Baby
Your baby's development, stage by stage
0-6 months
Bringing your new baby home is a special event. And over the next 6 months, you’ll have many more milestones in your baby’s development to treasure. From that first smile to that first spoonful, this article tells you what you can expect and what to look forward to.
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Breastfeeding
Feeding your baby
Your first breastfeed with your newborn happens as soon as is possible after birth. This precious time is an opportunity to bond with your new baby and gives them ‘colostrum’.
Breastmilk benefits (Colostrum)
Immediately after your baby is born, your body will already have milk ready for him to start breastfeeding. This first milk is called ‘colostrum’ and will available for 2 days after birth.
World health organization (WHO) recommendation
WHO strongly recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. At six months, other foods should complement. Breastfeeding is recommended for up to 2 years.
Can breast milk help your baby love food?
Breast milk can help your baby become a lifelong healthy eater
Your breast milk is uniquely tailored to your baby and, incredibly, the food you eat while breastfeeding can influence their taste preferences throughout weaning and beyond.
Guide to successful breastfeeding
Although it’s considered the most natural thing in the world, breastfeeding can take a little time to perfect – that’s why we created our breastfeeding guide, with advice on successful feeding. For example, propping yourself up with cushions can help you feel more comfortable, while knowing how to help your baby latch on properly can make things easier for you both.
The 7 wonders of breast milk
Breast milk is incredible, multifaceted, and fascinating. It’s been inspiring our research for 40 years. And as we’re able to discover more and more about its composition, more unexpected and amazing properties are being revealed.
What’s so unique about breast milk?
Your breast milk is totally unique to you. Its composition is determined by a mixture of factors, including your diet, hormones, genetics and environmental influences. Amazingly, it also changes with your baby’s individual needs.
How to successfully breastfeed after a caesarean section
Whether planned or not, a caesarean section is not an insignificant procedure. However, although it can cause fatigue and discomfort in the days following delivery, it should not stop you wanting to breastfeed. On the contrary, breastfeeding is even recommended as it is beneficial to the child! Here are our tips and tricks for healthy breastfeeding!
Why is breastfeeding so important for a baby born by cesarean?
Natural delivery provides major benefits to the baby. Whereas a caesarean section can weaken a child’s defence system. Breastfeeding is the ideal feeding method to remedy this and help your child build up its natural defences! Find out all the benefits of breast milk!
Common breastfeeding challenges – and how to solve them
While breastfeeding is one of the most natural things in the world, it can sometimes be tricky at first, with some moms experiencing things like cracked nipples, latching issues and leaking boobs.
Premature Babies
Babies born too soon
It is increasingly common for babies to arrive before their expected due date. Here is some information and other useful details if you are new parents to a premature baby or if your baby is likely to arrive early.
How Do Premature Babies Catch Up?
It is increasingly common for babies to arrive before their expected due date. Here is some information and other useful details if you are new parents to a premature baby or if your baby is likely to arrive early.
Preterm babies: Key facts about these little fighters
Some babies simply cannot wait until the calculated date of birth. They enter the world earlier than full-term infants. This leads to challenges for baby and mom. Here you will find information and facts about these little fighters.
Diet & Nutrition
Feeding Choices
When it comes to making feeding decisions, try to talk all the options through as a couple, and be supportive of your partner’s wishes – even if these change after birth.
Nutrition supports the development of the immune system
Breastmilk plays an important role in supporting the development of your baby’s immune system, helping defend them against germs and viruses.
Making baby food
After 6 months old, if you’d like to make your own baby food from scratch, we’ll show you how to give your baby all the nutrients they need.
Food allergies in babies
Learn about the signs to look for, which foods are most likely to trigger a reaction, how and when to introduce allergenic foods safely.
Common Baby Feeding Issues
For a new mum it can be worrying when your baby doesn’t seem to be feeding as well as you’d expect, or they cry for long periods of time due to colic.
Bonding & Wellbeing
Getting to Know Your Baby
After the intensity of labour, meeting your newborn baby for the first time is an overwhelming experience. You’ll be relieved, proud, amazed and sore in equal measure. Thanks to a rush of oxytocin, you’ll also be head-over-heels in love.
Seven Reasons to Really Treasure Your First Cuddle
As a new mother, holding your baby close for the first time can be an amazing experience, as you savour the feeling of the new life lying on your tummy.
Good Sleep Routine
When it comes to introducing a sleep routine for your baby, it’s important to be realistic in your expectations. When they’re very young, they’ll simply sleep, wake and feed when their instincts tell them to. But after a few weeks, it’s possible to start introducing simple concepts like night and day, which can help when it comes to developing a routine later on.
Understanding Your Baby’s Sleep Patterns
Sleep plays an incredible part in your child’s development. Learn about the impact of environmental factors on your baby’s sleep, and how you can encourage positive sleeping habits early on with the help of our baby sleep expert Chireal Shallow.
Supporting your baby’s emotional development
Between 6 to 12 months your baby may start to express discomfort or display emotions such as anger and fear. During this time, they will look to you for security especially in times of uncertainty. That’s why it is critical during this period to establish a strong bond with your little one and build a safe, secure and positive environment so that he can grow healthily.
How new moms can get more sleep
One of the toughest parts of the early days of parenting is the loss of sleep. While you love your little one, it’s okay to yearn for uninterrupted sleep and admit that it’s an exhausting thing you’re doing, because it really is. On average, a new parent loses around 110 minutes (almost two hours) of sleep every night for the first year after having a baby.
Nightmare and night terrors: What to do when your child has them
It can be so distressing hearing your little one screaming or crying in the middle of the night because of a night terror or nightmare, and not knowing what to do about them. There is a difference between a night terror and nightmare, and each can be treated a bit differently.
Health & Development
Baby Microbiota
The universe has hundreds of billions of stars that watch over us and light up our lives. Like him, our intestinal microbiota is home to billions of bacteria that accompany and protect us.
The development of the baby’s microbiota
During pregnancy, the baby develops in a near sterile medium1, in other words, free of bacteria. The microbiota becomes established at birth and continues to develop until the child reaches 3 years of age.
Infant mental health - the first 6 months
A baby in the first 6 months of life is completely dependent on parental care. Not only for their physical needs but also for emotional regulation and protection against stress.
Baby Growth Tool
Different children grow at different rates. Some children grow faster than others and what is considered ‘normal’ includes a wide spectrum.
How Your Baby’s Brain Develops
The human brain is the control centre of the body. During the first two years, your baby’s brain grows extremely fast and brain mass is tripled1. It is during the period from the first to the sixth months of life that brain development is the most important in your baby’s life2. Your baby is learning new things every day. Nutrition is essential to support brain development.
How bonding supports your baby’s brain development
The impact that a parent’s love and attention has on a baby’s development is researched and undeniable. We now know that it is impossible to “spoil” a new born baby and that the more we respond to their cries in those early developmental months, the less needy and more resilient they will grow to be.
How to establish a sleep routine for your newborn
The impact that a parent’s love and attention has on a baby’s development is researched and undeniable. We now know that it is impossible to “spoil” a new born baby and that the more we respond to their cries in those early developmental months, the less needy and more resilient they will grow to be.
