The first week with a newborn is a period of getting to know each other. Feeds, nappies and short stretches of sleep can fill the day, while you are recovering too. You do not need to feel instantly confident or bonded. What helps is practical support, an agreed follow-up plan and knowing when to ask for medical help.
Feeding: watch the baby as well as the clock
Newborns need frequent feeds, including overnight. Early feeding cues can include stirring, rooting and bringing hands towards the mouth. Some feeds are close together. Ask your midwife to check feeding before you go home, and seek help if feeding hurts, your baby cannot attach or you are unsure how much milk they are getting.
A sleepy baby does not always wake for the milk they need. Ask whether you should wake your baby and how often, particularly if they were born early, are jaundiced or have a weight or feeding concern. If your baby is hard to wake, refuses feeds or is much less interested than usual, seek urgent medical advice rather than waiting for the next feed.
If you use formula, follow the product instructions exactly and ask for a demonstration of safe preparation, cleaning and sterilising equipment. Do not change the powder-to-water ratio. Your care team can help with breastfeeding, expressed milk, formula or mixed feeding without making it a test of parenting.
Nappies and weight in the first days
The first poo is usually dark and sticky meconium. As feeding gets established, its colour and texture change. Wet nappies should become more frequent over the first few days. For a healthy full-term breastfed baby, at least one wet nappy on day one and two on day two are expected; by day five, at least five wet disposable nappies in 24 hours is a useful guide.
These are feeding clues, not a guarantee that everything is well. Fewer nappies than expected, dark urine, a dry mouth or poor feeding needs prompt assessment. Seek urgent help if your baby is also unusually sleepy or unwell. Ask your clinician what to expect for your baby if they were premature or have an individual feeding plan.
Some weight loss occurs after birth, but it should be checked in context with feeding, hydration and recovery. Keep the planned weight check and ask the clinician to explain the trend. Do not use a percentage from a website to decide whether feeding difficulties can wait.
Safe sleep from the beginning
Place your baby on their back for every sleep, in their own safe cot or bassinet with a firm, flat, well-fitting mattress. Keep their face and head uncovered and the sleep space clear of pillows, toys, bumpers and loose soft items. Share your room, not the sleep surface, for at least the first 6 months. Keep the baby’s environment smoke-free.
If you feel yourself falling asleep while holding or feeding your baby, put them in their safe sleep space or ask an awake adult to help. Sofas and armchairs are especially unsafe places to fall asleep with a baby. Ask for help if you are so tired that staying awake while caring for your baby is difficult.
Jaundice, skin and the cord
Yellowing of the skin or eyes can be jaundice and needs medical assessment. Contact your maternity team or a doctor urgently if it appears in the first 24 hours, is worsening, or your baby has pale or white poo or dark urine. Get urgent care if your baby is sleepy, feeding poorly or unwell. Do not use sunlight as a treatment.
Keep the umbilical stump clean and dry and let it separate naturally. Spreading redness, swelling, pus, an unpleasant smell or ongoing bleeding needs medical advice; if your baby is unwell, seek urgent care. Ask about any rash that concerns you rather than assuming all newborn rashes are harmless.
Checks before and after going home
Confirm the plan for the baby’s next examination, weight and feeding review, bloodspot screening and hearing screening. Ask what vitamin K and hepatitis B treatment or vaccination has been given and whether anything remains outstanding. Follow-up timing varies by service and the baby’s needs.
Keep the discharge summary and personal health record together. Save your maternity service’s post-discharge number and the details of your GP or child and family health service. If a promised visit or appointment has not been arranged, call rather than waiting without a plan.
Make room for your recovery too
Someone bringing food, doing washing or holding the baby while you shower can be more useful than a stream of visitors. It is all right to set limits. If you feel overwhelmed, persistently low or unable to cope, tell your midwife or GP. Support can start now.
Bonding can grow gradually through ordinary care. Holding, talking and responding to your baby are enough; there is no developmental exercise or perfect routine you have to achieve in this first week.
When your baby needs urgent care
In Australia, call 000 if your baby is struggling to breathe, has blue or grey lips, is unresponsive or very difficult to wake, collapses or has a seizure.
A baby younger than 3 months with a temperature of 38°C or higher needs urgent medical assessment. For a newborn, go to a hospital emergency department; for an older baby under 3 months, go to emergency if you cannot obtain prompt medical care. Do not wait to see whether fever medicine works. A newborn can also be seriously unwell without a fever.
Seek urgent medical care for green vomit, markedly reduced feeding, unusual floppiness or sleepiness, substantially fewer wet nappies or a rapidly worsening condition. If you think something is wrong, get help rather than waiting for a routine appointment or test result.
This is general information for Australian readers, not a diagnosis or a personalised care plan.
Sources and further reading
- Raising Children Network: your newborn’s first weeks
- Red Nose: co-sleeping and safer alternatives
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: baby’s first 24 hours
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: being at home after birth
- Australian Breastfeeding Association: feeds and nappies in the first week
- Raising Children Network: preparing and storing infant formula
- Red Nose: six safe sleep recommendations
- Royal Children’s Hospital: jaundice in early infancy
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: umbilical cord care
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: routine health checks
- Australian Government: newborn bloodspot screening
- Children’s Health Queensland: newborn hearing screening
- Australian Immunisation Handbook: hepatitis B
- Royal Children’s Hospital: recognising an unwell newborn or young infant
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: fever in babies and children
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: breathing difficulties in babies