First things first, spare yourself spending hours on Google after bringing your baby home and ORDER THIS BOOK NOW!!!! It will answer so many late night question and put your mind at ease! A family member gave me this book and it was one of the best gifts I received!

Cradle Cap– Weird stuff on their scalp that will wash off in time. You can also use a soft tooth brush and a little soap to get it of.

Eyes– if their eyes become watery and then gooey, it could be a plugged duct. Put a couple drops of breast milk in their eye, massage the duct, and see if that helps.

Ear Wax– there are special Q-tips designed to clean out their ear wax. Use those or a soft rag

Icky Neck– the term used to describe the collection of items that somehow stick in the folds of skin in the neck area. From milk, drool, dust, etc…it all seems to find its way to neck area and cause it to be smelly. (Arm pits are the same way!)

Nails-don’t be scared to trim nails, a great time to do it is while they are nursing, having a bottle or sleeping.

Belly Button– it will look scary but don’t let it intimidate you. Don’t get it wet and be careful when dressing the baby. I got my sons wet on accident while giving him a bird bath and it fell off when he was a week old. AHHHH! Every time he cried I could see fresh chord coming up and it made me want to faint. The pediatrician shot it with some medicine to heal it and he survived. I pulled my daughters chord when unsnapping her pajamas and it fell off a little early too and she was fine as well. Obviously, I wasn’t the best with taking care of belly buttons.

Hand and Toe Dust Bunnies– newborns keep their hands in fists a lot of the time and somehow they collect dust bunnies in them! Just keep them clean.

Poop– it will be a black tar  color when you’re in the hospital, when you get home it will be yellow seedy of you’re breastfeeding or a green pasty if you’re giving formula.

Vitamins/ Medicine

Always ask your peditrician for dosing instructions based on your babies weight. If your baby is under 6 months old then Tylenol could be an option and once they are over 6 months then Ibuprofen could be an option. 

Your peditrician may recommend a Vitamin D supplement if you are strictly breastfeeding.

Gripe water- once baby is few weeks old you can give them gripe water. It’s for excessive fussiness and it helps to calm their tummies and is all natural. You can find it at cvs, target, walgreens.

Bathing

I felt like a bath 3 times a week was enough (unless they had a massive explosion) and bird baths only until their chord falls off.

I recommend fragrance free bath wash and lotions.

Don’t use wash clothes, if you do only on their bottoms.

Let the laundry begin!

You will wonder how someone with such small clothes can create SO MUCH LAUNDRY. You will never be “done with the laundry”.  Just go ahead and accept that off the bat and you won’t feel as crazy and defeated when the piles keep growing and appearing. While your baby is really young, we recommend using a scent free detergent like Free Clear for Sensitive Skin.