Newborn questions

lalaith50 · March 2014

(Do we have one of these already?) A place for people to ask random, clueless mom questions. -what do I really need for a thermometer for LO? One of the ped's at the office said only a rectal temp is reliable, but the other doc who I saw today said a temporal thermometer is ok for some kids, or underarm is ok if they haven't been waving their arms around, or rectal if you can't get a good reading. I really don't want three thermometers, and I already have a fancy temporal one! -LO has some puss in one of his eyes, google tells me it is probably a clogged tear duct, any experience with this? (Of course, I didn't notice it until we had JUST returned from th doctor!) Eta: LO made me click submit too soon

lalaith50 · March 2014

(Why does my iPad fail at paragraphs?!) Also, twice in the week since we've been home LO has screamed hysterically at night, once for 1 hour, and once for closer to 3. It occurred to us that both nights I had had a little bit of alcohol with dinner, half a beer (I'm bfing.) could that have affected him in such a way?

LaurenAsh23 · March 2014

I agree with @babycaps the breast milk really helps!!

BethRN1987 · March 2014

I do a rectal temp just because we have already been admitted for hypothermia. I don't check often though , I use her checks as my guide and adjust clothing from that. As she gets older I will probably use the temporal one.

clo1982 · March 2014

@lalaith50‌ it could be any number of things, a big one of which is just no reason at all. Dd used to flip her lid every night at 7...and multiple times during the night. She also had a clogged duct and the pedi said breast milk and the compress that was already suggested. If it didn't clear up they were going to prescribe a cream of some sort but it went away on its own.

KariB509 · March 2014

My new little DD has the clogged tear duct issue. My pedi told me to just gently wipe away the gunk with a warm wash cloth and then gently massage the bottom corner of the eye. That should help open the duct. She assured us that it was very normal.

KariB509 · March 2014

Here's my dumb newborn question (it's kind of shocking how much I've forgotten): when is it okay to start applying baby lotion? DD's skin is so dry and flakey. We haven't bathed her at home yet but anticipate the bath making her skin even drier.

KariB509 · March 2014

Thanks @‌farmboyswife!

jrw526 · March 2014

Also been using lotion since we've been home.

Pankers · March 2014

This is great. We actually have the gunk in the eye too! Will try the breast milk tomorrow. And the lotion question too.

I have a question for those with preemies. How do you cut/file/manage those tiny, tiny finger nails? We thought she'd scratched her eye, hence the gunk, but I can't see any scratches. But I need to start looking at keeping them under control,

jennybean80 · March 2014

Honestly I bite the twins nails. I find they're too soft to file, and the babies are to squirmy to use the clippers. I did it with DS1 until he was probably at least 6 months.

DaisyJane11 · March 2014

I often chewed DS nails off.

DS had gunky eyes until 6wks. Totally normal for some babies.

Maybe this is bad, but I prefer rectal temp for little ones. Easy to do at a diaper change.

clo1982 · March 2014

I use baby clippers that have a light at the end which is really helpful. I also do it when he is sleeping so there are no wiggles. For lotion I've been using aquafor. The nurses in the hospital said anything in scented was fine but really I'm sure any gentle lotion is ok. His baby wash has a scent and it doesn't bother him so I can't imagine a lotion would.

springbaby03 · March 2014

I've got baby nail safety scissors, they feel safe as to not cut them too short

nblondheim · March 2014

There was a thread about bed time routine in which some said bath before bed....can you give a bath daily?? I thought it shouldn't be every day.

nlane0723 · March 2014

I think the frequency of baths depends on baby's skin. We have bathed Harper twice since her cord stump fell off. One of those baths was because she exploded out of her diaper and I had to wash poop off her back and chest.

nblondheim · March 2014

We are on a 3 day bath rotation but I also like the idea of a bedtime routine including a bath! We tried the bath before bed tonight with bedtime lotion and a bottle after...we'll see!

ntdane · March 2014

With DS1 daily bath time as part of a bedtime routine came when he was older and dirtier. We did baths every 2-3 days and still made them part of the routine. Some nights it was bath, books, bed, others it was just books, bed.

BethRN1987 · March 2014

How long did you guys use your peri bottle? I'm 10 days post and only using for stools. Pee I'm ok with toilet paper

FroeschleN · March 2014

Another question, and yes I know it's stupid but... when doing middle of the night diaper changes do you just turn the normal light on? Do you use just a night light? A miners hat with the light in the front? Just kidding on the last one, but I was wondering since I thought putting the normal room lights on would wake baby up even more, or maybe not? I understand I still need to see what I'm doing but wasn't sure what will work best. :-/

Rita092010 · March 2014

FroeschleN said:

Another question, and yes I know it's stupid but... when doing middle of the night diaper changes do you just turn the normal light on? Do you use just a night light? A miners hat with the light in the front? Just kidding on the last one, but I was wondering since I thought putting the normal room lights on would wake baby up even more, or maybe not? I understand I still need to see what I'm doing but wasn't sure what will work best. :-/

With my first, if it was just a wet diaper, I did the change mostly in the dark/nightlight because A) I was on autopilot and

I did not want to wake him up.

I think it is preference. However, I always changed before feeding so that the natural routine of baby falling asleep after feeding wasn't disturbed.

sebullows · March 2014

How many burps should I get out of my baby after feeding? He's formula and breast milk fed, both through a bottle (not my original plan

) I typically burp him once half way through and once at the end, but he almost always spits up a tiny bit about 10 minutes after his last burp.

BTBergstrom · March 2014

My lil one didn't poop yesterday. She is 3 days old. Is it normal to not poop everyday? I was going to call the pedi/nurse in the morning? Also I am hoping its a newborn thing but durin the day she does fine to put her down and she stays asleep but at night forget about it I end up sleeping with her in my arms.

BTBergstrom · March 2014

FarmBoysWife said:

BTBergstrom said:
My lil one didn't poop yesterday. She is 3 days old. Is it normal to not poop everyday? I was going to call the pedi/nurse in the morning? Also I am hoping its a newborn thing but durin the day she does fine to put her down and she stays asleep but at night forget about it I end up sleeping with her in my arms.
Ebf here- but James went 20 days no poop. Pedi wasn't concerned.

Now, when he did he did go, he was epic!

Ok we are ebf as well and I know she is getting lots of milk (I have been pumping on one side because she ruined the nipple on day one so trying to heal it up) at the hospital they made it sound like she should have more poops...she sure does fart a ton though and it fakes us out.

jazzyexpo · March 2014

Any tips to wake a baby, awake enough to eat? I don't like waking him and I know I should feed on demand, but he sleeps for 4 hours usually between feeds and that's with me waking him, trying to, to eat. Right now he's going on 5 hours, he's down to his diaper, and is still passed out.

Should I leave him alone? It just seems like a long time to not eat.

Eta- he's bf

sebullows · March 2014

@jazzyexpo‌
I JUST read this article bc I wondered the same thing. Idk how accurate it is but I thought it was interesting.
https://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/family/09/05/ep.newborn.mistakes/index.html?eref=rss_health
It says to feed on demand, as long as they eat by the end of 4 hours. So waking them up at 4 hours seems important, if he doesn't wake up first.
I wake Levi up by changing him first. I keep the lights dim so he's not wide awake (in the night), but it's enough to make him want to eat after. My mom said she would tickle our feet or blow on our cheeks to wake us up too.
I'm a FTM, so I don't know a whole lot, but hope this helps.

Eta- well, it says you should wake them up to 2 weeks old and do well at their 2 week checkup. Idk how old your baby is.

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lalaith50 · March 2014

Am I doing this diapering thing wrong? I try to always point his penis down, but sometimes he's really squirmy! He was born 8lbs8oz, and the hospital put him in size 1, but when I got home I tried newborn, both huggies and pampers, and there would be some sort of leakage about 3x a day, so we went back to size1. Didn't seem to be much difference in leakage, so now he's back to newborn, and I'm just trying to make sure they're on pretty tight. Still leaks about 2x a day. Is that normal or am I doing it wrong? I change him the expected 8-12x a day.

lalaith50 · March 2014

babycaps said:

Rectal temps are no longer recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

are you sure about that? Their website gives no indication. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/fever/pages/How-to-Take-a-Childs-Temperature.aspx (Eta: yes, I realize I could have just googled this before asking it in the first place...)

jrw526 · March 2014

BTBergstrom said:
My lil one didn't poop yesterday. She is 3 days old. Is it normal to not poop everyday? I was going to call the pedi/nurse in the morning? Also I am hoping its a newborn thing but durin the day she does fine to put her down and she stays asleep but at night forget about it I end up sleeping with her in my arms.

My pedi told us up to two weeks without a poop is completely normal for ebf babies. They are very efficient at using all the nutrients in breast milk.

DS pooped during every feed, but DD is now on day 3 with no poops. I'm waiting for an epic diaper!

Pankers · March 2014

We had no poop for 4 days, pediatrician was not concerned as long as there wet diapers.

laurendom · March 2014

I'm pretty sure my pedi told me BF babies do not poop as often as breast milk produces less waste and that wet diapers are most important.

As for waking baby to feed, I didn't need to very often as DD wasn't a great sleeper anyway, but if I had to, I would just lightly tickle her feet or chin and hoped she'd wake up slowly on her own.

nblondheim · March 2014

Does formula make a baby feel fuller longer than breast milk?

Brich3321 · March 2014

BTBergstrom said:
My lil one didn't poop yesterday. She is 3 days old. Is it normal to not poop everyday? I was going to call the pedi/nurse in the morning? Also I am hoping its a newborn thing but durin the day she does fine to put her down and she stays asleep but at night forget about it I end up sleeping with her in my arms.

This was my lil guy yesterday too. Luckily he had a big one this morning. But exactly the same with the sleeping thing. Daytime is great and at night we have been taking turns holding him. Hopefully we can break that pattern.

I'll admit I love the snuggles tho!

[Deleted User] · March 2014

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lwebley · March 2014

@sebullows @jazzyexpo At my 2 week appt my ped told me to continue to wake him every 3 hours during the day to feed, but if he's sleeping through the night go ahead and let him

Edit: forgot to mention he was above his birth weight

springbaby03 · March 2014

FroeschleN said:
Another question, and yes I know it's stupid but... when doing middle of the night diaper changes do you just turn the normal light on? Do you use just a night light? A miners hat with the light in the front? Just kidding on the last one, but I was wondering since I thought putting the normal room lights on would wake baby up even more, or maybe not? I understand I still need to see what I'm doing but wasn't sure what will work best. :-/

We use a light up ceiling star stuffed toy. We originally bought the turtle its wonderful. Changes from amber, to green to blue.

Then someone gave dd a dream lights ceiling star plush. I like this one more because you can manually turn it off when you choose, or it can shut off automatically at 20mins, there's also a switch to keep it on all night. (Nice for kids scared of thr dark)

Bright enough for changing and bfeeding but not bright enough to wake anyone.

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SomersIsles · March 2014

I'm getting some conflicting info on bowel movements and newborns... Kellymom says to look for 4-5 bowel movements per day and LeLecheLeague also agreed...

So now I'm confused because a lot of you are saying no bowel movements (for breastfed babies) is of no concern?

The LLL article talks about how wet diapers = hydration but bowel movements = calorie intake.

Thoughts?

https://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvdec97jan98p123.html

https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/enough-milk/