This section of FutureFootsteps® provides some tips on how to get ready for the new baby who will soon be in your life.
You need to consider many things:
Preparing For Delivery
How To Choose A Pediatrician
Breastfeeding
According to The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General on Women's Health, scientific evidence states that human milk contains an abundance of factors that are active against infection. Breastfed infants, compared with formula-fed infants, produce enhanced immune responses to polio, tetanus, diphtheria, and common respiratory infections. Recent research also suggests that breastfeeding reduces the risk of chronic diseases among children, including diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, asthma and childhood cancer.
Mothers also benefit from breastfeeding, including less postpartum bleeding, earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, a possible reduced risk of ovarian cancer and premenopausal breast cancer, and positive hormonal, physical and psychosocial effects. However, it is recommended that mothers with certain conditions, including Hepatitis C, substance abuse problems, some environmental exposures, metabolic disorders and breast implants check with their doctor before breastfeeding. Women with HIV/AIDS and human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) should not breastfeed.1
Learn more about breastfeeding & tips for breastfeeding success.
Getting Your Home Ready For Baby
When your new baby comes home, things will be different. It's important to make sure your home is safe for your newborn baby. The March of Dimes offers the 'Home Safety Checklist for New Babies' that you may find helpful as you prepare your home for the baby.
A Guide For Dad
The benefits of father involvement in a child's life are well-documented. At the most basic level, a father's presence in the home yields significant benefits for all family members; but just being present is not enough. Fathers are an important source of nurturance and emotional security for their infants, as well as a critical source of support for the mother-infant attachment. For the fathers themselves, caring for a child is a transforming experience that often leads to personal growth, motivation and improved economic security. As a child grows, their father's active engagement in their lives improves chances for academic success, a healthy gender identity, clear values and moral development and ultimately greater success in both family and work.2
- Getting organized for the baby's delivery
- How to choose a pediatrician
- Breast feeding
- Getting your home ready for the new baby
- A guide for dad
Preparing For Delivery
- You need to prepare in advance for infant care if you are returning to work. View a resource that provides some guidelines to help with selecting child care.
- You and your family need to make arrangements for your other children while you are in the hospital. Discuss the arrangements with the other children and how you will be in touch with them while there.
- Do you have a plan for getting to the hospital? Make arrangements in advance for how you will get to the hospital.
- Always carry vital phone numbers with you. Even well-known phone numbers can be forgotten in the stress of imminent delivery.
- Take a hospital tour of the labor and delivery areas in advance. Become familiar with the environment before your hospital stay.
- Have a suitcase packed to take with you to the hospital. Include clothes to wear home, baby outfits and blankets and toiletries.
How To Choose A Pediatrician
- Choose a pediatrician for the baby around the fifth month of your pregnancy.
- Interview several pediatricians to make sure that they fit with your needs and expectations. Questions to ask.
Breastfeeding
According to The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General on Women's Health, scientific evidence states that human milk contains an abundance of factors that are active against infection. Breastfed infants, compared with formula-fed infants, produce enhanced immune responses to polio, tetanus, diphtheria, and common respiratory infections. Recent research also suggests that breastfeeding reduces the risk of chronic diseases among children, including diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, asthma and childhood cancer.
Mothers also benefit from breastfeeding, including less postpartum bleeding, earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, a possible reduced risk of ovarian cancer and premenopausal breast cancer, and positive hormonal, physical and psychosocial effects. However, it is recommended that mothers with certain conditions, including Hepatitis C, substance abuse problems, some environmental exposures, metabolic disorders and breast implants check with their doctor before breastfeeding. Women with HIV/AIDS and human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) should not breastfeed.1
Learn more about breastfeeding & tips for breastfeeding success.
Getting Your Home Ready For Baby
When your new baby comes home, things will be different. It's important to make sure your home is safe for your newborn baby. The March of Dimes offers the 'Home Safety Checklist for New Babies' that you may find helpful as you prepare your home for the baby.
A Guide For Dad
The benefits of father involvement in a child's life are well-documented. At the most basic level, a father's presence in the home yields significant benefits for all family members; but just being present is not enough. Fathers are an important source of nurturance and emotional security for their infants, as well as a critical source of support for the mother-infant attachment. For the fathers themselves, caring for a child is a transforming experience that often leads to personal growth, motivation and improved economic security. As a child grows, their father's active engagement in their lives improves chances for academic success, a healthy gender identity, clear values and moral development and ultimately greater success in both family and work.2
- Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, News Release. Monday, October 30, 2000 Office on Women's Health
- The Children, Youth & Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota report on responsible fathering, which was prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)