Finally after months of trying to catch a glimpse of your little bundle of joy through ultrasound pictures, you get to see your baby. The child after birth might not exactly match your expectation. This is because your baby has been scrunched up in the close confines of the uterus for over nine months. In the next few days, your baby will start changing appearance and will look like the sweet rosy cheeked cherub that you had imagined your baby to be.

Immediately after birth the baby will be checked by the attending pediatrician and later routinely checked during your stay in the hospital. The baby will be tested for vital signs and muscle responsiveness. As soon as he is given a bath and cleaned up, he can be given the routine immunization shots or necessary vaccines. A blood test may be done to determine the blood type and to check other variables.

Your Baby's First Day

Babies are surprisingly alert after birth and very responsive to sights and sounds. Being in the womb for nine months, babies are quite adept at recognizing familiar sounds especially of the mother and father. You can start feeding your baby as soon as you are willing and capable. Although the actual milk might take a couple of days to appear, the colostrums that flows just after child birth is more than adequate to satisfy the hunger and nourishment requirements of your little one.

You need to feed the baby every 2-3 hours and prepare to make a routine of it, be it bottle or breast feeding. Get yourself into a comfortable position to feed your baby. This is important to avoid any kind of backache in future.

The child after birth mostly sleeps through the day and will start to follow a normal night and day pattern only by the second or third month.

The birth of the baby invites the steady trickle of relatives and visitors. They want to see the baby and share in the happiness of the occasion. It is important to be careful to keep the baby from getting tired during this time. Infections can also pose a problem during these situations.

The birth of your baby marks the beginning of the long and happy journey of becoming a parent. The child after birth will look up to the parents to start a new relationship even when you might still feel like a bundle of mixed emotions. You can blame it on an attack of the baby blues or just plain lack of sleep. These are normal reactions of every new mother and should not get in the way of creating a healthy bonding with your new baby.