Hey, what's going on mamas Welcome back to parently I am Ben Annabel's husband. And today we're talking about things you need to know about your newborn, because there are a lot of things that I did not know about our newborn. And I'm excited to talk about them because it was kind of funny, really interesting to learn about. And it's just an enjoyable topic because you're discovering so many new things. So the first thing that comes out is the head. So we're talking about the head first.

So what did baby's head look like? Yeah, so the crazy thing about the baby's head when it first comes out is it's basically a conehead. So the baby's head is probably around this big, roughly, but when it starts to come out, when it starts to peek out of the vagina, it's probably about what looks like about this big because as it's being pushed through the pelvic bone, it squishes the head in order to fit through this because there's gaps in the skull, which losses the head to compression And not crush the brain or the skull. Now when I first saw that I looked in hell turn encouraged her through her pregnancy, definitely recommend husband's doing that. What I saw was what I thought was the full head. And as it came more and more and more, it blew me away to see that the head was actually very large and that the champion here was pushing out this huge head of a baby and it was actually combed.

And now we will talk about the technical aspects. Yeah, so it is called a cone head and the skull bones have not fused together in a newborn yet because the birth canal is very small compared to the size of the head of the baby. So those skull bones actually have to overlap to come through the birth canal. And pretty much how long the baby sat in that birth canal. So for first time moms, the baby is going to engage into the birth canal at a sooner date than maybe moms that have had babies before. And so the baby Sitting in that position for a few weeks, kind of shapes the head into a cone because it has sat in that birth canal for a few weeks and then the baby comes out and the school might still look like a conehead.

Don't be worried dad's, the head will go back. The key is to make sure that the baby isn't having too much time laying on his back his or her back. This can cause a flattened head in the back and then we have to worry about do we need to put the head in a helmet to reshape it. So there are some pillows that you can buy to help make sure that the back of the head does not get flattened because the skull bones are not fused together. But also just making sure that you hold the baby a lot and the baby's going to want to be held a lot anyways but hold the baby and make sure that the head has the opportunity to shape into a nice, round ball. So talking about that skull bones have not fused together.

Let's talk about the font Nels These are called soft spots and dads who are pretty rough. That can be a little bit worrisome. So I know for Ben, he was wondering, can I touch that? It's like an opening in the top of the baby's head and there's also one in the back. And what happens if anything touches it? Is it going to hurt the brain?

And now look, it's pulsating. Why is this hole in the baby's head pulsating? Don't be alarmed. They are called font Nell's. It is a space in the skull. And in that space, there are blood vessels and the brains underneath that, well, blood vessels carry blood that have been pumped out of the heart.

So it is going to pulsate. You're seeing those blood vessels. And this is normal. Don't be afraid to touch it. You can comb baby's hair, it is not going to shatter by just touching it. You just don't want anything to penetrate in that area.

So be be aware, but don't be alarmed that there is a soft spot there. Yeah, for sure. It was it was definitely intimidating because, you know, you feel like your baby's brain is basically exposed, which in fact it is. You know, obviously there's skin. There's layers. in there, but you still just be aware, obviously for me when I when RBB first came out, I was very hesitant to hold our baby.

And so I just had to get used to that, and then I had to be aware of it. But I feel like most husbands are gonna yield on the side of caution. And if they don't have a good kind talking to them, and just explain it or even have them watch this video, so you can understand that your baby will not break, but you need to be very aware of that place on your baby. Yeah, so we're still on the scalp. And you might notice after a few weeks, there's some flaky skin on baby's scalp. And this is called cradle cap.

It's not really a cradle cap, it's just what it's called. And this can be kind of yellow and gross and scaly. Don't be alarmed baby doesn't have some sort of disease on his or her head. And we don't really know what causes this and there's not a lot to do about it. You can put some baby oil on the scalp, maybe three times a week and rub it in soften it when you give baby a bath, maybe combed through the scalp with a comb, that might take care of it. But it's normal.

It might look a little bit gross to you. Don't be alarmed. Most babies have this cradle cap. So, Ben didn't really have anything to say about that. No, that was okay. So also talking about flaky and scaly.

Let's talk about baby's skin. What do you look like after you swim around in a swimming pool for a few minutes? Well, baby was just swimming in a swimming pool for nine months. And so when baby comes out, the skin is both exposed to the air. And this can cause a lot of dryness or at least what appears to be dryness. So the baby is going to appeal quite a bit.

And your first reaction would be to lather a bunch of lotion on baby. So we don't recommend that lotion is not good for baby skin right away. It can clog the pores and then the healing process is not as effective. So just be okay. Be aware with the facts. That the baby is a little bit like a fish with scales coming off, so totally normal.

So moving on baby's whole body, we're going to talk about weight. It is normal for babies to lose within five to 8% of their birth weight within the first week, and they will gain this weight back in about two weeks. So don't be alarmed if your baby is less weight within the first day or two of delivery, that the baby is less weight than when baby was born. completely normal. Just make sure that you are paying attention to baby's weight in the next two weeks that you are going to see your pediatrician the pediatrician is weighing baby and that baby is putting on weight. So this comes down to whether you're breastfeeding or bottle feeding, making sure that baby is latching on and getting and getting good milk and the appropriate amount of milk.

And if you're bottle feeding, make sure making sure that you are giving baby the appropriate amount of Formula Alright, so number six. What are we going to talk about now? We're talking about baby's acne. Yes. And baby boobs, not your boobs. Yeah, baby's boobs.

And we've got a little boy. So, a little bit weird. For sure. Oh, my baby boy was in utero for nine months. And I've got a lot of hormones and babies getting these hormones, and so babies delivered and he had some little man boobs. Totally normal.

I had to talk to Ben about it, say, you know, it's okay. He's not gonna grow some big boobs. This is normal for a baby. And the other thing is acne. Baby acne doesn't usually happen at birth. But because my baby was breastfed, and he was getting those hormones through my breast milk.

By about month one, he started to get some baby acne. It's not gross. It's not you know, something to be grossed out about. But if you want to get those really cute newborn pictures, try to get them within the first month of the baby's life. Because at About month one, he's might get a little bit of acne on his or her face. So when baby's delivered, he should have something called meconium.

This is the first poop. And it's very important for the nurse or the doctor or whoever seeking care of you to record that the baby had meconium. So sometimes this can happen in utero, and that's not preferable. We don't want baby to be exposed to the meconium. in utero, this should happen once baby is born. And it's very important to know if baby had a poop because there could be something wrong with the baby's digestive system if he or she has not pooped.

This first poop is black. It's Tari. And it's sticky. It's hard to get off baby's bottom, but it's completely normal. So that's something to be aware of. You're going to be changing some poopy diapers at the hospital that is meconium.

Now, if you are breastfeeding, baby, the poop is going to change and it's going to be very liquidy This is not diarrhea, it is a normal poop for a newborn baby that is breastfed. And it's going to be either yellow, green, or brown, very liquidy very colorful, and it's going to have some little seeds in it teeny tiny little white seeds. That's normal as well. It is something to be aware of if your baby's poop, his color list, being white is not normal. That means that there could be something going on with the liver, and that's when you need to be concerned. So when you are at home and you're changing baby's diaper, there might be a little bit of blood in the diaper.

And this could happen for various reasons. If you have a little boy that had a circumcision, well, it might be losing a little bit of blood. So that might be where that bloods coming from. If you have a little girl, she might have something happen called mini periods. When she was in utero, she was exposed to all of mom's hormones and now that she has been born, those hormones have been removed and she might have a little bit bleeding from her uterus in her vagina, called a mini period completely normal. And then also if baby has a hard bowel movement, or if there's a little bit of a scratch or a tear that might cause a little bit of blood.

So take note that it could be normal, but monitor if blood increases if it doesn't stop, that's when you need to be concerned and talk to your pediatrician. Alright, so number 10 is sneezing. Our baby sneezed and sneezed and sneezed and sneezed and sneeze. It was so cute, but I kind of felt bad. Sometimes he would sneeze and he would pick up and he would call the same time and we're like what's going on? This is so much but sneezing is normal and you're probably going to experience it.

Baby is been closed off from this world and then baby's born and there's dust particles everywhere. And he's just kind of getting used to all the allergens in the air. So sneezing is very normal, something you want to be paying attention to wheezing, sneezing is normal. wheezing is not so if you starting he or she is starting to take deep breaths and there is a sound sounding very constricted, that is when you need to be concerned. But the nice thing is cute and it's normal, but I kind of feel bad for him because it's just a lot of sneezing. Alright, so the next thing we want to talk about is the jerking movements that babies do.

And they wake themselves up because it's like they had a bad dream. And they were falling and they startled themselves. So the baby is getting used to using arms and legs, and they're flailing a lot. And their central nervous system is just trying to get used to how do I control these things. And so it's cute, but you really want them to sleep well. So make sure that you're swaddling baby that their arms aren't laying around so that they don't startle themselves and get scared and wake up from that sleep that you were just so glad that they just fell asleep.

And now they work themselves up. So swaddled Baby, don't be alarmed that they are having some jerking movements. So when babies sleep, they're not exactly quiet. So you know, some people snore when they sleep well, babies make a lot of noises. They might grunt, their breathing rate changes, their breathing fast and they're breathing slow, then they're not breathing for 10 seconds, and you have to wake them up because you're afraid that they're not breathing. Well, these are all normal again, it's their central nervous system, trying to take over and learn how to make them breathe at a normal rate, and at a normal depth.

So pay attention to it. We don't want them to have APNIC periods of more than 10 seconds and we don't want them to just keep having periods of apnea where they're not breathing. We also don't want their breathing to appear so labored that their ribs are showing and they appear to be struggling. But if they have periods of apnea, if they have some shallow breathing, some deep breathing, that is normal, so I know it seems scary. And you just want to wake up your baby, you want to touch the baby and be like, are you okay? But they're totally fine.

Just monitor it. Speaking of noises, babies cry a lot, a lot A lot. And this is good. I know for you, it probably doesn't seem good. But crying means they're alive and they're healthy. A baby that is not crying, that's lethargic, that just sleeps all the time doesn't want to eat.

That's when you need to be concerned. The crying means that maybe they need a diaper change. Maybe they just need some TLC. Maybe they're hungry. Maybe they're cold, maybe they're hot. So try a bunch of different things.

Just keep trying, keep trying, keep trying. And baby might just keep crying. Sometimes they just cry. I mean, how many times do you just feel like I just want to cry? I just need to get this out. So that is normal.

If baby cries and you are getting overwhelmed, you just think I can't do this. I'm getting frustrated. That's when you need to take a break. So if you have someone else in the house like your husband or partner, say, Honey, please just hold Baby, I just need a break. If nobody else is around, put baby in a safe place in the cradle or the crib somewhere where you can close the door and go take a breather because it is better for baby to be safe in a crib and you in the other room so that you don't harm baby. I know that's a crazy thought I would never ever, ever harm my baby.

But when our nerves get to their very wit's end and you've been hearing crying for hours and hours and hours, days upon days, and you're exhausted, you haven't been sleeping, you're trying to get used to this new thing. You really just need to put baby in a safe place and separate yourself. This way. You don't have to worry about doing something that you will regret and you think how did I ever even get to a place where I would think to do something like that? So very important. Ben and I both have had to take a break and just say okay, let me breathe let me recollect myself and Then I will go pick our baby up and take care of him like I know I'm supposed to do I mean, you feel like kind of odd that you are getting frustrated.

Because it's a baby because it's he's literally just crying because that's what they do. It's nature of how they communicate, how they express themselves. But it really can grate on your nerves. I mean that with the most empathy in the most compassion and kindness. It's it's very serious to set the baby down in a safe place or hand it to your partner spouse. I mean, even now, our child.

The recording of this video is five months and I mean, a day ago, I became very overwhelmed. I took our child I put him in his his cradle, walked away for five minutes, just just five minutes, he cried a little bit came back, I was refreshed. I held him he then calmed down and things were well, but truly at that moment, I was becoming full of anxiety. And that's not a safe place to be. Yeah, yeah. And you you want to be able to learn Look at your child and know that you are that baby's protector above all things that you would never harm baby.

And speaking of looking at baby, one last thing that I want to talk about with their physical part is their eyes. So don't be alarmed if baby's a little bit cross eyed at first. I know it kind of throws you off and you think, what's, what's wrong, what's going on. those eyeballs are controlled by muscles and the nervous system. And again, babies just trying to get used to using those muscles and the nervous system is trying to get used to controlling those muscles. The other thing is, the flat nose, the bridge of the baby can actually make it look like the baby's more cross eyed than baby actually is.

So that might be you perceiving something that actually isn't happening. So this should go away. Just keep an eye on it. And maybe we'll be looking at you clearly before you know it. So this newborn stage it goes by super quick. You got about one month and then baby is growing and changing and all of a sudden is not a newborn anymore.

So stop where you are, leave the house dirty. I mean clean up after yourself. Get out, get dressed, get moving, you know, make yourself feel good. But don't be worried about all the nitty gritty stuff. Enjoy holding baby just sitting there and holding and doing nothing else but loving on baby. Enjoy the intimacy with your partner and just love this phase of life.

Thanks for watching this video. We'll see you in the next one. And if it would be encouraging to your spouse or partner. definitely bring them on board to watch this video and others that you think would be helpful to them in the next one