The first meeting with a newborn baby can not only please, but also surprise new parents. After all, he does not look like a pink-cheeked baby from a commercial. Is there something wrong with him?
Looking at the crumb that was born just a few hours ago, Mom and Dad are looking for similarities - what kind of relatives did your little one go? Being like one of the parents (or both at once), your baby is at the same time similar to most newborn babies.
Features of appearance
The baby worked so hard at the time of birth! Sometimes his head is flattened and deformed, because when passing through the birth canal, the baby experiences severe stress. After a couple of days everything will improve. On the proteins of the eye, one can often see bursting blood vessels - these are also the consequences of childbirth. The skin of your crumbs in the first week after birth can have a yellowish tinge. This is due to the breakdown in the blood of a baby hemoglobin of a fetal type (fetal hemoglobin) and the formation of bilirubin. Hemoglobin is a substance that is found in red blood cells (erythrocytes). It is with his help that oxygen molecules are assimilated. After the baby is born on light, the way of getting oxygen changes: now it comes not from the blood of the mother, but in the process of breathing. New red blood cells form in the blood, fetal hemoglobin breaks down with the formation of bilirubin, which leads to an increase in the level of this protein in the blood. It is his presence that leads to the appearance of physiological jaundice in newborns.
Normally, bilirubin is processed by liver enzymes, is excreted from the body, and jaundice of the skin usually passes quickly. This is facilitated by the early application of the baby to the chest. True, there are children whose jaundice is delayed - this is the signal to start additional tests for the presence of intrauterine infection or other diseases.
The baby, which is in the tummy of the mother, is covered with generic grease, which is washed off after childbirth. The skin of the newborn dries up and begins to peel off. You do not need to be scared, it's perfectly normal.
On a small body, you can observe red spots with numerous pimples of red color. Do not worry: the erythema of the newborn disappears completely by the end of the first week of the baby's life. You should not be disturbed by the appearance of mills - tiny whitish pimples on the face of a crumb. Such formations are directly related to the hormonal reorganization that occurs in the body of the baby. To treat, and even more so to try to remove milies should not, they will disappear by themselves, without additional intervention. In newborns, the thermoregulatory function is still imperfect, they overheat and freeze faster. This means that from the very first days it is not worthwhile to eat the crumbs, but it is better to temper it from an early age.
First estimates
Scores on the scale Hangar, height and weight of crumbs are the main parameters that must be reported to the mother after the birth. The condition of the newly born baby doctors evaluated on the Apgar scale. The received data allow to judge a condition of the baby in the first minutes after a birth. Each of the five criteria - the heart rate per minute, muscle tone, the character of the respiration of the crumbs, reflex excitability, the color of the skin - is assessed on a two-point system immediately after birth and after 5 minutes. Do not worry if the crumb did not score the maximum number of points on the Apgar scale. Most kids "score" at 7 points or higher, which is considered a good result, but the score of 3 points and below is called critical. "This kid needs emergency care in intensive care.
Out of focus?
A high level of estrogen (female hormones), obtained from the mother, leads to the appearance of a sexual crisis in infants. The mammary glands swell, the girls may have vaginal discharge.
The sexual crisis of crumbs usually lasts not more than a week, and gradually its signs will manifest themselves to a lesser extent. Do not be afraid if you notice that your baby's eyes are out of focus. The newborn has not yet fully formed oculomotor muscles and the optic nerve. A kid can distinguish light from darkness, but it is not yet possible to discern outlines. After a while he will open his eyes wider, he will learn to focus his eyes first on large objects, and then on smaller ones. Many newborns are blue-eyed, only a few have brown or green eyes since birth. Over time, the eyes can darken or completely change color.
Are all systems OK?
Some systems of the newborn's organs are not yet very perfect, but the digestive system is developed quite well. Suckling reflex in crumbs is one of the first, formed from birth. A crumb easily grabs the breast nipple or the nipple of a bottle and sucks with a characteristic smacking sound. Develops a search reflex: a crumb opens his mouth and turns his head in search of a food source, if you touch the corner of his mouth. Stomach of the baby at first time increases every day, and he needs more and more milk. If in the early days the baby is losing weight a little (the so-called "physiological weight loss"), then with well-adjusted feeding, he will quickly make up for the loss and increase the weight.The chair of all newborns is usually viscous, black-green, gradually changing its consistency and color - the stool may be several times a day, even after each feeding.If the baby is fed on an artificial diet, the stool is usually regular and it depends on a steady schedule of feedings.
After the birth, the kidney becomes more active in the child. In the first days of life the baby pisses only a few times a day, but very soon the amount of urination in crumbs reaches tens of times a day.
The nervous system undergoes, as the child grows up, perhaps the most powerful changes. The newly born baby has increased muscle tone - its grips are clenched into jaws, and the legs are bent. The infant can tremble, make grasping and disorderly movements with his hands, and his chin often shakes when crying. This is the result of immaturity of the nervous system, eventually everything will certainly go back to normal.
Reflexes of the newborn
A newly born baby is characterized by a whole series of reflexes - involuntary reactions that disappear by 4-5 months.
Try to put your thumbs in the hands of the baby. He will grip so tightly for them that he can even be raised above the surface of the table.
At sharp impact on a table the kid spreads handles in the parties, after that hands converge on a breast. According to some experts, this reflex, as well as the grasping, got to people from distant ancestors. He needed them so that the baby could grab his mother in case of danger. Reflex support and automatic walking. If the baby is held under the arms vertically, then he will bend the legs in the knee and hip joints. Touching the support, the muscles relax, and the crumb will come to the full stop. When tilting forward, the baby will take a few "steps".
Reflex crawling
Put the crumb on your stomach and touch his heels. The baby will push and crawl forward.The protective reflex.In the position on the abdomen, the baby always turns his head to the side, even trying to lift it.To keep the head of the children learn by the end of the first month of life.Check the reflexes as exercises to include in the gym for your baby.
Help the crumb!
Children are born different - large and small, with a luxurious head of hair and bald, very calm or, conversely, loud. The most important skill of a baby is his ability to report some inconvenience. He cries when he's hungry, if you need to change a diaper or something hinders him. Only this way he can call for help when there is a problem. Try to understand what exactly bothers him. Wear it in your arms, talk, sing songs and read children's tales. Soon you will notice that your baby is growing up, he has his own habits, preferences and attachments, you will better know and understand him, and the baby will change right before your eyes and surprise you every day.