The first 24 hours

Baby

Babies are often awake and alert during the first few hours after birth. During the final stage of labour, their cortisol hormone levels rise, putting them in action mode. This is a good thing, because it makes them cry and fills their lungs with air. 

Sometimes babies are still a little nauseous from the birth and spit up amniotic fluid or mucus. This is unpleasant, but not dangerous. Hold your baby upright or on their side so they can spit up. 

Immediately after birth, babies have a natural sucking and searching reflex to look for food. It is normal for the baby, and you, to become tired and sleepy after a few hours. Time to recharge together!

A child passes its first stool, called meconium, in the first 24-36 hours. This is black, tar-like, thick poo that will require a lot of nappy wipes to clean up. It is important that a child also urinates in the first 24 hours. Because it is not always easy to see or feel in the nappy that a child has urinated, baby nappies have colour strips. A blue strip on the nappy means urine in the nappy! 

Take your child's temperature every 3 hours, especially after you have come home from the hospital. A normal temperature is between 36.5 and 37.5 degrees.

Watch our videos under 'Preparation' again to see how to take the temperature, make up the bed and warm a hot water bottle.

The baby's colour is a nice pink. If your child is yellow in colour in the first 24 hours, please call us. It is normal for hands and feet to sometimes look a little paler or even slightly blue. If their temperature is normal, there is no need to worry. If your baby has a blue mouth, blue tongue and blue mucous membranes in the mouth, this is always a reason to call us. Children can also have all kinds of harmless skin spots. The most common are:

• Erythema toxicum neonatorum – red spots (pimples) and rashes that disappear on their own
• Stork bite – red discolouration, often on the neck or forehead, which becomes redder when the child cries
• Milia – small white spots, usually on the nose

Mother

Of course, how you feel immediately after giving birth varies greatly from woman to woman, depending on how the birth went. However, rest and lying down are important for everyone. Going to the toilet to urinate is actually the only effort you will make in the first 24 hours. It is important to know that you will feel much better every day, so don't panic about how you feel now!

Physically, there are a number of things to pay attention to

Haven't peed within 6 hours of giving birth? Call us!

• Blood loss – maternity pads are large for a reason, so it can be quite heavy. Even losing 2-3 clots the size of a fist is normal. If there are more or your pad is soaked in 15 minutes, call us.
• Urination – after each feed, do not use toilet paper, but rinse with a spray bottle of water. You must have urinated within 6 hours of giving birth. If this is not possible, call us!
• Bowel movements – you will probably not be able to have a bowel movement in the first 24 hours.
• Afterpains – these cause your uterus to shrink again and can be quite painful, especially when breastfeeding. Use paracetamol for this. 
• Stitches – these will heal in the first week. Rinse with water, air dry (so take your knickers off now and then) and cool (for example with a homemade cold pack made from apple syrup).

During the first few days, make sure you take a good dose of paracetamol every 6 hours (1000 mg). If this is not enough, you can also take ibuprofen or diclofenac in the morning and evening. These can be used while breastfeeding.

Mentally, thoughts of the birth may still be running through your head. It may help to keep a notebook next to your bed to write down your thoughts and questions. This can help you find enough peace to sleep. During the day, you can discuss these thoughts and questions with each other or with us. This is how you discover how you process the birth over the course of the days. Our maternity nurses and midwives are here to help!

Feeding

Every 3 hours there is a feeding time, which consists of:

• Care for the mother (toileting, eating, drinking)
• Changing and checking the baby's temperature (see above for what is normal)
• Offering the breast (attempting to latch) or giving a 10 cc bottle
• Try for a maximum of 2 x 15 minutes per breast
• Continue sleeping

If your child does not want to feed every 3 hours, that is not a problem. Babies have special fat reserves built up during pregnancy that they can quickly burn for energy. They live off these reserves for the first few days until their feeding has established itself. One feed in the first 24 hours is sufficient.

The basic conditions for establishing breastfeeding are: a relaxed mother, eating enough nutritious food, drinking at least 2 litres of water, regular skin-to-skin cuddles with your baby and feeding your baby when they ask for it.

Watch the following videos about latching your baby on for an optimal start to breastfeeding:

Getting hitched

Mouth and motor skills in breastfeeding

Breast crawl after childbirth

Food proportions

If your baby is bottle-fed, they will drink (only!) 10 cc. This fits into a small bottle or syringe. The easiest way is to prepare 50 cc of formula from powdered milk and store it directly in the refrigerator (for a maximum of 8 hours). You can then take 10 cc from this formula for each feed and warm it up. Make sure your baby is sitting upright and hold the bottle horizontally, but always with milk above the teat hole so that your baby does not swallow any air. Read more about how to bottle-feed your baby.

Other

Call us when you are discharged from hospital so that we can arrange maternity care for you. 

Sometimes this is within the first 24 hours, sometimes there is a reason to stay in hospital longer and the maternity care starts later.

Are you coming home after 4 p.m.? Then the maternity care will start the next morning. If desired, the maternity nurse can guide you by telephone during the initial start-up when you come home.