9 Decisions to Make for your Newborn Moments and Hours After Birth
When you sit down to create a birth plan or write out your birth goals, you need to include a Newborn and postpartum plan for you and your baby. In this post, we will be discussing the newborn care plan and will address the postpartum care plan in another post.
Pregnancy and birth is an ABRUPT intro into parenthood and all the decisions you will need to make for your child and your family. After your baby is born whether you had a natural birth, used pain medication, or had a C section, you have some choices to make about how you and your baby are cared for in those first few postpartum moments and days.
You’ll want to make sure to decide on several things beforehand. You have the option to accept or decline several routine newborn procedures in the first few hours after birth. It is important to research these procedures during your pregnancy to make the most informed decision for you and your growing family. Most care providers will not go over this list with you before birth, so it is up to you to do your research, talk with trusted professionals, and trust your instincts. These procedures and options you have include:
Delayed cord clamping
Immediate skin to skin (this should be a given since it is evidence based care agreed upon across the board now. However, we have witnessed an OB withholding immediate S2S this year, so always best to be prepared.)
Vitamin K injection
Erythromycin eye ointment
Hepatitis B vaccine
Baby’s first bath
Circumcision
Rooming in with your baby
To allow baby to be taken out of you or your partner’s sight, or not.
Besides having a conversation with your doctor and other trusted mothers, you may wish to do your own research. Websites such as Evidence Based Birth can be a great starting point to read about each of these topics.
Knowledge is power. We want you to be able to feel informed and equipped with the tools to make these decisions for you and your newborn. Use our quick and easy Newborn Postpartum Plan Worksheet to help you get on your way to a smooth transition into parenthood!