Newborn Care

When it's time to bathe your baby, you have to deal with fear-- both yours and the baby's! Newborns and infants don't need complete immersion (ih-MUR-zhun) bathing more than two or three times a week, other than thoroughly cleaning the diaper area during changes and after feedings.

While bottle-feeding may be more convenient for the mother, formula makers have not yet found a way to reproduce all the wonderful components that make human milk unique, including its enzymes and antibodies.

If a baby was circumcised (SIR-come-sized), there may be some soreness and perhaps a little bleeding. Using double diapers the first day will help cushion the penis and keep the baby's thighs from pressing against it.

Colic (CAW-lick) is not really a disease, it's more of a general term used to describe a condition. The main symptoms are prolonged fussiness and crying spells, usually beginning in the late afternoon and lasting until bedtime.

One of the changes in American culture over the past generation has been the more active, direct role that many fathers have chosen to take in raising their infants.

While it's now universally acknowledged that breast-feeding is the optimum way a newborn should be nourished, there are some cases in which breast-feeding isn't possible, so parents must use commercial formulas.

Here in the U-S, more children are killed or injured in car accidents than from any other type of injury. It's the law in every state that all children under 40 pounds must ride in a car seat.

Nearly every baby develops diaper rash at some time. Red patches on the infant's buttocks, genitals, or thighs are the most common symptom. They may become severely inflamed if the bacteria in the child's urine breaks down into ammonia.

'Jaundice' (JAWN-diss) is a yellow-orange discoloration of the skin and the whites of the eyes caused by the buildup of a substance called 'bilirubin' (bil-ih-ROO-bun).

Mothering is the most important job on earth, but unfortunately kids don't come with instruction manuals. It's not unusual at times for mothers to feel a range of emotions, from boredom, exhaustion, or inadequacy to joy and ecstasy (EX-tuh-see).

Babies used to be given solid food almost from birth. Now it's believed that it's best to wait until at least four to six months of age, when the baby's digestive system is more fully developed.

When is the right time to wean (WEEN) your child from bottle or breast-feeding? If you're nursing, that can be an open-ended question, because in some cultures mothers nurse a child as old as five.