not get cold.
Start the bath by washing your baby's face. You can then lower your baby into the bath with a secure and firm grip. Talk to your baby gently and reassuringly throughout. Some babies may cry at first, but after getting used to water they usually enjoy bathing.
No soap needs to be used for the baby’s bathwater and the hair does not need to be washed with shampoo.
Moisturise your baby's skin only as needed. If the baby has normal skin, moisturiser is not necessary. Moisturising can disrupt the normal oil production of the baby’s skin. You can moisturise the skin of a baby with dry skin twice a day, for example. You can use moisturising cream or baby oil as a moisturiser.
The eyes of a newborn baby often have discharge. This discharge is caused by narrow tear ducts.
Use a clean gauze dressing dampened with water to clean the eyes from the outer corner of the eye inwards, so that you don't accidentally spread any bacteria from the discharge to the eye. You can also help your baby's lachrymal sac to empty by gently pressing on the nasal bridge.
Heavy eye discharge may be normal, but if the discharge is yellow in colour or the baby’s eyes are red or swollen, contact the health station for a doctor’s assessment. If necessary, the doctor can write a prescription for eye drops. If the tear ducts do not open by themselves, they will be opened at the hospital at the age of 10 months.
The baby’s umbilical stump comes off about a week after birth. Clean the belly button stub daily with a dry cotton swab, down to the base of the belly button. You can do this when you change the nappy, for example.
If the belly button smells or secretes anything, clean it twice a day with an antiseptic solution from the pharmacy and dry it with a dry cotton swab.
As the belly button stub heals, you can continue cleaning daily with a dry cotton swab.
If your newborn baby scratches and hurts their face, you can protect their fingernails with cotton mittens.
You can start trimming your baby's nails from two weeks of age. It is best to trim your baby's nails when your baby is happy and calm.
