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Hey ladies

rosemary20rosemary20
in My baby was born in Oct 2010
hi there! I was due on 6th november but my daughter didnt wanna hang about image and was born at 38+2 on 25th oct!
The ladies in DIN are all starting to pop but I am looking for advice and not sure they can all help as they're busy having their babies!

My first thing is... as a first time mum I dont know what really to be doing lol. Like... what should a 5 day old be up to?
She feeds (breast) every 3-4 hrs... and sleeps a lot. We worried it was her jaundice but its clearing up and shes becoming more alert. Should we be 'playing' or anything? We put her in her car seat with a hanging toy and she plays for a bit, she likes to look about etc... is that enough stimulation?

We also havent washed her yet (scared!) so will do a top and tail tomorrow... my MW said to use olive oil on her skin as its dry, has anyone else done this?

Thanks ladies,
Imogen, 5 days old xx

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    MrsBinksMrsBinks
    Congratulations on the birth of your daughter.

    I'm not sure the answer to most of your questions- am a first time mum too and have struggled through the last 2 weeks never being quite sure what i'm supposed to be doing. My guess is it will all come in time- pity they don't come with instruction manuals! One thing I was told by my midwife is to use nothing but water on them initially. I had previously been told about olive oil but she said recently they'd found this had exfoliating properties so not to use it. I know lots of people advise it and I can't speak from experience but just thought i'd let you know.

    Will be interested to see what others say about the playing etc as I have no idea what we should be doing!
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    jellyfishpinkjellyfishpink
    G/C as I am one of the DIN ladies! I can't remember everything that we did with DD but will try...we had a playmat on the floor and it had an arch on it with toys dangling. She loved it and I would talk to her while playing with the dangling toys myself! When she was in her carrycot I would put it in whichever room I was pottering in and if she was awake I would talk to her - just about what I was doing etc. I only washed her in water with cotton wool for a few days then I think about day 3 I did pop her in the baby bath as her hair was all yucky from birth stuff still! But then we went back to toping and tailing. I did use olive oil my MW suggested this too. DD slept a lot from what I remember! I went out for lots of walks. I used to go out twice a day once hubby went to work and we would walk to the coop, post office or just round the block and I would chatter away to her if she was awake (she was July baby so weather was lovely). And music...I love music and would play music all the time when I was pregnant and we continued doing this once she was here. Even now she adores music and only has to hear music and she starts jigging about!

    Hope all this helps.

    Louise
    39+1
    xxxx

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    SnugglenushSnugglenush
    COngratulations!!
    My LO is now 30 days old and for the first 5 days he did nothing but eat and sleep really lol so it sounds pretty normal. He has slowly got more alert as the days have gone by and he will now have quite a bit of awake and alert time. When he is awake I have a few brightly coloured elc toys, and a playmat with an arch over it. We will also spend alot of time jstu talking to him and pulling faces.

    My midwife also suggested olive oil as he had very dry skin and she said Johnsons could irritate it. So we used it religiously every day and to be honest - one day I put a few drops of johnsons baby oil in his bath and it cleared up straight away. So it is up to you = the olive oil certinaly didn't do him any harm though.
    As for giving him a wash - we didn't brave giving him a bath until he was about 2 weeks old lol. We didn't top and tail him that much either - just kept bits clean that looked like they needed it.

    I have to say - I got given this book called 'Your baby week by week' by Simon Cave and Dr Caroline Fertleman and it has been an absolute godsend!! It tells you exactly what to expect for the average baby each week up until 6 months old. It includes how much they should be eating, sleeping, pooing and what kind of play things you should be doing. Obviously, it is all to be taken with a pinch of salt as eevery baby is different - but it really has helped.
    Heidi and Logan
    xxx
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    rosemary20rosemary20
    thanks ladies. We might give her a quick top and tail this evening, she is a bit dry in some places (tummy and arm pits) so might put some oil on these bits.

    In regards to playing she loves lying under her mobile and listening to her music, but she looks so tiny on her playmat still, and her cradle thing is way too big still lol, she was born 2 weeks early at 6lbs 6 so fairly small.

    She is now lying on daddy's tummy asleep listening to dave gorman on the radio, she's so funny!
    Imogen 6 days old xx
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