Week One: days 7-13
The first week of your baby’s life can pass in a bit of a blur. If you haven’t birthed at home, transferring there after a few days in hospital can seem surreal but in the second week you will begin to adjust to caring for your baby in the home you prepared for them.
It is very likely your baby isn’t spending much time in their carefully prepared nursery. The reality of spending most of the day breastfeeding usually means you have set up a space in your bedroom or living room - or both - where you spend most of your day. Ideally you and your baby are sharing a sleeping space - bed sharing or room sharing. Keeping your baby close is important in these early days so you don’t miss feeding cues, so having a mobile sleep space for your baby you can take from room to room in the day is useful. This can be a bassinet on wheels, a traditional Moses basket or a safe surface beside you on the couch.
Breastfeeding
If you are feeling overwhelmed by breastfeeding right now, it helps to know that is pretty typical in the modern world.
The traditional support of being surrounded by mothers with experience and understanding of how lactation works has largely disappeared in the past century. It is uncommon now to live close to the extended family of grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters and cousins who would care for the new family and guide the new mother as she establishes breastfeeding. If these women are close by, these days they are more likely to be skilled in formula feeding and have little experience of breastfeeding.
In place of community wisdom, you will have access to professional support in the form of IBCLC lactation consultants, child health nurses, volunteer breastfeeding counsellors and - where available - drop-in breastfeeding support services. Your calendar this week might include appointments with all of these.
In the first two weeks of breastfeeding the most important things are to feed the baby and protect the milk supply. When babies are not effectively removing milk at the breast, pumping frequently and effectively will establish milk production at a level the baby will need when they are successfully breastfeeding. Sometimes mothers are advised to use a technique known as Triple Feeding. Using the Hands-on pumping technique has proven the most efficient way to maximise milk production when a baby is not able to do so. You might be advised to try some power pumping as a short term boost to get your supply back on track.
If your baby is feeding effectively and efficiently, any early nipple tenderness should now be easing and your breasts will be using feedback from the baby to establish production. You can expect your baby to breastfeed an average of 8 – 12 times in 24 hours and, at times even more often! This is a sign your baby is growing rapidly and needs frequent feeding – it is not a sign you aren’t making enough milk for her. You might feel like you spend all day breastfeeding and - to be honest - you are! This is the reality in these first weeks but you can expect things to level out over the following month or two. Eventually your baby will be mature enough to feed quickly and efficiently in as little as 15-20 minute. But while they are learning, an hour for each feed is not unusual. This can include a few cat naps at the breast.
Your breastmilk will now be mature, with the last traces of colostrum beginning to dwindle. Your breasts will probably feel firm and full before you feed and softer after. If your baby and breasts get out of sync sometimes, you could experience engorgement. You might occasionally or regularly leak some milk and need to use breast pads, but don’t worry if you don’t – leaking varies between women and is not related to your milk supply.
By two weeks, most babies will be back to their birthweight or thereabouts. From now, your baby will be gaining weight and your nurse or doctor will begin plotting this on a growth chart, as well as their length and head circumference. Your baby should now be having at least 6-8 wet reusable nappies (or 5 heavily wet single-use nappies) each day and at least three bowel motions most days – these are reliable indicators she is getting enough milk.
Your Baby’s Sleep
It is likely you baby isn’t sleeping as much as you thought they would at this stage. The reality of newborn sleep is very confronting. Around the clock you can expect frequent breastfeeds taking up to an hour, periods of unsettledness and crying, short sleeps of 20-50 minutes and occasionally a longer sleep of an hour or even two if you are lucky. It is normal for a baby to spent roughly half the 24 hours feeding and the other half sleeping. Understanding infant sleep development is important as parents expectations are usually very unrealistic and other people’s expectations even more so!
