Care for mother and baby after birth

Rooming with your newborn lets you observe and recognize their needs, and you can begin learning about infant care. Your baby will stay with you in your room if you have an uncomplicated delivery and your baby is stable immediately after birth. Our maternity nurses will help you learn to care for your baby. If you’ve chosen to breastfeed, our lactation specialists will assist and support you.

Your baby’s first feeding may occur during the first hour after birth. The nurse will also weigh your baby, monitor your baby’s temperature and vital signs, and administer antibiotic ointment to their eyes to prevent infection. We’ll also give your newborn a vitamin injection to help them with blood clotting.

Your maternity nurse will reserve time to answer questions about caring for your newborn and yourself. We'll review diapering, bathing and safety at your bedside, and go over basic newborn care. Our Childbirth Education Department offers an Infant Care Class to all expecting mothers during pregnancy.

In addition to our Newborn Channel, we also have a video library you can use while you’re here, and we provide printed educational materials that you can take home.

Your baby will have a thorough exam by a doctor within 24 hours of birth and before discharge. Feel free to ask the doctor about your concerns, and let the doctor know if there is any family medical history of disease that might affect your baby.

If your baby’s doctor isn’t a Newton-Wellesley doctor, you’ll receive information to share with your pediatrician or family doctor to ensure a smooth transition of care, as well as information about when your baby should next see their doctor.

Our maternity unit has a break in visiting hours called Quiet Time. These quiet hours are seven days a week from 2 to 4 p.m. Please ask your visitors to visit before or after this period. The only interruptions at your bedside during these hours are for essential patient care. Quiet Time helps you get more bonding time with your child and allow you to become familiar with your baby’s feeding cues.

Massachusetts law requires that all newborns be screened for early indicators of more than 30 serious disorders, including:

• Cystic fibrosis
• Congenital heart disease
• Low thyroid hormone
• Sickle-cell anemia

These tests provide one of the earliest opportunities to detect disease before symptoms appear. Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent the disabilities associated with these disorders.

We only need to take a few drops of blood from your baby’s heel to conduct this vital screening. A detailed brochure about the program is available on the maternity unit. If you’d like information about the screening program in advance of your admission to the hospital, talk to your baby’s doctor or call the Massachusetts Newborn Screening Program at 617-983-6300.

Massachusetts law also requires us to perform a hearing screening test on each baby born at the hospital. We do this test while your baby is asleep, and it takes about 15 minutes.

One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a new parent is how to meet your baby’s nutritional needs. We recommend that you discuss this issue in advance with your child’s doctor.

We encourage breastfeeding for several reasons, as breast milk:
Contains a perfect nutritional balance of the fat, sugar, water, and protein a baby needs for growth and development Contains antibodies that help babies’ immune systems fight infection and disease and protect against bacteria and viruses Often is easier for a baby to digest than formula

All of our nurses can help you learn how to breastfeed. For more information about breastfeeding and infant nutrition, talk to one of our lactation specialists. The following resources have additional information about breastfeeding:

• La Leche League, Newton, Massachusetts: 617-243-9424
• Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition
• Nursing Mothers’ Council, Newton, Massachusetts: 617-244-5102
• The Bump

Before you leave the hospital, your obstetrician or midwife will see you, and your baby will be discharged by their doctor. Your nurse also must verify your baby’s identification with you and remove your ID bands. Once your care provider has approved your discharge from the hospital, you should prepare yourself and your baby for the trip home.

You must have a car seat for your baby before you can leave the hospital. While we don’t require a car seat certificate, we strongly recommend that you make an appointment at your local police department to make sure your car seat is fitted properly. For safety reasons, you should not use car seats that are more than six years old.

You may qualify to have a maternal/child health nurse from Newton-Wellesley Home Health visit you in your home within 48 hours after you leave the hospital. Your visiting nurse will evaluate you and your baby to make sure you’re both healthy. In addition, your nurse will work with you one-on-one to provide information about:

• Feeding
• Infant care
• Postpartum experience
• Umbilical cord care

If you have questions that need to be answered by your obstetrician, midwife or pediatrician, your nurse will make the necessary calls for you and arrange for any follow-up care you or your baby need.