Tub Time: Baby’s First Real Bath

Tub Time: Baby’s First Real Bath

March 28th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

About two weeks or so after birth, your baby’s umbilical cord stump will fall off, and you will be cleared to begin bathing him in a tub. Giving your baby a bath can be a special time of relaxation and bonding, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t seem to like it at first. Properly preparing for bathing your baby can help to make it pleasant for everyone. Just keep a few things in mind.

Newborns Don’t Like Being Cold!

Many babies will cry due to the cold when they are being undressed, whether for a diaper change or a bath. Try to keep your baby as warm as possible at bath time. Turn up the heat a little in the room where you are bathing him, and don’t remove his clothes until the last possible second. Make sure that his bathwater is comfortably warm – not too hot but not cool either. You should make a habit of checking the temperature every time to avoid burns.

To prevent the risk of drowning, you should always use the minimum amount of water necessary for a bath. Unfortunately this safety precaution means a good portion of baby’s body will be above the water level and at risk of getting cold. When you place your newborn in the tub, soak a washcloth in the warm water, and lay it across his chest and stomach to keep him warm. Bathe him gently but quickly, and have a warm towel standing by.

After moving him to the towel, wrap him up warmly and securely, and hold him for a while before getting him dressed. Waiting until your baby is thoroughly dried before removing the towel will keep cool air off his wet skin.

Keep Bath Time Safe

In addition to carefully monitoring the temperature and level of the bathwater, there are some other safety precautions to keep in mind when preparing for tub bathing. If you are using an infant tub set in a kitchen sink as many new parents do, make certain that the tub is secure and will not slip.

Since bathing items aren’t usually kept in the kitchen, double check that you have everything you need before placing your baby in the tub. Never leave a baby in the tub unattended! Drowning can happen incredibly fast, so keep your baby within arm’s reach. For her first tub bath and those to follow in the early weeks of life, it’s a good idea to keep one hand on her at all times.

Use caution when lifting your baby out of the tub, she will be very slippery and potentially wiggly too! Get her into a towel as quickly as possible.

Getting Baby clean

Newborns don’t really get all that dirty, so bathing won’t be necessary every day. In fact, bathing too frequently can dry out your newborn’s sensitive skin. Use a gentle, tearless baby wash formula, never soap or anything intended for adult use. Pay the most attention to the diaper area, underarms, and under the chin where spit-up may accumulate. A small amount of baby wash on a soft washcloth will do the trick.

Although you may think your baby’s ears need regular cleaning with cotton swabs, it is actually not recommended by otolaryngologists. A gentle cleaning with a wash cloth is all that is required.

From that first tub bathing, you will soon come to treasure the peaceful time of gently cleansing your newborn’s soft skin. By keeping baby as warm as possible and taking the right precautions, you can ensure it is a happy and safe time every time your baby has a bath.

What You Need to Know About Pregnancy after 35

What You Need to Know About Pregnancy after 35

March 13th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

It is very common for women to wait until later in life to have children. Either they don’t find a partner until then and/or they choose to pursue their career before they settle down to have a family. Either way, the number of women who have their first baby later in life has increased significantly. The article “Babies Later in Life” on iParenting states that the number of women having their first baby between the ages 30-39 has doubled in the past 15 years. Women over the age of 40 having their first baby has increased by 50%.

This is important because there are special considerations for a woman when she has a baby over the age of 35. The first of these considerations is that a woman’s fertility begins to decline at around the age of 30. This means that by the age of 35, it can be more difficult to become pregnant as ovulation becomes unpredictable and erratic. It also becomes more possible for a woman to release two eggs during one ovulation and this means she will conceive fraternal twins.

When a woman who is age 35 or older decides to have a baby, her pre-pregnancy health is of the utmost importance, more so than if she were younger. Pregnancy over the age of 35 entails far more risks than pregnancy in younger women. Think about it like this. Females are born with all of their eggs. The eggs don’t form as women grow up or when they hit puberty. Every egg is already in a female’s ovaries when she is born. As the girl turns into a woman and the woman ages, so do the eggs. Over time, some of the aging eggs can become damaged or develop problems.

One of the risks with older eggs is the higher chance of a baby being born with chromosomal abnormalities. Down syndrome is one of the most common of these chromosomal abnormalities. The chances for younger women to have a Down syndrome baby are 1 in 1250. Once a woman reaches age 35, her chances are 1 in 378. By age 45, a woman’s chances of having a Down syndrome baby are 1 in 30! The chances of a baby with birth defects being born to an older mother increases as well.

Pregnancy itself is riskier when a woman is older. There is a higher risk that there will be complications. There is a higher risk of the mother having gestational diabetes, high blood pressure (known as preeclampsia), and vaginal bleeding. It is also more common for there to be problems with the placenta, placing both mother and baby at risk.

Of course, even with the higher risks, there are many, many mothers over the age of 35 who have happy healthy deliveries and babies. Having a baby when you are older does have its advantages. The mother is more mature and has more life experience to bring to her children. Of course, overall having a baby later in life is a personal choice that a woman must make. The important thing is that she makes that choice an educated one, being fully aware of the risks involved. Even more important is to make younger women aware of these risks. That way, if they don’t want to take the chances those risks entail, they may be able to choose to have their children at a younger age. If you do choose to have your children later in life, then take heart in knowing that successful pregnancies happen all the time and healthy babies are frequently born to older parents. No matter what you choose, enjoy the experience because there isn’t anything else like it in life!