Newborn Care Tips

Once you bring that tiny, fragile, newborn baby home from the hospital you will have numerous people wanting to visit. Should you allow them to come, potentially bringing many new germs with them, or should you try and protect them from potential new infections?     

      

There are two schools of thought on this. The first is that there is no point trying to protect your baby because ultimately they have to contract these infections to gain immunity and that it is better to do it now than for them to be constantly sick once they start school. Whilst there is an element of truth to this-that all children ultimately will have to gain immunity through infection, there is also a matter of when it is appropriate to do so.      

The immune system of a newborn is still developing and unfortunately this can mean that an infection that may cause nothing more than a sniffle in an older child can be potentially very serious in a newborn. RSV for instance normally causes just cold like symptoms in an older child but may cause respiratory complications in a baby under six months old. This means that it would be unwise to be blasé about exposure to infection at this early age.      

      

The second school of thought seeks to protect the baby from all potential sources of infection. People will use hand sanitizers and clean to extreme degrees in an effort to keep the baby healthy but this too can backfire. Many people suspect that living in a sterile environment is in part responsible for the increase in allergies that we see today.     

      

How do you find the correct balance between being over clean and taking too large a risk with your baby's health? Your best bet is to be sensible and to try and live a normal life.      

      

It may be wise to not invite the whole neighborhood over to cuddle the new baby but there is no reason to lock yourself up and avoid all public places. Sanitizer has it's place when handling money and shopping carts, but once your baby is crawling and putting everything in sight in their mouth, is there any point? Taking precautions that are only a little more cautious than you would use for yourself is probably a good approach to your baby's health.      

      

In time you will lose the fear of illness, as your baby gets older and their immune system becomes more mature and able to cope with whatever it meets. In the meantime don't let overly strict cleanliness routines take over your life-enjoy these early months with your baby!