Main Topics: Newborn Baby Development
Create On: WordPress
Your baby’s main job at 1 week old is to adjust to life outside the womb, to learn how to eat at the breast or bottle, and to get lots of snuggle time.
At this age, your baby’s movements and responses are mostly involuntary, inborn reflexes. Babies are born with several responses, including the rooting reflex, the sucking reflex, the grasping reflex, the “stepping” reflex, and the starkly reflex.
You can see some of these in motion, like the rooting reflex, at work when you feed your baby. Touch their cheek or mouth, and they will naturally root around, looking for the breast or bottle. Place a nipple or finger in their mouth, and they will start sucking. Amazing, huh?
Your baby relies heavily on their keen sense of smell and touch right now, as their vision is still blurry and they can only focus on objects in close range. Try to fit in as much skin-to-skin time with your baby as possible.
In general, your baby will sleep a lot. In fact, their life is simply eating and sleeping. That’s totally normal! Take advantage of this down time to get some extra sleep in yourself.
The Academy of American Pediatrics (AAP) says that it’s normal for your baby to lose up to 10% of their birth weight. Your baby will start recovering this weight by 10–14 days old.
During the first week of your baby’s life, your baby is learning to eat and suckle. You should not expect your baby to gain weight at first; in fact, it’s normal for your baby to lose a little bit of weight in the first three to four days after birth.
