Our Baby News

Diapering can be a daunting experience, and not just because of baby’s effluents.

There are a lot of things out there you can put on baby’s butt. Here’s a list to make some sense of it:

• Zinc oxide (Desitin, et cetera), Vitamin A & D ointment.

• These are barrier creams: They let oxygen in to the skin, and allow moisture out.

• They can (and should) be used with each diaper change for the first few months, when the skin is most susceptible to irritation.

• Petroleum jelly (Vaseline, et cetera). An occlusive ointment.

• It blocks in moisture, which can cause a rash, and prevents air, which allows rashes to heal, from getting in,.

• If s OK for chapped lips, when you want to trap moisture on dry skin, but should never be used for routine care.

• Moisturizing lotion (Eucerin, et cetera). Moisturizes the superficial layers of the skin.

• A useful lotion for eczema or just plain dry skin on the arms, legs, face, and trunk.

• It isn’t needed all that often in the diaper area, since the skin there is relatively moist and protected.

Employees must wash hands.

“Hand washing is the most effective way to limit the spread of infection.”

The signs are ubiquitous (or should be) in hospitals, restaurants, and day care centers. Germs do, in fact, travel quite happily from person to person on our hands:

respiratory germs (kids rub their noses on their hands and then grab playthings away from each other), intestinal germs (how often are they picking their derrieres?), and any other germ you can think of.

One of the most heretical concepts in early modern medicine (ca. mid-1800s) was that hand washing alone could have an impact on people’s health. In fact, it was a nursing concept long before it was a medical concept. Credit Florence Nightingale.

So every time you change a diaper or blow your nose, wash your hands when at all possible. Be sure to wash the fingertips.

Rubbing your palms together won’t eliminate germs on the tips. Curl your fingers inside the palm of the other hand to make sure you get them clean.

A small pearly, round gray lump known as a granuloma may develop at the base.

It is a dry, largish pimple that is a benign kind of scar tissue.

It doesn’t look normal, and it isn’t. It has no consequences to your baby whatsoever, but you should still have your doctor take care of it.

All that’s needed is a silver nitrate stick, which essentially bums the outer covering of the granuloma

(there are no nerve endings there, so the only reason your baby will cry is from being held) and dries up the internal goo.

I have a little obsession with this boys belly button. Namely because, to me, it actually looks like a button.

The lovely thing about doing this project for a second time has been the ability to look at similar photos from last time.

It will leave a blackened residue for a few days, which will, in turn, disappear, too.

Babies don’t breathe the way you or I do.

They breathe faster, they breathe only through their nose, and they will slow down and speed up in brief cycles.

It’s fascinating to watch.

It can be scary, too, if you don’t know what normal is.

Especially those little volleys of sniffs or snuffles, which can be followed by a brief pause of a few seconds.

Or preceded by a pause.

Or the “quiet” breathing periods where the baby is breathing normally but the chest doesn’t move.

Or those noisy breathing periods during sleep that can stop abruptly and are followed by normal, quiet respiration.

See what I mean?

All of the above are normal patterns of respiration during the first few weeks of life. All of these lessen in frequency with age.

Now you know more about the umbilical cord than you ever thought you might.

Now for some useful information:

• Keep the umbilical stump open to air until it falls off.

• Either use diapers with a cutout or fold the top down. It’s OK to cover it with clothing.

• Clean the base of the stump with alcohol. Use a Q-tip or cotton ball for this, avoiding the surrounding skin. Alcohol dries and irritates normal skin.

• Don’t wash the stump with water. In fact, avoid tub baths altogether in the first week or two.

• Baby doesn’t need them, and they may upset the baby’s temperature regulation.

• The tissue in the stump (yes, the dried Wharton’s Jelly!) allowed bacteria in at the time the cord was cut.

• Any redness in the skin surrounding the cord should be investigated by your doctor as a possible infection, known as omphalitis.

A few factoids about the umbilical cord:

• It contains two arteries, which travel down into the leg, and one vein, which travels up into the liver.

• Presence of a single artery indicates a slightly elevated risk of birth defects in the urinary system (kidneys, ureters, bladder) and is five times more common in twin births than in single births.

• It contains a remnant of tissue that, in fetal life, led to the bladder.

• The whitish, gooey substance is known as Wharton’s jelly.

• The cord is typically 19.6 inches long at birth—about as long as most babies— and is lengthened by fetal movements.

• It dries up and falls off in five to nine days.

• The umbilical cord connects the baby to the mother’s placenta.

During fetal development in the womb, the umbilical cord is the lifeline to the baby supplying nutrients. After birth, the cord is clamped and cut.

There is a certain art to clipping a baby’s nails.

It is important to trim long nails, since babies scratch their faces and can cause a corneal abrasion if they scratch their eye.

Some tips:

• Use a specially designed baby nail clipper or safety scissors. Babies wriggle and writhe.

• Clip their nails while they sleep in the first few months.

• The nails are softest after a bath, and he’s less likely to be fussy then, too.

• Press lightly on the fingerpad, as this elevates the nail and makes it easier to get to.

• If he really makes it impossible to continue, just give up. Finish the job when you can. There’s no law that says you have to do both hands and both feet at one sitting.

• If you accidentally cut the fingertip, which is almost inevitable, don’t panic. Apply gentle pressure with a clean tissue or sterile gauze pad until the bleeding stops.

Bringing Your Baby Home!

Being a parent is not something you can really prepare for. While you are pregnant and even after your baby is born, you will get advice from all angles. Some of the advice will make you laugh, other advice will make you mad and other advice will make you discouraged that it didn’t work. The most important thing to remember as a new parent is that every baby is different and you have to find what works for you and your baby. With the advice you are about to get, take it in stride, and don’t get mad or discouraged if it doesn’t work for you.

Becoming a good parent means much more than knowing a lot about babies.

Ask pediatric doctors or nurses what it was like for them to be new parents. They will tell you that all their knowledge about babies was not enough to keep them from being overwhelmed by their own babies.

All new parents feel the same way. All new parents work at knowing, understanding, and loving their babies.

If you want to learn all about your new born baby care, and be able to respond to his/her needs appropriately – it is going to take a lot of your time.