The Needs of a Newborn Baby-5 Things About Newborn

When babies are first born, they are a tiny, helpless bundle of needs. The baby must have all of these needs met if they will survive and grow. The baby needs to be fed, cleaned, and kept comfortable. These three things are the basics of good parenting and are universal for all babies. After meeting these needs, some babies may have particular needs. These needs vary from baby to baby and from culture to culture. Each baby has specific requirements. Some of these are important for the baby to survive and grow and develop physically. Others provide favorable conditions for emotional, social, and intellectual development. Some condition needs of a newborn baby.                                                              –

Warmth Needs of a Newborn Baby

A standard body temperature of both adults and children can be from 36-37 5 c (97 to 99). It varies slightly throughout the day, usually being higher in the evening than in the morning.

It also affects the temperature of the surroundings and exercise. Also, crying makes a baby hot and raises the body temperature slightly. The arms, legs, or back are a more reliable guide to the baby’s temperature than the hands or feet.

While in the uterus, the mother keeps the baby at the right temperature. After birth, the baby is still dependent on her to protect him from becoming too hot or cold.

A baby should keep at a room temperature of around 20 c (68 f) day and night for the first month of life. As the baby grows more extensive and robust, he gradually becomes abler. To keep himself warm when in a cold place, the room in which the baby sleeps should continue to hold at about 20 c until the baby is several months old.

Effects of cold Full-term babies have some protection against losing warmth from the body, as they are born with a layer of fat under the skin. This fat helps keep the warmth in and can be used as fuel to supply extra heat when necessary.

However, a newborn baby keeps in a cold place for too long. He loses more heat than he can generate and will suffer from hypothermia (low body heat). This condition may cause the baby to suffer from cold injury and can even cause death. The smaller the baby, the more quickly heat is lost from the body.

Effects of Heat on a Newborn Baby

If newborn babies get too hot, they cannot move away from the heat in a hot room or hot weather. A baby who has covered too many clothes or blankets will become very uncomfortable and irritable and may develop a heat rash.

In hot weather, water is lost from the body by sweating. Excessive water loss leads to drying out-dehydration -of the body. This dangerous condition is prevented by ensuring that children, particularly babies, take insufficient water in food and drinks.

Fresh air and sunlight Babies benefit from being out of doors for a while each day, as long as they do not become too hot or cold. Being in the fresh air helps make them lively, improves their appetite, puts a healthy color into the cheeks, and allows them to sleep soundly at night.

Sunlight contains ultraviolet rays that kill bacteria and make the skin produce vitamin D. As these rays cannot pass through the glass, children need to be out of doors to benefit.

Too much sun in the summer can quickly burn a baby’s delicate skin and cause over-heating. The head is most vulnerable, so babies should wear a sun hat.

Effect Air Pollution Newborn Baby

The air near some factories or heavy traffic tends to pollute with toxic substances. Factories give out smoke and sulfur dioxide as waste products, and cars produce carbon monoxide and lead compounds.

Lead is added to some petrol to improve the performance of motor engines and is expelled into the air with the exhaust gases. In some areas of heavy traffic, lead can reach dangerously high levels, which may cause brain damage in young children.

Continuity of Care Newborn Baby

A baby should be cared for by many familiar people rather than by strangers. These people provide a constant center to the baby’s life and give him security to make him feel safe. A baby cannot cope with meeting many new people simultaneously; he needs to get to know them one by one.

The mother is usually the main person who looks after the baby, but the more the father is involved, the happier. He can help the mother with the continuous and tiring day-to-day care of their new baby.

At the same time, he can share the fun and interest in watching the baby develop.

The Routine

Most young babies soon fall into a pattern of sleeping, being awake, and wanting to be fed. The way varies from baby to baby and may change quite often as the baby gets older.

Both mother and baby are likely to be happier when the mother follows her baby’s natural pattern and does not insist on a routine.

The new mother may be told that it is essential to have a routine- that is, set times for feeding and changing the baby and for bath-time, bed-time, etc. This is sound advice only if the mother fits the routine around the baby’s natural pattern of behavior.

It can be a recipe for a bad temper for a mother to try to make her baby feed and sleep at certain times to keep to her routine.

When a baby becomes old enough to understand what is wanted. Which will probably not be until at least the age of one year. Then a suitable routine can be beneficial to family life.