What Should I Be Doing With My Newborn, Seriously

Best piece of advice — take every expensive outfit someone gifts you and exchange them for onesies and plain white socks.

 

I will fill that role. The missus is Canadian and apparently they don’t care about germs up there. Which may or may not be why we have penicillin.

Mrs. jlee will make sure of that. I’m ... not very good at adapting without her assistance.

Way ahead of you, friend.

 

Good deal.
Also, enjoy all the little things. The weird things.
Like meeting with a loan officer and reaching into a coat pocket for something important and finding a slightly wet binky.

 

I did lab and x-ray for years at a practice with two family practice doctors and two pediatricians. I was the guy sticking their fingers, doing dipstick urinalysis, and shooting chest films from the teenie-tinies on up. You'd some interesting theories of child rearing.

I'd see first time moms come in and they'd have a bag of boiled pacifiers and a bag of dirty ones. If one hit the ground, she'd switch it. By kid two, she'd pick it off the floor and look it over, brush off any loose dirt, pick off any hair, maybe put into her own mouth to clean it off, and then she'd pop! it back in the kid's mouth. After you've seen your kid stick dirt, dead bugs, tree bark or whatever else they'd found in their mouth enough times, you loosen up.

I've taken little kids to the rest room and said "Pee in this cup, then put it here, in this cabinet" and been rewarded with a disbelieving stare and a scandalized "In a cup!?! I've also had that answered by so much laughter that I feared for the cups at their home.

There was a little girl, maybe eight, who was freaked out by so much as discussing her pee. I finally told her, "Look, everybody pees. Do you like Hannah Montana?" (This was some years ago, obviously). "Yesss?" "Well, Hannah Montana pees, too." That rocked her world, but it worked.

Kids can be funny.

 

Absolutely agree with this. Grandparents lose their minds.

You'll need a million white onesies . (We prefer the kimono style. Easier than pulling a regular t-shirt collar over the giant baby head, and doesn't irritate baby's chubby chubby neck. )

That said, before you exchange the miniature Bo Peep outfit including shepherd's crook for two dozen things you can actually use, try to get a picture of the kid wearing it.

 

And a word here about baby necks.

Be sure to check them chubby chubby neck folds at bath time, especially if you're bottle feeding.

Because even if you use a bib or a washcloth, over time enough milk or formula will slobber down into the double/triple/quadruple chins area that the baby might get a little yeasty/candida irritation there.

 

Tummy time.

Skin to skin.

Singing, humming, talking.

Be sure they're tracking you with their eyes and that they're hearing you. That their reflexes*, etc. etc., are appropriate.

You're going to be exhausted and frightened a lot, but it's important to be mindful of all the developmental milestones.


*Newborn Reflexes - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center

 

And be sure to find a great pediatrician.

You're going to need a lot of help. Don't be shy about asking for it.

Even if a mother-in-law or father-in-law or sister or brother can watch the kid a few hours, that's a couple hours sleep in the middle of a sleepless week you'll very much need.

 

When they sleep, you sleep.

Don’t chit chat on the phone when they sleep.

 

Exactly.

But never ever sleep with them. It's super tempting to just put them down beside you in the bed, especially when you're exhausted. Don't. Don't don't don't.

 

Congrats @jlee! Great to see this thread again!

Spike Jr. just turned 7 last Tuesday. For those just seeing this thread, a short version of his birth: born 5 weeks early and was in NICU for 17 days. He was an emergency C-section because he had wrapped his umbilical cord around his neck 4 times and was "choking" himself in the womb. It kept happening and getting worse from late Aug. until he was born on Oct. 8.

The kiddo is in 1st grade. Smart as a whip and just lost 3 front teeth in the past few weeks. LOL


This thread was very helpful in many ways ... and @Iron_chet was super helpful with a fetal heart monitor & kind, reassuring words. It helped my wife immensely.

 

Wow had forgotten about that! Good looking young man. We were almost exactly 1 year ahead of you, son just turned 8 on the 4th.

I love being a Dad.