1-Week-Old

Congratulations! And welcome to life's great adventure: parenting. For now, your newborn sleeps most of the day and feeds every two to three hours. Take advantage of the relative quiet of these first days to focus on your own recovery and rest.

Although your newborn depends on you for most everything, she's not helpless. Babies are born with many automatic reflexes that help them make the transition to life outside the womb. Stroke her cheek, and notice how she turns her head toward your finger and moves her mouth as if groping for a nipple. This is called the rooting reflex. She's also born knowing to suck when a nipple is placed in her mouth. If you put your forefinger against her palm, she'll grasp it tightly. If you hold her upright, she'll move her legs as if walking. Most of these automatic reflexes disappear within weeks of birth and become voluntary actions later — sucking around 2 months, for example, and walking much later, around the first birthday.

How your baby's growing

Your baby's eyesight is still pretty fuzzy. Babies are born nearsighted and can see things best when they're about 8 to 10 inches away, so she can see your face clearly only when you're holding her close.

Don't worry if your baby doesn't look you right in the eye from the start: Newborns tend to look at your eyebrows, your hairline, or your moving mouth. As she gets to know you in the first month, she'll be more interested in having eye-to-eye exchanges. Studies show that newborns prefer human faces to all other patterns or colors. (High-contrast items, like a checkerboard, are next in line.)

• Learn more fascinating facts about your 1-week-old's development.

Your life: Breastfeeding discomfort
Within two to four days after your baby's birth, your milk "lets down," filling your breasts. (Previously your nursing baby was drinking a nourishing pre-milk called colostrum.) Known as "engorgement," this important shift has an unfortunate side effect for some new moms: It can create mild to considerable discomfort. Why? Your body is forcing milk from the glands that create it into your nipples, and you're also dealing with a postpartum drop in hormone levels and the still-unfamiliar sensation of a newborn's suckling.

Your breasts may feel tender or hard and hot, and they may swell or seem to throb. Don't take this as an indication that breastfeeding is not for you because it's too painful. Engorgement is a short-lived condition that will diminish as your body adjusts to breastfeeding. Some helpful ways to reduce the pain in the meantime:
• Take a warm shower.• Apply warm compresses (such as a washcloth soaked in hot water and wrung out) to your breasts before each feeding.
• Express a small bit of milk from each breast before nursing. A full breast can make latching on more difficult, causing your baby to position his mouth in the wrong place. He then has to work harder to get the milk, which translates to tissue pain.
• Wear a supportive nursing bra. Some women prefer to wear one even at night.
• Nurse every two or three hours. Don't avoid feedings because of the pain. The more you nurse, the better your breasts will feel. Alternate breasts.
• Apply a cool compress after you feed. Try a baggie of crushed ice or a sack of frozen vegetables.

3 questions about: Jaundice

What is jaundice?
Jaundice is a yellowish discoloration of the skin and the whites of the eyes. If you press your finger against the nose or chest of a fair-skinned baby, you can see this yellow tinge. If your baby has dark skin, you can see the yellowness in the whites of the eyes. The most common type of jaundice develops on the second or third day of life — or about when the baby is being discharged from the hospital — which is why it's important to know about it and keep an eye out for it. Most of these cases, called physiologic jaundice, disappear on their own in two weeks.

What causes it?
A newborn has more red blood cells than his body needs, and if an immature liver can't process them quickly enough, a yellow pigment called bilirubin builds up in the blood. About half of all babies develop some degree of jaundice during the first two weeks of life. Preemies are especially vulnerable. Some breastfeeding babies develop jaundice if they don't get enough breast milk, because the bilirubin doesn't exit the body through body waste. This usually shows up around the second week of life. When jaundice is detected within the first 24 hours, it's often because of a blood-group incompatibility with the mother (the mother is Rh-negative and the baby is Rh-positive) or because of an underlying liver problem.

Should I worry?
Most newborn cases are harmless and require no treatment. In moderate cases, your doctor may prescribe phototherapy (light therapy). This involves placing your baby naked under special blue lights that help the baby's body break down the bilirubin. This can be done in the hospital or at home in a portable unit. A special kind of fiber-optic blanket has a similar effect. Your doctor may order blood tests to measure bilirubin levels. With monitoring and treatment, the risk of complications drops to almost none.