This is for anyone that has answers:
What are good resources for how often to go to pediatrician, change diapers, clean ears and nose and all that good stuff? I am feeling a little anxious that I may screw things up. So I want to know if anyone has any good suggestions for books or websites that will help? TIA
Re: Taking care of newborn questions.........
I'm reading this book and have really enjoyed it. It has also helped to answer a lot of my questions
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations-Babys-First-Year/dp/1402736460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309719640&sr=1-1
your pedi will schedule your appts. but you can expect to go 1 week after LO is born and then for us it was 1 month, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months etc...and we had some trips in there just for shots because we chose to do a delayed scheduled of vaccines.
you can expect to change 10-12 diapers a day unless you have an expert popper then it may be more. we kept track of all wet/poopy diapers for the first few weeks to make sure she was having enough and gaining weight (they will go over this at the hospital and at your pedi appt.)
cleaning ears--i was nervous to do it until she was about 3 months old and since then we do it every other night after her bath with the child safety swabs (you can't get them in too far if you tried).
and as for the nose.....newborns sneeze A LOT. their little noses are getting used to being outside babies and breathing dry air. it is great to use a cool mist humidifier in their room while they sleep and you can use saline solution (Little Noses is great) to help if they seem dry, congested,etc. you will become a pro at squirting saline and then using the aspirator (snot sucker)!! make sure they give you one in the hospital--you will never find another that will work as well as the one they give you.
try not to stress......no matter how much you read up on these things you will learn as you go.
I got this book and like it a lot so far - very readable!
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-411-4th-Answers-Advice/dp/1889392340/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309720091&sr=1-2
My boss gave me this book to borrow when she found out I was pregnant. Since I have been through it four times before with my nanny kids, most of the stuff I didn't have to really think about but there are still some things that the book has answered my questions about....
This may have been different for us because our pedi did not do hospital visits for newborns, but we had an appointment 2 days after discharge and then when DD was 2 weeks old. After that, it was 2 months, 4 months, and so on.
ETA: Forgot to add: This book was recommended to me and I found it helpful- also like Baby 411, which was recommended by a previous poster.