Newborn questions - what do/did you do?

[fishpietea]

My baby is a week old and we're muddling through ok but I'd love to hear what others do/did re the following
How often do you change your baby? Every feed?
And during the night?
After night feeding do you get your baby back to sleep in your arms before putting them back down or put them down awake?
Do you undress your baby before a feed?
How many layers does your baby have on in the night?

Please add any questions you have or useful tips I haven't asked about

Thanks

Hi Fish

I am also a first time new mum, my DD is 2 wks old. I can't offer advice as I feel like I am making it up as I go along but I can share what I am doing....

Feeding every three hours, day and night, as advised by midwives, as DD was born 4 wks early due to restricted growth - only weighs 4lb 4oz. We change her at every feed, usually before. Sometimes strip her down for a feed, sometimes not.

She wears a body suit and baby gro day and night. And yes, I am letting her fall asleep on me during the night feeds and then try to slip her in to her crib, with varying degrees of success... Sometimes I get away with it and sometimes she wakes and gets upset. This only happens at night! Last night I was up for hours with her... She will sleep happily on me in any position but when I put her in her crib she grunts, strains and seems generally v pissed off til I pick her up again. Not much fun but I think it's just a phase newborns go through?? During the day we have none of these probs.

Hope you are having more success! Congrats on your new baby x

My little boy is 4wks. He's my second - his big sister is 2.5yo. It still feels like muddling through though as they're very different babies!

He is breastfed so I just feed on demand. It usually works out about every 2hrs but during the evenings he tends to 'cluster feed' so it's more frequent.

During the day I change his nappy every 2-3hours. I donn't change his nappy in the night unless he smells like it's pooey or he feels damp/ seems uncomfortable.

He wears a body suit and a sleep suit day and night and now he's a bit bigger he sleeps in a baby sleeping bag rather than blankets.

He has a bath every other day.

I let him sleep on me quite a lot (in a sling during the day so my hands are free) and at night, he tends to fall asleep on me after a feed. I'll wait until he's spark out (usually about 20mins) and then transfer him to his crib.

My little girl is 4 weeks tomorrow.

She has a bottle every three hours give or take 20 minutes either way. Just increased the amount to 5oz as sometimes she is hungrier than others, just following her lead really. I tend to feed her 2/3's and then wind her and change her and feed her the rest until she dozes off. She falls asleep on me ( which I love ) and then I put her in her basket. Day time she is fine, night time she won't always settle.

Bath every night and then bottle. We put her in just a baby grow as she always seems quite warm, she has a blanket but normally throws it off! We put her in a vest and baby grow if we think it will be cold at night like recently.

I only changed my son during the night if I was awake and aware enough to notice if he needed changed. I didn't change him every feed even during the day.

Most of the time he would sleep feed at night but if he was awake I put him down in his cot with the light on his mobile on and he fell asleep quickly (I was lucky he was a good sleeper from an early age)

I never undressed him before a feed, I just put a muslin over him in case he brought any back up. (also stopped him getting it all over me at 3 in the morning)

DS has always felt the heat so even at a few weeks old he was too hot with a vest and sleepsuit, but we had a heatwave that year and he ended up sleeping in just a nappy some nights. Every baby is different in how hot or cold they get especially with central heating.

I remember questioning everything I did for the first couple of months, then I found a great friend at a toddler group and we had a wonderful "bad mothers club" between us. We admitted everything we did that we thought was terrible and found out that we were going through almost the same thing was happening to us and a few of the other mums too. We stayed away from any mum who seemed to think that they did everything correctly and had a perfect child until they broke down and admitted they were struggling too.

Nothing to add, just lurking as PFB due in a few weeks.

Feeding dd2 on demand so currently every 2.5hrs.
I only change her when needed not every feed.
At night I keep it as dark and quiet as possible, feed, sit her up for 20mins and then put her down in cot whether asleep or awake.
She sleeps in short sleeved body suit, sleep suit and sleeping bag.

The best tip I ever had was to put the matress of the moses basket behind my back when feeding - it warms it up and makes it smell of you. Really helps them to settle.

DS is now 9 months old. I did GinaFord though which isn't popular here on MN but here's what I did when DS was a newborn:

Changed at every feed - with a freshening wet wipe to wake him fully so that he'd be more likely to take a full feed

Put him down as soon as he'd finished feeding for night feeds - swaddled him back up in his blanket, popped in the Moses basket, turned Ewan on, and turned light out. Did not want to get into the habit of cuddling him to sleep at night.

As a newborn changed him into a vest and sleepsuit every night after bathing him (August baby) and then just a super light weight cotton blanket to swaddle him in the Moses basket. From about 8 weeks I started using gro bags with a cotton sheet to stop him shifting around the cot.

He is an exemplary sleeper - been happy to self settle from early on, and slept through (with a dream feed 10pm) from 7 weeks and then fully once weaned at 6 months. However I think a lot of that is just his personality - not a cuddly baby, and I know that the Gina Ford methods really don't work for a lot of people.

DD had flappy arms and couldn't sleep for hitting herself in the face, so we used a swaddlepod, easier than blankets and just thin cotton. Vest and sleepsuit on, and a cellular blanket over the top if it was cold (she was born last March and it was snowing!). Removed layers depending on the temperature.

I always put her down awake, and she sleeps well now, but I suspect that's largely luck. Changed and fed every three hours (demand feeding only works with babies who actually demand food, whereas DD didn't really grasp the concept until a couple of months ago). Tried to avoid nappy changes at night unless there was poo, but at that age there's pretty much always poo.

Why on earth would you undress them for a feed?

Undressing them for a feed is to keep them awake as they're a bit cooler I guess.
It's good to read how everyone else is doing stuff
I'm breastfeeding on demand which is typically 1.5 hours to 3 hours between feeds which can take 40 mins. He was an 8lb13 baby so maybe makes him hungrier?
Have been changing him once during the night on average.
I sometime strip him to a nappy or at least to a vest to feed so I can wake him easier when he nods off. He settles really easily on us and it's hit and miss whether settles in his basket.
He's wearing a vest bodysuit and a sleepsuit day and night and then has 2 cellular blankets at night, not sure if this too much?

Hi feelingirie, night times are like that for us too. I'm hoping to get more of a routine after about 6 weeks.
I just have no idea if we're doing things right or not. Baby was weighed yday and had gained 6oz in 2 days so he's obviously getting something from the feeds which are completely led by him! Not really planned, just been rubbish at trying to work to times.
Fish

How often do you change your baby? Every feed?
I changed my dc when they'd had a poo. Or after 3 ish hours. Whichever came 1st.
And during the night? I didn't bother changing overnight unless the nappy was overly wet or if they'd pooed.
After night feeding do you get your baby back to sleep in your arms before putting them back down or put them down awake? I never tried to get either of them to sleep in my arms; they were happy enough to drift off in their Moses basket.
Do you undress your baby before a feed? I never did - it didn't occur to me to do so.
How many layers does your baby have on in the night? It depended on the temperature. If I was warm enough with nothing on and just a duvet, I'd dress them in a babygrow and a blanket. If it was very warm they'd wear just a vest and a light sheet. If it was very cold they'd wear a vest, babygro and have a thicker blanket over.

I think, as a rule of thumb, if you consider what you're comfortable wearing then your baby should have one more layer on.
I read that bigger babies don't necessarily need more milk/are more hungry but they're more able to sleep longer periods as they have more fat/energy reserves. I've no idea how true that is, though.
I think that if your baby appears settled, content, is feeding well, is peeing and pooing well and is gaining weight then you're doing it 'right'. I don't think there is such a thing as a 'right' or 'wrong' routine; just that if it works for you and your family then it's fine.
Congratulations on your baby :)

Ds2 is 18mo now but I can just about remember what I did with him:
• Breastfed on demand, so whenever he cried for it - clusterfeeding usually late in the evening to start with.
• He was mostly in cloth nappies during the day and disposables overnight, so the cloth would get changed between 4 and 6 times a day, depending on how often he pooed, and the disposable would only be changed if he pooed during the night. I'd always make sure that his nappy was changed within 4h in the day though, whether he'd pooed or not.
• I never changed him prior to a feed, and had muslins/towels to catch anything he spat back (sometimes a whole feed, it felt like, because he was a gulper and had reflux)
• Like DS1, he overheats at the drop of a hat, so I'd have him in a singlet vest (not easily available in the UK but ever so useful in Australia!) and his sleepsuit, and then blankets or a cardigan for extra warmth if necessary. I couldn't get a hat on him for love nor money though - he hated them! still does.
• I co-sleep with DS2, so nightfeeds are quite easy and he goes back to sleep next to me - I keep the duvet well away from him, even now, but he's a little beggar and won't keep the sheet or blanket over him! So I have to make sure his sleepsuits are enough to keep him warm without overheating, and now it's getting colder (still in Australia) I have to have a heater on in the room, just to keep it warm enough so that he doesn't get too cold.

As a PP has said, so long as he's eating well, gaining weight, pooing, weeing etc. then you're doing all right. :)

1. Changed them every feed unless they had done a poo
2. Same at night
3. I would put mine back in the cot and they would often settle themselves with a bit of shushing and patting from me. We also used dummies for the first 20 weeks. They were usually put down sleepy but awake. I never did the asleep transfer.
4. Mine were winter babies, they had 2 layers at night (short sleeved vest and babygrow) and were swaddled then went into sleeping bags when they reach they recommended weight.

Congratulations