Unit 3 Infant Care A mother needs to take good care of her to rebuild her strength. Especially after giving birth. The mother progressing through many changes, both emotionally and physically, while learning how to deal with all the changes and adjustments required with becoming a new mother. Firstly postpartum period, this begins after giving birth and ends when the mothers’ body has returned back or close to its old state, around six to eight weeks. The recommendation to recover from all, the mother will need a lot of rest, a healthy diet, and help from spouse or members around the house for the first few weeks. When a newborn arrives, having to awake every three hours to change, to be fed, or be comforted is tough, especially if its their first time. So what a mother can do to avoid exhaustion is; take a nap while the baby is asleep. This may not be enough, but eventually the minutes will add up. Avoid sleeping far from the baby; it is always good to have the baby's bed near yours for feeding purposes. Having family and friends visit, is always good. But as a mother you should never feel obligated to entertain, feel free to excuse yourself to feed your child, or even take a nap. A morning walk and postpartum exercises is something you can start as well or even give a thought on introducing a bottle to breastfed in the first two to three weeks. By doing this, your husband or a family member can give a hand by feeding the baby at night, which can prevent interrupting your sleep. Next is nutrition, to help someone heal from pregnancy and childbirth it is important for all mothers to maintain a healthy nutrition. Although rest is a major factor, a mother needs nutrition that can help her stay active and able to care for her newborn. Through pregnancy, quite a few weights is gained which constructs stores for breast feeding and recovery. It is necessary to plan a healthy meal, which consist of recommended groups from the food pyramid, in case a mother is too busy or tired enough where food is forgotten. A food pyramid is a great way to eating a healthy diet. It also, encourages you to eat variety of foods, knowing the exact amount of fat and calories.

Feeding a baby: Research and write an article on Breast-feeding vs. Formula feeding.

As new formulas have come into play for bottle-feeding, it’s made it very hard for mothers to make a decision on whether its better to breast feed or bottle feed their newborn. The advantages of breast feeding; infection- fighting, respiratory infections, meningitis, ear infections, helps develop baby’s immune system, for premature babies’, breast milk can also protect against: asthma, diabetes, allergies, or sudden infant death syndrome (SID). Nutrition and ease of digestion, also called “the perfect food”. All vitamins and minerals that newborn require. Not to mention, it is absolutely FREE! Breast milk does not cost a cent. The infant receives antibodies from the mother and are sick less often; which prevents going to the doctors, or a working mother taking days off to look after her baby. Breast milk is always fresh, always available, no bottles to wash or sterilize, smarter babies, no need to warm bottles in the middle of the night. Not to mention, recent studies show that children who