Some new parents worry about whether their baby is doing enough wet nappies, and with disposable nappies it can be hard to detect little wee's. One way to tell while the nappy is still on, is feeling the nappy - the gel swells slightly when wet and you can feel this with your fingers.
When a baby is hungry they will gape their mouth open and turn their head toward you, like little chicks in a nest getting ready to receive worms!
When newborn, a baby should be fed every 3 hours or more. Sometimes you get a very sleepy baby who doesn't want to wake for feeds but you have to encourage them. On the other hand, some babies suck for England and can make you very sore (not to mention tied down!), which is managed by learning to notice when they've stopped gulping milk and are just nibbling sucking without swallowing. If that happens too much, you simply need to find different ways to comfort them (cuddles, white noise, movement etc).
You'll find your baby doesn't fit a "one size fits all" model, they grow at different rates (so some babies grow out of carrycots/moses baskets faster than others) and they prefer different comforts. For example, I had one very sucky baby (so in the end I had to use a dummy) and another who absolutely loved white noise (which I have on a phone app). One became deeply relaxed after a bath, the other woke up with a ping! One loved the car motion and the other screamed the whole journey. One fell asleep within minutes of breastfeeding and the other bites, squirms and wriggles the whole way through each feed. So as I said, one size doesn't fit all.
The most important things to know in my experience are:
- How to keep your baby alive
feed enough, check they poo and wee enough, keep them safe
- How to keep them safe
Most of it is SIDS related really. So don't overheat or underheat, transport them safely, keep them with you (or another caretaker) while sleeping for the first 6 months, lie them flat until they can hold themselves sitting upright, and on their back until they can roll themselves over
- How your personal baby works
you'll need to try lots of different things and soon you'll see which ones your baby prefers. When crying, do they prefer to be cuddled or left in peace to sleep with comforting noise in the background etc)
When they cry, go through a mental checklist of:
- Are they hungry
- Are they soiled
- Are they too hot or too cold (check back of neck or stomach rather than just the room temperature or hands and feet)
- Are they bored? As baby goes older they look for little chats with other people and want to see moving trees, traffic, squeaky toys etc.
- Are they tired? This is a biggy. If you have a "regular as clockwork" baby then you can give them an hour after feeding before you lie them down for a rest again. But if (like most babies) it varies, you have to learn to spot the clues. My babies were not eye-rubbing types, but have all been a bit past it after the second yawn so we had to act quickly or there would be a melt-down!
So what I've taken forever to say is there is a structure of basic needs and then a different layer of individual baby needs, which you will learn as you go.
Somehow we all make it though! So you'll be fine. There's always a way to find answers if you feel stuck. Are someone once said, "a worried Mother will do better research then the FBI"!