Important baby care skills every new mom should know

Are you going to be a mom soon? If you are expecting your first baby, you might be worried that you won’t be a good enough mom. While motherhood is a learning process, you should at least be equipped with some basic baby care tips. You may not do everything perfectly to start with, but knowing how to go about it is important.

Here are some important baby care skills you should try and master. You can watch tutorials on how to do some of them:

1. Bathing the baby

Bathing a newborn(The Fertile Chick)

Most new moms are afraid of bathing the baby for the first time. While it’s not one of the easiest things at the beginning, you get used to it with time. But first, you need the confidence to do it. Being nervous can lead to accidents when bathing your baby and you do not want that to happen. Also, make sure you avoid these mistakes when bathing your newborn baby.

2. Changing the diapers

Changing diaper(Today Show)

This is very important since it’s something you must do several times a day. Make sure you wash your hands before changing the diaper and also after. For baby girls, wipe them from front to back to prevent infections.

3. How to hold the baby right

You can’t just hold a newborn baby like you would hold a toddler. The muscles of an infant are still not well developed and you thus need to support your baby’s head when holding them. When one of your arms supports the head, the other should hold them at the hips. You should do this until the baby’s muscles are strong enough to support their neck without help.

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4. Burping the baby

Burping babies helps in removing gas (The Mirror)

After every feed, you should help your baby burp. But what does this mean? It’s simply helping your baby remove any gas that they might have taken in when feeding. If not burped, they might develop discomfort due to a lot of gas.

5. Latching the baby

Breastfeeding(cellcode)

If you have problems breastfeeding your baby, do not hesitate to seek help. When at the hospital, the nurses will help you get started. Be keen to learn since how you hold your baby when feeding them is pretty important.

6. Swaddling the baby

Swaddling a baby (Business Insider)

Babies love being swaddled and it keeps them calm and warm. Make sure you don’t swaddle them too tight or too loose or they will be fussy. There are lots of tutorials you can learn from online.