Control of temperature
It is often difficult for a newborn baby to maintain its temperature. In the womb, the baby was used to a constant temperature of about 37 degrees Celsius. Now that the baby is born, he will have to regulate a good temperature by himself. Support through hot water bottles and warm clothing is sometimes necessary. A good temperature is between 36.5 and 37.5 degrees Celsius, measured with a digital thermometer. It is difficult to judge from your baby’s skin whether he is at a good temperature. Moreover, hands and feet always feel a little cold. So measuring is knowing!
- For the first day after delivery, your baby will be temperature-tested regularly until it is shown that the body temperature is good.
- Unlike older children, a baby can also get hypothermia when there is an infection. So even when the temperature is too low, it is important to call one of our midwives!
Control of pee and poop diapers
Your baby is expected to urinate within about 24 hours. The number of urinary diapers increases as your baby takes in more food. When not enough fluids/feeding is consumed, your child may urate. This is highly concentrated urine that shows up in the diaper as a pink-orange discoloration. This often occurs during the first week after birth. This discoloration disappears on its own when there is more nutritional intake. Your baby should produce the first poopy diaper within 48 hours. The first poop is called meconium and looks black and is sticky. Lubricating the buttocks well with petroleum jelly or buttock cream during the first few days can easily wipe meconium off the skin. When your baby starts drinking well, the poop will change from brown and green (transitional stools) to yellow. During the first week, it is normal for your baby to have at least 1 poopy diaper per day.
Control of color
A newborn baby’s color is pink. The hands and feet may still see blue at first, but they color in soon enough, especially when your child is kept well warm. Your baby may start to see yellow during the third or fourth day. This is a natural process and the discoloration will disappear on its own after some time. In breastfed children, this can sometimes take several weeks.
My baby sees yellow
Before birth, a baby’s blood has a different composition than after birth. This is because during pregnancy, a baby has blood cells that can hold extra amounts of oxygen. After birth, these blood cells are no longer needed and they will be broken down. The breakdown of the blood cells releases substances (bilirubin) that are yellow in color, which can turn your baby yellow. It is not a bad thing for a baby to start seeing yellow, often it is a slight yellow discoloration. Moreover, it is something that is closely monitored by the maternity nurse and the midwife. When there is still doubt that a baby is seeing too much yellow, your midwife may decide to have the amount of bilirubin in your baby’s blood determined. This is done through a heel prick. If the blood test shows that the bilirubin level is too high, your baby will be placed under a blue light in the hospital so that the yellow color disappears a little faster. This light helps process the bilirubin. This treatment is not often necessary. If your child was born on time, is alert, drinks well, pees and poops properly, there is little chance that your child will have bilirubin levels that are too high.
Checking the weight
The weight is determined immediately after birth. During the puerperium your baby will be weighed a few times, in principle on the 3rd or 4th day and at the conclusion of the care by the maternity nurse. Although your baby drinks well, it is quite normal for it to lose some weight in the first few days. The weight may drop to 10% of the birth weight, which, by the way, is not achieved by many children. On the fourth day after delivery, the baby usually reaches its lowest weight and then starts to grow (rapidly) again. On average, a baby grows about 15 to 30 grams per day and it may take about 3 weeks to regain birth weight. Most babies reach their birth weight by the second week after birth.
In a laboratory, they test your baby's blood for some very rare but serious conditions. With timely detection of these disorders, treatment can (usually) be started that will limit or prevent damage to the child's development.
The heel prick involves taking blood from your baby's heel. This blood is examined in a laboratory for a number of rare diseases.