Congrats! You just had a baby! The first week of your baby’s life may be a time of tremendous joy, but also a fair amount of uncertainty. This is normal: you have never been a parent to this little one before, and there are bound to be some growing pains. Keep in mind that just as you are getting to know your baby, your baby is making a huge transition too. They’ve never experienced life outside the womb before, and this adjustment is a big deal for them.
At This Age
- Development: Your baby will be acclimating to the world around them, and concentrating on learning how to feed successfully.
- Sleep: You can expect your baby to sleep most of the day at this age—enjoy it while you can.
- Food: Your baby has a lot of feeding to do in this first week, and may take in smaller, more frequent meals.
It’s common to have many questions during the first week of your baby’s life. You’ll have questions about everything from how many hours your baby should sleep, to whether your baby’s poop is the right color. (Yes, you will spend an embarrassing amount of time scrutinizing your baby’s diapers!)
Read on for more information about your baby’s growth and development, what to expect when it comes to eating and sleeping, and some parent-approved tips for baby care and safety.
Your baby’s main job at 1 week is to adjust to life outside the womb, to learn how to suckle at the breast or bottle, and get lots of snuggle time with their loved ones.
At this age, your baby’s movements and reactions are mostly based on involuntary, inborn reflexs. Babies are born with several notable reflexes, including the rooting reflex, the suckling reflex, the grasping reflex, the “stepping” reflex, and the startle reflex.
You can see some of these reflexes at work when you feed your baby. Touch their cheek or mouth and they will automatically root around, looking for the breast or bottle. Place a nipple or finger in their mouth and they will start suckling. Pretty amazing, huh?
Your baby’s vision is still a little blurry, and they can only focus on objects in close range. As such, your baby relies heavily on their keen sense of smell and touch more than anything right now, so try to fit in as much skin-to-skin time with your baby as possible.
In general, your baby will do a whole lot of sleeping. They’ll spend up to 17 hours in sweet slumber. In fact, their life is basically eating and sleeping at this point. Don’t worry, that’s totally normal! You can take advantage of this down time to get some extra snoozing in yourself. Just make sure to place your baby in a safe place, such as a bassinet or crib—and always put your baby to sleep on their back.
You may notice that your baby has some irregular breathing patterns—with quick starts and stops—while they are sleeping. This is normal, but can be concerning when you see it for the first time. Always reach out to your pediatrician if you have any questions about your baby’s breathing or sleep patterns.
During the first week of your baby’s life, your baby is learning to feed and suckle. You should not expect your baby to gain weight at first; in fact, it’s normal for your baby to lose a little bit of weight in the first three to four days after birth.
it’s normal for your baby to lose up to 10% of their birth weight. Soon after, though, your baby will start regaining this weight, and should be back to their birth weight by 10-14 days.
