Your First Week With Baby - Day 3 - An Emotional Rush

After you've been home for a day or so now, reality is setting in. So much has changed in the blink of an eye. And there is still so many new things on the horizon. Let's take a look at what might be happening on day three to four.

The Birthing Parent:

Your mature milk is making its way in. This occurs when you have a drop in hormones.
- This drop will make you weepy, moody, frustrated, short tempered. It won't last but it can be surprising.
- This is known as the baby blues
- Your brain will sink into the primitive side and that can make your thoughts less organized, you will have difficulty with memory. You may feel like your brain is atrophying. You haven't become less smart, your brain just wants you to focus on baby.
- You may find your stitches are becoming uncomfortable.
  - Padsicles or frozen perineal pads can be helpful
  - You can find the recipe in my Freebies resources
  - Sitz baths can also make your vaginal area more comfortable and help speed healing.
- Breastfeeding may be coming a bit easier, with more milk and baby becoming more able to take in the breast and be more alert to feed.

Warning signs for the birthing parent:

Fever - anything over 38 degrees
Headaches that are unusual for you and don't go away with pain meds, hydration, or caffiene.
Swelling of the hands or face
Dizziness
Changes in vision
High blood pressure
A hard lump in your breast
Painful areas on the arms or legs that could be clots

See your care provider immediately if any of these warning signs occur.

The Baby:

In Canada, it is recommended that baby visit a family doctor or paediatrician to start their well baby care checks, including monitoring baby's weight and jaundice levels, within 2 days of leaving the hospital.

Baby will be working hard to make sure your milk changes from colostrum to mature milk. They will be cluster feeding and this is all normal. Imagine they are hungry and heading to the buffet, but they only have a small bread plate, that means to fill up, they need to go back to the buffet more often. They are only starving, if we limit the amount of times they feed and for how long they feed. It's exhausting.

Focus on the latch
Focus on breast compressions to push that food into them
And between feeds, pass baby to someone else while you rest.

By now, you've discovered that baby likes to be held, a lot! Here are some tips to getting baby to lay down in their bassinet so you and your support people can get some rest.

When you start a feed with baby add a warmed hot water bottle to the bassinet surface to keep it warm. (just make sure your remove it before laying baby down. 😉 )
- Going from your warm arms to a cold surface can startle baby and wake them up quickly.
Have as a mattress cover, a used t-shirt of yours that smells like you and is stained with milk. This will trick the baby into thinking they are still in your warm arms
Place baby into their sleeping surface feet first, then bum, then back then head. This will help avoid the startle reflex they get when put straight down back first. (This makes them feel like they are falling and wake them up easier)

If baby has a hard time settling, consider doing some skin to skin with baby. Baby's need to feel safe and everything is new to them. Skin to Skin has so many benefits including making baby cry less and feel more secure in their surroundings.

Warning signs for baby: