Parenting is no walk in the park and it take decades for parents to master this skill. New parents are often clueless about many things related to newborn care and are always doubting themselves for making a mistakes. Well, thankfully there are parenting guidelines, books, videos and understanding paediatric doctors available to guide you and ease your difficulties. In such situations, only experiences work but there is no harm in taking note of essential tips while handling your infant.

Here are some necessary tips that can be followed by every parent with a newborn:

• Handle the baby with care: Always wash your hands properly with soap and clean water before touching your baby. Also, tell others to do the same, or at least use hand sanitizer instead, if washing is not possible everytime. Your infant is fragile, so always lift your baby by supporting his or her head and neck and never shake your baby or be rough with them.

• Decide visiting rules: Your kith and kin will be overenthusiastic about meeting and playing with the baby but there should be certain boundaries that only you can create for them. Limit the amount of their visiting time and make a specific day dedicated to visitors.

• Comfort a crying baby: Babies talk by crying and they cry because they want you to know that they need something. If your baby is crying it must be because of hunger, boredom, uneasiness, dirty diaper, lack of sleep and feeling too hot or too cold. So, do find the root cause of your baby’s constant howling and help them out. Try to calm your baby by singing or humming softly and rocking them. Also, distract your baby and take them out for a walk. Note that if your infant cries continuously, it might be due to an illness that would require you to rush to the paediatric doctor immediately.

• Bond with your sweetheart: To bond with your baby, talk to them even when you know that they don’t understand you. You can also sing lullabies and cuddle with them to give them attention. Give the father-baby duo enough time to connect by making partner do simple chores for the baby like bathing, feeding and putting to sleep.

• Always be prepared: Your baby follows a schedule on his own accord. So, making arrangements beforehand will save your time and energy and will surely reduce your stress and anxiety. Prepare yourself for the next feeding in advance by putting warm water in a thermos and keeping diapers and other essentials within your reach.

• Diaper rash cure: Diaper rash is every new parent’s biggest nightmare. The rashes occur when the baby wears a wet and dirty nappy for many hours and also some babies are sensitive to diapers. These rashes can be treated by applying paediatrician-prescribed diaper rash cream on your baby’s bottom. Also, let your baby stay without a diaper for a few hours. To prevent diaper rashes in the future, give your baby a diaper-change whenever the nappy gets dirty. Clean the baby’s bottom with warm water and mild unscented soap and let it air dry. Let your baby go diaper-free whenever possible.

• Look after yourself: Eat a nutritious diet, drink plenty of water and try to get some shut-eye by dividing night shifts between you and your partner. Spend some quality time with your partner and with friends and family members as well. Ask for additional helping hands whenever needed. Also, seek counseling because parenting can take a toll on your mental health.

• Vaccinate on time: Vaccination is done to safeguard your child from serious ailments so do consult a good paediatric doctor for vaccine shots.

Thus, we hope that we provided you with crucial information on the infant’s parenting tips for the recent parents. We, at ILS Hospitals, have a team of experienced paediatric doctors in Kolkata who would ensure good health of your precious baby.