Baby and their mile stones

Congratulations, After waiting for full nine months, here is the JOY in front of you in your hands, YOUR BABY. Most newborns weigh between 5.5 and 9 pounds and has the length somewhere between 18 and 21.5 inches.Your little one may have appeared red and a bit swollen, especially if you had a vaginal birth or a long labor. Expect the redness to subside during the coming days, swelling to reduce, and her facial features to realign quickly. You'll also notice how she keeps her hands clenched and arms and legs curled in. This is because your baby doesn't anything other than this closeness. He/ she will relax his/her muscle in coming few weeks. Now, I think every mother is always interested to know how their baby is developing day by day right from the moment when the baby is inside you. Okay, now I will discuss the development details of the babies, week by week. so, that it will be easier for you to keep a track of your baby's development.

1st week

• Infants crying- You must be wondering, how come such a tiny thing can make such a noise. Mostly, babies this small cry because either they are hungry, or they want to sleep or their diaper is dirty. Your baby does not know how to take a mother's feed. You have to help and make the little 1 learn in taking the feed. Some mothers even have to direct baby to their breast by the fingers. Some mothers feel easy n better by feeding babies by bottle. But, The doctors and our grandparents say, it's always good to feed baby your own milk. so, this is the time when you have to trained your baby to get adjusted to your milk.

• Recognition of Mother's voice- Her first few days are guided primarily by instinct. Already at birth she's able to recognize her mother's voice and, you'll likely notice her, turn her head toward your single sound. Even in the crowd of 10 visitors, she can recognize your voice. She can even recognize few voice which she had heard when she was in womb.

2nd week

• Vision of baby- By the starting of 2nd week, your babies vision starts getting clearer from last week, but it's not that clear as your baby can't focus on any subject more than 8-15 inches far. Baby can detect Light, Shapes and movements but it's pretty blurry right now. The most fascinating thing for baby is your face, which baby can now recognize. So, try to be near to your baby as much as possible. Especially when your baby is awake, try to give baby as much time as possible.

• Sleep- If your baby is born in a daylight, then for another 2 months, u have to be prepared to be awake in night. My baby was born after 12 in the daylight and she use to get up every night after 12. She will be awake for another 2 hrs, then slowly she went off to sleep. Slowly, baby will change timings and intervals of getting up. And If your baby is born in night after sunset, then you are the 1 of those luckiest mothers who can play with baby in daylight, as your baby will get up for some time in daylight.

• Crying baby- When your baby is crying, he or she is not trying to irritate you, just telling you " Please mommy, feed me, I am hungry." 

• Umbilical cord- Now, comes the Umbilical cord. Babies receive nourishment and oxygen in the womb through the placenta, which is connected to the inner wall of the mother's uterus. The placenta is connected to your baby by the umbilical cord through an opening in the baby's abdomen. After your baby is born, the umbilical cord is clamped and cut close to the body in a painless procedure, leaving an umbilical stump. The cord itself dry up and drop off in 10-21 days. One should never try to take it out, even it seems to be hanging by a small thread. It will drop off by itself. Sometimes when it drops, you will observe little amount of blood in diaper, but that's normal, so no need to worry.  But, you should take care and tie diaper below the stump. In Summer, you should make baby wear a light shirt, which will keep the stump open to air and will help in recovering faster. Sometimes little flesh is exposed, then either you can see your child's doctor or a midwife, who will apply some die or antiseptic and will cut the stump. During the whole process tie the diaper below the stump, so that its not getting stuck ed in the diaper and it is exposed to air not to the urine. Try to give your baby sponge bath, umbilical cord is drop and stump has got dried up.

3rd week

Your baby's 3rd week has started. Your baby will start recognizing you much easily by now. This week your baby is crying, then he/she is trying to tell you something.

• Sleep- Newborn sleeps a lot- can be 14-18 hours in a day and can reduce to 12-14 hours in 1 day. Most babies don't sleep continuously for more than 2-4 hours, whether it's a day or night. Baby sleep cycles are far shorter than those of adults, and babies spend more time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is thought to be necessary for the extraordinary development happening in their brain. REM sleep is lighter than non-REM sleep, and more easily disrupted. This irregular intervals of sleep doesn't last long, but due to sleep deprivation, you feel it as an eternity. So, it is advised that mother should make her schedule according to the child's sleeping routine. When baby is in non-REM sleep, mother should also take a sleep or mother can also ask her any family member or partner to take care of baby and sleep for sometime.

• Carve out some time for yourself. Ask grandparents of baby or your partner to take care of your baby for sometime and go out for shopping, or do some fun stuff, which will make you energetic and fresh. Even taking a slow walk with your baby is beneficial for you.

• Taking care of sleeping baby- Remove all the pillows, toys and bumpers from the cradle before putting baby to sleep. These items can accidentally fall on unexpectedly on baby's face and can affect the breathing. Keep baby's head uncovered. Keep the room temperature 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not over dress your baby and make him wear the type of cloth which you would prefer while sleeping. In the early months, soft bed is a problem, so if you are making your baby sleep with you, then remove the soft mattress and make it firm, which is good for your baby.

Never smoke around your baby and keep him away from those who do.

4th week

Here comes the 4th week of your baby's life. Baby's feature must be much clearer and defined by now.
Recovering mother- Now, you are coming back to yourself now. Your first menstrual period will be any time due now. For me it came after 6 weeks of my baby's birth, so it depends on every individual. You can start doing some small exercise, like walk or little bit of yoga. Now, u must have got control on your bladder too. 

• Baby- Baby is also settled by now. Try to spend as mush time possible with your baby. She will start recognizing you by your face. When my daughter was a month old, I use to feel that she has started recognizing me. I use to play games with her, I use to stand little far from her and then call her by her name and she starts to look around to search me. In this way, 2things happened at a same time, 1st I got to know that my daughter has started responding on her name and 2nd thing which happened was she made an attempt to move her head little to look for me.