Week 2
Your baby is one week old. After the early dip, most babies are regaining weight now and are usually back to their birth weight by 10 to 14 days. Babies vary widely, and what matters is that your baby follows their own curve on the growth chart. Your newborn is more awake for short stretches, and you may start to recognize their particular cries, sneezes and startles. For you, bleeding is easing, wounds are healing and your emotions may be running high. This week covers safe bottle feeding, safe sleep in full, the cord stump and first baths, how newborns look and move, your healing, the baby blues, and the first checkups.
Day 8 · 1 week 0 days old
Preparing formula safely
If you are formula feeding or combination feeding, a few steps keep bottles safe. Use a standard first infant formula unless your baby's doctor advises otherwise. Ready-to-feed liquid formula is sterile; powdered formula is not, so it needs more care.
Wash your hands and the work surface. Wash bottles, nipples and rings in hot, soapy water, then sterilize them by boiling, steaming or using a sterilizer, at least for the first few months. For powdered formula, boil fresh tap water and let it cool for no more than about 30 minutes, so it is still hot enough, at least 70 °C, to kill germs in the powder. Add the water first, then the exact number of level scoops on the package. Never add extra powder or extra water. Cool the bottle under cold running water and test a few drops on your inner wrist: warm, not hot. Never microwave bottles, which causes hot spots.
Use a prepared bottle within about 2 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. Throw away leftovers after a feed. Paced bottle feeding lets your baby lead. Hold them upright, keep the bottle nearly horizontal, and let them draw the nipple in. Pause every few sucks, switch sides halfway, and stop when they turn away or relax their hands. Try this: Set up a clean, dedicated corner for bottle making today, with the kettle, formula, scoop and sterilized bottles all within reach.
Day 9 · 1 week 1 day old
The safest way for your baby to sleep
Newborns sleep 14 to 17 hours a day. Safe sleep greatly lowers the risk of sudden infant death.
Put your baby down on their back for every sleep, naps included. Use a firm, flat mattress in a crib, bassinet or cot that meets current safety standards, with only a fitted sheet: no pillows, bumpers, loose blankets or soft toys. Keep the sleep space in your room for at least 6 months. Keep your home and car smoke-free. Avoid overheating: aim for a room of roughly 16 to 20 °C, a light sleep sack or one more layer than you wear, and no hat indoors. Car seats, swings and slings are not for sleep, so move a sleeping baby to a flat surface.
The most dangerous place to fall asleep with a baby is a sofa or armchair, where babies can slip into gaps or be trapped against you. If you feel drowsy while feeding, move to a bed prepared as below.
If you bed-share, use a firm mattress, keep pillows and duvets away from your baby, lay them on their back beside you, not between adults, and clear of gaps and edges. Never bed-share if you or your partner smoke, have drunk alcohol, or taken drugs or sedating medicines, or if your baby was born early or small.
Try this: Look at your baby's sleep space tonight and remove anything that is not a firm mattress and a fitted sheet.
Figure 6. A safe sleep space, for every sleep in the first year.
Day 10 · 1 week 2 days old
Caring for the cord and giving a first bath
The umbilical cord stump dries, darkens and usually falls off within one to three weeks. Keep it clean and dry. Fold the top of the diaper down below it so it gets air. If it gets dirty, wipe it with plain water and pat it dry. No alcohol or creams are needed. A few spots of blood when it comes away are normal. Never pull it off.
Call your baby's doctor if the skin around the stump turns red or swollen, there is pus or a bad smell, bleeding does not stop with gentle pressure, or your baby has a fever. A small, moist pink lump left behind is common and easy to treat at a checkup.
Newborns do not need a daily bath. Two or three times a week is plenty, wiping face, neck folds and diaper area in between. Many parents find a sponge bath easiest until the cord falls off. Warm the room and lay your baby on a towel, uncovering one part at a time.
For a tub bath, use a few centimetres of water at about body temperature, around 37 °C, checked with your elbow. Plain water is fine, or a little mild, unscented cleanser. Support the head and neck. Never leave your baby alone in water, even for a second.
Try this: Before a bath, lay out a towel, clean diaper and clothes, so you never have to step away from your baby.
Day 11 · 1 week 3 days old
Helping your own body heal
Lochia, the bleeding after birth, is usually heavy and red for the first three or four days. Around now it turns pinkish brown and lighter, later fading to yellowish white over four to six weeks. A brief increase after more activity is a sign to rest. Afterpains, the cramping of the uterus as it shrinks, usually ease after the first week.
If you had a tear or a cut to the perineum, change your pad every few hours, pour warm water over the area when you pee, and pat dry from front to back. Stitches usually dissolve within a few weeks. Drink plenty, eat fibre, and do not strain; holding a clean pad against the area makes the first bowel movement less daunting.
After a caesarean, keep the wound clean and dry, wear loose, high-waisted clothes, and hold a pillow over it when you cough or laugh. Lift nothing heavier than your baby, and walk a little daily.
Call your care provider if your wound or stitches become more painful, red, swollen or hot, ooze pus or open up, if bleeding smells bad, or you have a fever of 38.0 °C or more. Get help right away if you soak more than one pad an hour, pass clots bigger than a golf ball, or feel dizzy or faint. Try this: Set up a small basket by the toilet with pads, a water bottle for rinsing and wipes, so everything is within reach.
Day 12 · 1 week 4 days old
Your newborn's surprising looks and moves
Newborns rarely look like the babies in advertisements. A head pressed into a cone shape during birth, called moulding, rounds out within days. Tiny white spots on the nose, called milia, clear on their own. Pink "stork marks" on the eyelids, forehead or back of the neck usually fade, and flat blue-grey patches, common on darker skin, may last for years and are harmless. Have them noted at a checkup. Dry, peeling skin, especially on hands and feet, is common. Hormones from pregnancy can make the breasts and genitals swell, in boys and girls alike. Girls may have a little white discharge or a spot of blood. These settle within weeks.
Your baby is also born with reflexes. Stroke a cheek and they turn and open their mouth, called rooting. A finger in their palm is gripped tightly. A sudden noise or a feeling of falling sets off the startle reflex, arms flung wide then pulled in.
Frequent sneezing clears milk and fluid from small noses and does not mean a cold. Hiccups are common and harmless. Breathing may be irregular, with short pauses of a few seconds.
Get help right away if your baby's lips or face look blue or grey, or a breathing pause lasts longer than about 15 seconds.
Try this: Place your finger in your baby's palm today and feel the strength of that grip.
Day 13 · 1 week 5 days old
Tears that come out of nowhere
Somewhere around day 3 to 5, many new parents, as many as four in five, feel suddenly weepy, irritable, anxious or overwhelmed. This is the baby blues. Hormone levels drop sharply after birth. Add sleep loss, pain and the size of what has just happened, and it is no wonder. You may cry at a kind word, then feel fine an hour later.
The baby blues usually pass by about two weeks after the birth. Rest when you can, eat regularly, step outside for a few minutes of daylight, and tell someone how you feel.
Visitors can lift you or wear you out. You are allowed to keep visits short, ask people to come another week, or say no altogether. Anyone who visits should be well, wash their hands, and ideally be up to date on vaccines such as whooping cough and flu. The most helpful visitors bring food and leave with the dishes done.
Call your care provider if low mood, worry or tearfulness lasts beyond two weeks, gets worse, or stops you from eating, sleeping or caring for yourself. Weeks 3 to 5 look at postpartum depression and anxiety in full. Get help right away if you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, or you see or hear things others do not.
For your partner: Be the gatekeeper this week: field messages, set visiting times, and ask guests to bring a meal rather than stay long.
Day 14 · 1 week 6 days old
The first checkups for both of you
In the first two weeks, your baby is usually seen by a doctor, nurse or midwife once or twice, often within days of going home and again around now. They will weigh your baby, check jaundice, the cord, feeding and diapers, and examine the heart, hips and eyes. Most babies are back to birth weight by 10 to 14 days and then gain about 150 to 200 g (5 to 7 oz) a week. If your baby is slower, expect feeding support and another weigh-in. You need care too. Many places offer a midwife, nurse or doctor visit in the first week or two. It covers bleeding, healing, breasts, blood pressure, bladder and bowels, and your mood. Your fuller check comes at about 6 weeks.
Between visits, one rule matters above all for a young baby: fever is urgent. A temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher in a baby under 3 months needs a doctor the same day, right away, even if they seem well. Do not give fever medicine unless a doctor tells you to.
Call your baby's doctor right away if your baby has a fever, or a temperature that stays below about 36.5 °C despite warm clothing. Get help right away if your baby is limp, hard to wake, or struggling to breathe. Try this: Start a note on your phone for questions as they come up, and bring it to the next appointment.