Questions and answers about your baby

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My baby came home from the hospital with inflamed eyes! What can we do to treat it?

First of all, don’t worry too much about it; most of the time this infection of the eyes of a newborn is a nuisance, mostly because it doesn’t look good, but otherwise harmless. You have to keep in mind that, no matter how thoroughly a hospital is cleaned, it is a gathering place for sick people, so there’s plenty of bacteria everywhere around!

Most of the time no medication is needed to treat this eye infection. You have 2 easy options:

• Let boiled water cool down to luke warm temperature. Take cotton wool balls. Wet a cotton wool ball into the boiled water; squeeze excess water out of it. Wipe the eye clean, in the direction from ear to nose. Don’t use the same cotton wool for another wipe; take a clean cotton wool ball for every wipe. Repeat until both eyes are clean. You might have to do this 3 to 5 times a day during a few days, but you will see improvement very soon.
• If you’re breastfeeding your baby, the solution is even easier; just put a few drips of breast milk in your baby’s eyes a few times a day. Within a few days the infection is gone, due to all the good stuff in your milk!

 I am afraid my newborn caught a cold, she is sneezing a lot! What do we do?

Most babies sneeze a lot during the first 2 weeks after birth. The mucus membranes of their nose and mouth aren’t fully developed yet, resulting in extra sensitivity for dust and other stimuli. Chances are that your baby didn’t catch a cold at all. She’s just adjusting to a land life after 9 months of dwelling in water… So, you don’t have to do anything when your baby sneezes a lot, as long as she is drinking and growing well.

Babies that actually do have a cold, have a blocked nose and difficulty to drink. (You hardly see this during the first weeks, due to immunization via breast milk.) Don’t start any medication without consulting your family doctor or pediatrician!

I want to let my infant sleep with a hat on, to keep him warm, but my husband says it’s dangerous?

Your husband is right! After the first week, a baby gets more and more active. Once he can turn his head all by himself, chances are that he turns his face into his cap or hat; this way the hat blocks his breathing. No loose blankets in the crib, no hat on your little one’s head!

In hot weather, do I give my solely breastfed baby extra water, to prevent dehydration?

No, you shouldn’t give extra water; extra water interferes with the supply and demand mechanism of breastfeeding.  Plus you give your baby fluid without nutrition. Water makes him feel full, but he didn’t actually eat.
Link to more info about this subject.

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