The first month with my newborn baby- breast milk, formula milk, crying, food and playing with the baby

After 40 weeks of waiting, the first time you see your baby is certain to be one of the most exciting and memorable moments of your life. At the same time, life is never going to be same again. You are a parent now, a mother or a father. As a new parent you have to learn several things, understand your junior who depends on you for everything. In this article, I will share with you some of my experiences.

The first week:

The first week with your newborn will be a memorable experience in your life. You cannot live in the same way as before, you have to make some changes in your life, you have a new member in your family. One thing that you will be mostly worried about during the first week is how to calm the crying baby. Even if you try to give the beast milk, you will notice that there is not enough milk. You may also feel that you cannot feed the baby by just the breast milk.

One of the main problem with formula milk is some babies get stomach pain. We give formula milk for the baby stops crying however, it turns out that baby cries even more due to stomach pain. Another problem with formula milk is, once baby get used to it, she will be very reluctant to drink the breast milk. Its human nature to be lazy. Why to suck the milk out of breast with great effort when you can get milk easly form the bottles. Once the baby get used to the bottle milk, she may start crying when you bring her near the breast. Hence, we tried to limit the formula milk as much as possible. We gave formula milk mainly when we go out for shopping or in the night. However, breast milk is the best way to feed the baby. Many of our friends never gave formula milk to their babies.

Please don't get worried when your baby cries. Its quite normal. When your few weeks old baby cries, its wise to assume that she is hungry. But it can also be that her diaper need to be changed or she has some gas problem in the stomach or some rashes due to the diaper. One way to calm the baby is to walk with the baby, or go out with the baby in the wagon. Our child slept most of the time when she was in the wagon. Never let the child settle down by herself as it will have psychological effects on the children. Go for a walk carrying the baby or switch on light music that can help the child sleep. Our child usually stopped crying when she can hold on to the breast. In the initial days she slept with nipples in the mouth. Even if you don't have enough milk, just let the child hang on the breasts, this is one of the easiest way to calm the baby.

Another reason why babies cries is tiredness. If your baby is just few weeks old and is awake for more than an hour, she will become tired and start crying. What we used to do is to take them to a lonely place and wind down gradually. Most of the time, you can see the reason for crying by looking at her face. If she opens mouth showing you the tongue, it means she is hungry. If she is really sleepy, you can see it on her eyes. Sometimes it can also be that her diaper need to be changed.

Our baby sometimes cries while drinking milk from the breast. Then the reason is she need to puke. Babies cries when they have gas in the stomach. All babies take in a certain amount of wind when they are feeding. This will make the baby feel that her stomach is full and may start crying when she is in the breast. In our case, when the baby continued to start crying even after giving breast milk, we assumed that she has wind in the stomach. We take the baby up in the arms and constantly pate and rub their back. She puked out some of the milk and now she is calm. We always had a towel near her when she is drinking milk, to use when she want to puke.

Milk is produced in the breasts on demand-supply  basis. The more the child sucks the breast, the more milk it produces. It’s quite normal that there is not enough milk during the initial days. The more the child sucks the more it produces. Another thing that you have to be careful is to make sure that the baby sucks one breast completely before you switch to the next. The fatty energy rich part of the milk pockets are the back and it will take some time to come out. You or your partner could either

You will also notice that your baby gets up every 2-3 hrs even in the night and ask for food. I also know a case when their child got up every 20 minutes. Your sleeping hours will be completely disrupted. When we had the baby what we did was, the husband stayed in a different room during night, so that he get a whole night sleep. If you both are drowsy the next day, who will run the family. During the day time, the husband go out with the baby for a walk with the baby carriage and come back after 2-3 hrs. And during this time, let the wife sleep, so that you both can share the burden and run the family.

Another most important thing that you have to be careful is that the mother has to drink a lots of water. She also needs to eat lots of meat, drink milk and vegetables. The baby gets what the mother eats and drinks. It will be take around 2 hrs for the food that the mother has taken is converted to the nutrients in the milk. So if you are breastfeeding without taking proper food, the baby will never get contented with the milk, as it does not have enough nutrients for the child's hunger. So eat and drink always at least during the initial days of breastfeeding.

Another problem that you may face in early days in the pain the nipples. When you start breastfeeding the baby, it may pain like hell. You may also complain that the baby is bitting at the nipples. There is a special cream that you can apply on your nipples to avoid this pain. Consult your midwife or doctor for the locally available cream to reduce the pain the nipples during breastfeeding.

At the age of 3-4 weeks most babies are happy to amuse themselves after they are fed. They also like to look at your face. She will love to listen to your voices and respond. She may smile at you and open her mouth in reply to your facial plays. Our child did all these. When she was about 3-4 weeks she started smiling when I play with her. She also started producing cooing sounds. Many experts says to encourage her to vocalize more by repeating her words. I also observed that our child tried to imitate my facial expressions when I play with her.

During this time, its recommended to give the child a musical cot mobile. It is designed to train the child to track things with his eyes.We did not buy this separately but together with an automatic swing. The automatic swing was extremely helpful for the child to sleep. It has a kind of musical cot mobile attached to it.

During the first month we also observed that our baby liked to look at black and white or brightly colored pictures. She also liked to look at the ceiling lamp. I could not figure out what exactly she is looking at, but she is either looking at the light or the design of the lamp.

Our baby loved hearing singsong voices and gurgling noises.  But all these things were possible when her stomach was full and has rested.

When our child was about 3 weeks old, she could raise her head for few minutes when she lied on her tummy. According to the research, such an exercise for few minutes daily can strengthen her neck and train her to control her boy weight and take the weight on her arms.