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Now your baby has arrived you will probably spend lots of time looking at them. The first few days after having a baby can be both exciting and overwhelming.

Skin-to-skin contact

When your baby is born you will be encouraged to have skin-to-skin contact as soon as possible. This means holding your baby naked against your skin, usually under your top or under a blanket. Below are the benefits of skin-to-skin contact:

• bonding
• helps to regulate baby’s temperature, heart rate and breathing
• reduces stress and crying in your newborn and supports healthy brain development

Neonatal care

This may be needed for babies born before full term (before 37 weeks), or with low birth weight, an infection or other vulnerabilities.

• Special care for babies is sometimes provided on the ordinary postnatal ward and sometimes in a specialist newborn (neonatal) area
• The Neonatal Care Unit in Wirral University Teaching Hospital provides a caring, holistic, individualised approach when caring for your baby

Registering your baby’s birth

• If you are married or in a civil partnership at the time of the baby’s conception or birth, either parent can register the birth
• If you are not married the mother may register alone. However, if the father’s or other parent’s details are to be included, both parents must attend
• The birth should be registered at the district where the baby is born

If you notice anything that worries you about your baby, however small, always speak to your midwife or health professional. Community Midwife office – 0151 604 7682