A-Z Guide To Your New Baby

Here’s our quick guide to the weird and wonderful little creature you have just brought into the world.

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A APGAR stands for appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration. This is a test done immediately after birth, to check a baby’s health. Each of the five is scored on a scale of 0 to 2, with 2 being the best score.

B BABY ACNE often develops within two to four weeks after birth and looks worse when a baby is fussing or crying. Don’t pick – it usually goes away on its own.

C COLIC is generally determined bypaediatricians by using the “rule of threes”: crying bouts that start when a baby is about 3 weeks old (usually late in the day, although they can occur anytime), the cry lasts more than three hours a day, on more than three days a week, for more than three weeks in a row. It is estimated to affect only one in five infants.

D DUMMIES have a soothing and settling effect on babies. Also, when babies suck dummies during sleeps and naps, there’s a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

E EYE COLOUR is not in your hands.It is determined by the genes your baby has inherited from each parent, as well as other factors. It can change in the first six months.

F FONTANELLES are diamond-shaped soft spots on the top of your child’s head where his skull bones have not closed completely. This is nature’s way of ensuring an easier passage down the birth canal as the skull plates are able to move to overlap one another, making the head smaller.

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