Hello, tiny person
Your baby is adjusting to life outside, and you're adjusting to life with them. This week is about feeding, sleeping, keeping them close — and being gentle with yourself.
Getting to know each other
Newborns focus most clearly at about 20 to 30 centimetres — roughly the distance to your face when you hold them for a feed. They already know your voice, and they'll turn towards it.
Lots of skin-to-skin contact helps with bonding, calms your baby, and helps feeding get started — and that goes for both parents. There's no such thing as holding a newborn too much.
Some things about brand-new babies look odd but are completely normal: a slightly pointy or bruised head from the birth, puffy eyes, swollen genitals, and skin that's blotchy or peeling. Most of this settles within days or weeks.
Feeding, nappies and weight
Expect feeding to be very frequent — often 8 to 12 times or more in 24 hours, and sometimes every hour in the first days. Tiny tummies need little and often, whatever milk they're getting.
Nappies tell you a lot this week. The first poos are black and sticky (meconium), turning greenish then yellow by around day 4 or 5, and wet nappies build up day by day — roughly one on day one, two on day two, and so on.
Most babies lose some weight in the first few days — up to around 10% of their birth weight can be normal — and then start gaining again. Your midwife will keep an eye on this, so you don't have to do the maths.
Sleep — theirs, safely
Newborns sleep in short bursts around the clock, often only one to three hours at a time, with no day–night pattern yet. That's how they're built, not a problem to fix.
For every sleep, day and night: on their back, in their own clear, flat, firm sleep space (cot or Moses basket) in the same room as you. No pillows, bumpers, toys or loose bedding, and a room temperature of about 16–20°C is ideal.
Never fall asleep with your baby on a sofa or armchair — it's one of the riskiest situations for a baby. If you think you might doze off during a feed, it's safer to feed on a bed prepared with the Lullaby Trust's co-sleeping advice in mind.
And you
You've just done something enormous. Bleeding, afterpains, soreness and exhaustion are all part of normal recovery — rest when you can and accept every offer of help.
Around day 2 or 3, many mums feel weepy, anxious or irritable as hormones shift. This is the 'baby blues' and it usually passes within about two weeks — if it doesn't, tell your midwife or health visitor.
In the UK, your midwife team will visit in the first days, and around day 5 they'll offer the heel-prick blood spot test, plus a hearing screen if it wasn't done in hospital. Partners: your job this week is protection and provisions — guarding rest, making food appear, and holding the baby so someone can shower.
Feeding at this stage
Pick how you're feeding — we'll remember for next time. Every one of these is a good way to feed a baby.
Breastfeeding
- Feed whenever your baby shows hunger signs — rooting, hands to mouth, stirring — without watching the clock; very frequent feeding now is how your supply gets established.
- The first milk (colostrum) comes in tiny amounts and that's exactly what your baby needs; your milk usually 'comes in' around day 2 to 4 and your breasts will feel fuller.
- If latching hurts beyond the first few seconds, ask your midwife to check positioning and attachment early — small tweaks now prevent sore nipples later.
- Breastfed babies need daily vitamin D drops (8.5–10 micrograms in the UK) from birth — ask your midwife or pharmacist.
Breast + expressed
- In the first days, hand expressing works better than a pump for collecting colostrum — a midwife can show you, and tiny syringes are perfectly normal for these tiny volumes.
- If your baby can't feed at the breast yet, expressing 8 or more times in 24 hours (including once at night) tells your body to build a full supply.
- Any expressed milk can be given by syringe, cup or bottle this week — your midwife can help you find what works for your baby.
Breast + formula
- Combining breast and formula from the start is a valid, loving choice — and any amount of breastmilk your baby gets counts.
- If you'd like to keep breastfeeding as part of the mix, offering the breast before a formula top-up helps protect your supply while it's establishing.
- Use a first infant formula (the one labelled 'first' or 'stage 1') — it's the only kind babies need this year, and brands are all nutritionally similar.
- Formula top-ups in the early days are sometimes advised for weight or jaundice — that's a medical bridge, not a verdict on your breastfeeding.
Formula
- Formula feeding is a safe, healthy way to feed your baby — feed responsively, whenever they show hunger cues, rather than to a schedule.
- Make up each feed fresh, follow the instructions on the tin exactly, and never add extra powder — too much can cause constipation or dehydration.
- Hold your baby close and semi-upright, keep the bottle fairly horizontal, and let them pause and take breaks — this 'paced' style lets them control the feed.
- Don't worry if they don't finish the bottle — your baby knows how much they need, and leftover milk should be thrown away within an hour.
Totally normal (even when it doesn't feel it)
- Losing a little weight in the first days — up to around 10% of birth weight — is common and is usually regained within two to three weeks.
- Black, tar-like first poos (meconium) are exactly what should be in those first nappies.
- Tiny white spots on the face (milk spots) and blotchy newborn rashes are very common and clear on their own.
- Newborn breathing is naturally irregular — fast bursts, slow patches and brief pauses of a few seconds are normal.
- Frequent hiccups and sneezing are normal — sneezing is just how babies clear their little noses, not a sign of a cold.
- Swollen genitals or breasts (in boys and girls), and a small spot of blood in a girl's nappy in the first week, are caused by your hormones and settle by themselves.
- Eyes that occasionally drift or cross are normal at this age and usually settle by around 4 months.
Worth checking
You know your baby best — if any of these ring true, or something just feels off, it's always OK to ask.
- A temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher — in a baby under 3 months this always needs same-day advice: call your midwife, GP or NHS 111 (UK); in the US, call your pediatrician straight away.
- Yellowing skin or eyes in the first 24 hours of life — call your midwife or maternity unit urgently; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Fewer wet nappies than expected for their day of life, dark urine, or a dry mouth — call your midwife or health visitor or GP; in the US, your pediatrician.
- A baby who is very sleepy, hard to wake for feeds, or not interested in feeding — call your midwife or GP; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Working hard to breathe — grunting, sucking in under the ribs, nostrils flaring — or a pause in breathing that frightens you: call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- Blue or grey lips or tongue, or a baby who is floppy and unresponsive — call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- Heavy vaginal bleeding for you (soaking a pad in an hour), fever or feeling faint — call your midwife urgently or 111; if severe, 999 (UK) or 911 (US).