The Newborn Baby, Care and Feeding

A baby has arrived

The first weeks with a newborn are a time of round-the-clock care, because a baby can do almost nothing for itself. It arrives with a set of automatic actions it is born able to do, such as gripping a finger or turning to feed, and with clear needs that a carer must meet: to be kept warm, safe and clean, to be fed often, to sleep a great deal, and to be held and comforted. A newborn also has some features worth knowing, such as the soft spot on the head where the skull has not yet joined. This module looks at what a newborn is like and how to care for one: meeting its everyday needs, keeping it safe as it sleeps, and feeding it, whether by breast or by bottle. It treats feeding choices as equally valid ways to nourish a baby.

Newborn words

Learn these terms before the reflexes are matched up. They name the ideas used in this topic.

Match each newborn reflex to what the baby does

Breastfeeding against bottle feeding

A newborn can be fed well in either way, and families choose what suits them. It helps to know what each offers.

Which reflex is this?

You gently stroke a newborn on the cheek, and it turns its head that way and opens its mouth. Which reflex is this?

• The rooting reflex, which helps the baby find milk
• The grasping reflex
• The startle reflex
• The stepping reflex

Safe sleep for a newborn

A newborn sleeps for much of the day and night, and how it is put down to sleep matters a great deal for its safety. The clearest advice is to lay a baby on its back to sleep, never on its front or side. Place the baby with its feet near the foot of the cot, so it cannot wiggle down under the covers, and use light, well-tucked bedding rather than a duvet or pillow. Keep the room at a comfortable temperature, not too hot, and keep the cot clear of soft toys and loose bedding. For the early months a baby is safest sleeping in its own clear cot in the same room as its carer. Following this simple routine every single time is one of the most important ways to lower the risk of sudden infant death.

Pick what a newborn needs

Select every genuine need of a newborn baby.

• To be kept warm, safe and clean
• To be fed often
• To be held and comforted
• Its own mobile phone
• A strict work timetable

Order how to make up a bottle feed

Put the steps of making up a bottle of formula safely into the correct order.

• Sterilise the bottle and the teat
• Boil fresh water and let it cool a little
• Pour the right amount of water into the bottle
• Add the correct number of scoops of powder
• Shake it and check it is not too hot

Complete the newborn facts

An automatic action a newborn is born able to do, such as gripping a finger, is a _____. The soft spot on the top of a babys head, where the skull bones have not yet joined, is the _____. Baby milk made up from powder for bottle feeding is called _____ milk. Cleaning bottles and teats to kill germs before a feed is called _____.

Tap the two newborn reflexes

Read these four actions. Tap the TWO that are reflexes a newborn is born able to do.

• turning to a touch on the cheek
• gripping a finger placed in the palm
• riding a bicycle
• reading a book

Tending a tiny seedling

Caring for a newborn is a little like tending a tiny seedling just pushing up from the soil. On its own it cannot survive: it needs steady warmth, not too much and not too little, gentle and regular watering, shelter from anything that might harm it, and someone paying quiet attention every day to notice what it needs before it wilts. Give it those things faithfully and it grows astonishingly fast, changing almost by the hour. Neglect any one of them and it soon struggles. A newborn is the same. It cannot yet tell you in words what is wrong, so the carer learns to read the small signs of hunger, tiredness or discomfort, and to meet each need calmly and in good time. Constant, gentle attention is the whole of the work.

The newborn care run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Care for the newborn

Read each situation and choose the best answer.

• You are putting a newborn down to sleep. In which position is it safest?
• Before making a bottle feed, what must be done to the bottle and teat?
• A new parent feels very low and tearful for weeks after the birth. What is the best advice?

Build a newborn-care point

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about newborn care.

Explain how to care for a newborn

A friend is about to care for a newborn for the first time. Using what you have learned, explain how to look after one.

• Explain two everyday needs of a newborn and how to meet them
• Explain how to put a newborn down to sleep safely
• Explain one advantage of breastfeeding and one of bottle feeding
• Explain why bottles must be sterilised
• Explain what a newborn reflex is, with an example