Newborns 101

On Saturday, Kevin and I went to our Newborn Basics class. I was a bit skeptical, since I had heard that this class was just common sense stuff and not worth the time. We were pleasantly surprised. The registered nurse, Diana, was extremely knowledgeable, and she made sure to address all of the new mom questions. Our class was quite small, and we were the most boring couple there. What I mean by that is that there was a woman who was artificially inseminated and another couple who was "freaked" because they were having twins. It was neat to have such a variety of baby stories in the room.


Here are some things we learned/decided:

• We are going bumper-free. I am having one custom made, but after hearing about safe sleep practices, we will not take any chances. I'm determined to find something cute to do with the bumper, though.
• Babies like white noise. Yes, this can include nature sounds, but apparently what they really like, is radio static. It reminds them of the womb, where they pretty much hear white noise. Thus, we swapped a cute sheep nature sound noise maker, with a more high tech sound machine that includes an option for white noise. It also allows you to hook your iPod to it and play music. 
• One of the tips for calming a fussy baby is to get close to their ear, while rocking them, and going, "SHHHHHH..." consistently. I guess that goes back to the white noise thing.
• It was suggested that we go to YouTube and find a clip of an annoying baby cry, and play it for Tobi so that he gets accustomed to it. Step two would be to hold a doll or stuffed animal and play the annoying cry. 
• Babies only need sponge baths for at least the first month of life. If the baby is dirty enough to need a full blown bath, we're doing something wrong!
• The most important things we can receive from people are diapers and services, like cooked meals/meal services, cleaning services, etc.
• When we have the baby, I can request to have him placed directly on my chest (skin to skin), rather than taken away to have initial testing and cleaning done. Diana said that most of that stuff can be done while he's on my chest, and they have an hour to do the stuff they can't do while he's resting there. They'll just let me know within the first hour when they need to take him for a few minutes. It has been shown that babies who are placed directly on mom's chest after birth inch slowly to mom's breast, and sometimes start nursing. Anything I can do to make that process easier on the baby and on myself, I'm willing to do. I don't care if I get a little (or a lot) messy in the process!