Many women in the UK now leave hospital within a day, or even a few hours of giving birth (although if you've had a caesarian it's usual for you and your baby to stay in for four or five days) which means that before you've had the slightest chance to recover from labour and delivery, you and your partner are suddenly all alone with your tiny bundle. Being a parent may seem a very daunting responsibility right now, particularly when you're struggling to get enough sleep and to deal with the physical aftermath of pregnancy, including those common aches and pains. You might feel totally at ease and find that caring for your baby comes completely naturally, but it's also quite normal to find yourself feeling overwhelmed and wondering just what are supposed to do next - and you may find that you switch between the two extremes. Most new mums do need plenty of support when they leave hospital, some of which you'll find you get automatically, but some you may need to ask for.
Nearest and dearest
These first few days are when you need to rally the support of your partner, family and/or friends to take care of the mundane everyday chores, or looking after the rest of the family, while you focus on your bonding with your baby and recovering from labour. Make sure that any visitors are the sort who will look after you, rather than expect entertaining and communicate your needs as well as you can to your partner so he has a chance to give you the support you need.
Medical care
The antenatal care you and your baby received when you were pregnant will continue after the birth. At first your community midwife will come and visit you in the home to check both you and your baby, at least every other day, checking that you are healing properly, making sure that the baby's umbilical cord is healing well, helping out with any feeding problems you may have, or simply giving advice for other aspects of your baby's care from bathing to sleeping. If you want her to be there when you give your baby his first bath, for example, then you can arrange that with her.
Your midwife will also continue your baby's medical care at home. This includes checking how the baby is doing with feeding, putting on weight and healing, looking at his newborn reflexes and some important tests. For example, about a week after the birth, your midwife will take the Blood Spot (or heel prick) test to screen your baby for several serious conditions which may not have been picked up during pregnancy. This is usually done during a home visit and there's not need for you to make an appointment at your local surgery. Your baby will probably feel the prick and may cry, but will usually be quickly settled by a cuddle or a breastfeed. These days most babies are given a hearing test before they leave the maternity unit, but in some cases testing takes place slightly later, but still in the first few weeks. If your newborn wasn't given a hearing test in hospital then make sure you ask your midwife about when s/he will be tested. Mild jaundice is quite common in newborns in the first week and usually nothing to worry about. Your midwife will be able to give you advice if your baby does have mild jaundice, and will also look out for signs of more serious jaundice, which is far less common.
After ten to fourteen days your midwife will usually hand you over to the care of a health visitor, a specially trained nurse with experience of family health care (but you can ask your midwife to continue care if you feel you need her support). Your health visitor usually visits you at home at least once, but in the later weeks and months after birth you will need to make appointments to see her at the hospital, GP's surgery or health centre where she is based, although you can also usually consult her by phone between appointments. If you are having any difficulties with settling in with your new life with baby then your health visitor should be able to give you plenty of advice and support.
Other sources of support
Some mums find that they need some time to adjust to parenting before venturing out much with their babies, but meeting other mums and babies can be a great source of support once you feel ready. Ask your midwife or health visitor about mum and baby groups, contact the newborn, baby and mums' forums to get in touch with other new mums going through similar experiences.
We've also got a whole section of this site devoted to giving new mums information and support for the early weeks, so take a quick read while your little one sleeps and then get to sleep yourself!
