Surviving the Early Weeks - You and Your Newborn Baby

You are just back home with your newborn child. You are excited about the arrival of the new member in your family and at the same time also very nervous. Since it has been only a few days that you and your baby have been together, it is only now that both of you will begin to know each other.

There is no reason to be nervous. Do not get the idea that it is going to be a herculean task or you will have to put in a lot of effort to deal with your baby. Just begin by getting the baby as close to you as possible. There is no doubt that the partners need lots of opportunity to feel close to the baby and handle the baby. There are times when fathers do feel a part of this new beginning as they sometimes have to leave you and his child back in the hospital and then go back to an empty home.

Give support to your partner and make him feel involved in the whole process. For both of you to feel more confident and controlled about handling the newborn baby, it is important that both of you cuddle and hold your baby. During the first few days you may feel tired and exhausted handling your newborn child. So it is essential that both you and your partner take turns to relax and rest.

Especially, being a mother, you need to get yourself plenty of rest. At this stage, even an act of simply walking around and moving can seem like a hard work and you may end up feeling exhausted. Moreover, if you have had stitches, then you may feel sore and may hurt.

Also, slowly and gradually, the milk will start to fill in your breast. This may also hurt during the first few days. If have decided to breastfeed your baby then this will help. You will be able to feed your baby as often as the baby needs it. In order to relieve the engorgement just before you feed the baby you can apply a warm cloth. However, if you are planning to bottle feed your baby, then you do not need to do anything about it. In fact, on the third or fourth day you will feel that your breast has become tender and the milk continues to be produced. In such situation you can wear a firm bra.

For the newborn mothers, it is the joy of the newborn baby which is far more overwhelming then the problems that are associated with it. But in certain cases this situation may lead to depression as the mothers may feel that are not able to take good care of their child or if they feel tired.

Giving birth is no doubt a tiring and an emotional experience. It is thus termed as a life changing moment, an experience which though painful is immensely fruitful and while it is about to end gives you a gift to cherish forever and that is your baby!