Congratulations on the birth of your baby! Thank you for choosing Virginia Hospital Center. Our goal is to provide excellent and compassionate care for you and your family. As you transition to home, this video will help answer frequently asked questions and share guidance about what is normal and when you may need to call your pediatrician. Let's talk about how to care for your baby. Your baby will be doing a lot of sleeping and following safe sleep practice will prevent your baby from being at risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Your baby should sleep in a crib or bisonette on a firm, solid mattress with no stuffed animals, pillows or thick blankets. Place them swaddled and on their back to sleep. Your baby's normal temperature should range from 97.7 to 100.3. With this in mind, make sure that you do not overheat your baby by placing too many layers on them throughout the day or as they sleep. If you are breastfeeding, you will need to feed your baby every 2-3 hours. Some babies will wake up on their own, but most babies at this age will need to be woken up to feed. Setting your alarm clock will help keep you on track. If your baby is feeding more frequently or cluster feeding, there is no need to worry. This is normal. If you are formula feeding, you will need to feed your baby every 3-4 hours. Make sure that you do not warm the milk in the microwave. Do not prop the bottle when feeding and discard the used bottle after 1 hour of use. Also make sure that you are burping your baby frequently. Make sure to check your baby's diaper before feeding. Your baby will have around 4-5 wet diapers a day by day 4. Stool for babies starts tarry in black. This is called mcconion. It will then progress to brown, maybe even green, and breastfed infants may progress to a yellow CD stool. Babies have sensitive skin and should only be bathed every 4-5 days. Your baby's first bath should be a sponge bath. You won't want to give a tub bath until the umbilical cord has dried and fallen off. Probably about 7-10 days after birth. If you use a baby bath tub once the cord has fallen off, never leave baby unattended. Talk to your pediatrician before using any oils or lotions on baby skin. You can always use vaseline for dry cracked hands or feet. Sometimes babies may have small splotches or pimples on their body. This is known as newborn rash. Newborn rash is normal and can come and go. No treatment is needed. Your baby may have sharp or long nails. You can use a nail file to smooth or shorten them, but do not use nail clippers or scissors at this time. Dress your baby for the temperature of the room they are in. Not the outside temperature. A good rule of thumb is to dress them in one layer more than you are wearing. We will now go over some signs and symptoms that should prompt you to contact your pediatrician. If your baby has a temperature of 97.7 or lower, hold your baby's skin to skin or dress the baby in another layer of clothing. After 30 minutes, recheck the temperature. If it hasn't returned within the normal range, contact your pediatrician. If the temperature is 100.4 or higher, immediately call your pediatrician. Your baby's wet diapers should be increasing day by day. They should be having 4-6 wet diapers by 4-6 days of life. If they aren't having enough wet diapers, call your pediatrician. It is normal for your baby's stool to go through different phases. If the stool is hard or marble-like, this is not normal. If the stool is watery, this is also abnormal. Please call your pediatrician. Much like adults, babies give us behavioral cues that help us determine how they are feeling. Contact the pediatrician if your baby is lethargic, not responsive and unusually sleepy. Or if your baby is uncontrollably fussy and can't be calmed with holding, feeding, or burping. If for any reason your baby has gone 6 hours or more without a feeding, contact your pediatrician immediately. If the baby's umbilical cord and or circumcision is oozing any fluid, red, bleeding, or has a bad odor, a blistering rash. John Dess is the yellowing of the skin due to a high billarubin level. You'll need to contact your pediatrician if you notice that your baby's skin is appearing more yellow and or the whites of the eyes appear yellow. If you have any additional questions or need clarification, please let your nurse know and they would be more than happy to go over any concerns with you. Our team wants to ensure you have the support and help at home you need for a healthy new beginning. After you are home, please refer to the resources and materials provided by your care team. We're so glad you chose to deliver your baby at Virginia Hospital Center and wish you and your family the very best as you transition home.