Newborn Care Tips

As often as you feel you need to. And if you feel compelled to check your baby's breathing all the time, you're not alone. Consider your vigilance a reflection of how seriously you're taking parenthood.

It may help to keep in mind that babies have various stages of slumber — sometimes deep and still, sometimes active, sometimes noisy and snuffly. Your comfort level should grow with experience, but it's okay if you continue to make nightly forays into your child's bedroom, just to check on his breathing, for years to come.
Danielle Buckley-Werner remembers feeling panic-stricken every time she put her son to bed during his first months of life.
"I was sure that if I wasn't there to hear him breathe, then he couldn't take a breath," she says. "I was so tired all the time because when he slept, I would watch him. I finally collapsed on the floor of the nursery one afternoon and realized that something had to give if I was going to have the energy to be a good mom."
Buckley-Werner started taking naps with her son and using a baby monitor when she couldn't. For the first three months, she and her husband, Daniel, kept the crib in their room so they could easily respond to any coughs, cries, or breathing emergencies — which, thankfully, never arose.
"I can't tell new parents that they shouldn't worry and that constantly checking breathing is insane," says Buckley-Werner. "But depriving yourself of rest and waking your baby up all the time will exhaust everyone. For me, keeping my baby close helped me overcome my fears that he'd stop breathing."

Source: babycenter.com