You know that your new baby is going to need to eat quite often, will sleep a lot at first, and will need a bath every few days. However, there are smaller things that you must do when caring for a newborn that you may not think to do right away. These small things are not a matter of life or death by any means, but they are things that parents forget to do that do need attention. If you want to know more about bringing your baby home, you may want to think about these things as extras you can do for your baby. If you don't know these right away, you'll figure them out soon enough.
The ear is a self cleaning body part. When you bathe baby either in the tub or with a sponge bath, you may do a minor cleaning to try to avoid getting water in your baby's ears. However, after you are done, you should give them some attention. You have heard that you should never put a cotton swab into an ear canal to clean out the wax, and that is doubly true with baby. However, when caring for a newborn, you do have to watch for wax build up in other places. Gently use a swab to clean the upper ridges of the ear where wax will build up, and also behind the ear.
Some babies have a build up on the scalp that is called cradle cap. It may go away on its own, but it is very unsightly and may bother you if you are going to get pictures done. You can use a warm, soapy washcloth to make light, gentle,circular motions on the scalp when caring for a newborn with cradle cap. This will lift some of the dead skin up. You can also us adult dandruff shampoo during bath time. Don't leave it on too long, and make sure it does not go into their eyes or mouth. This clears cradle cap up rather quickly. You may have to do it again at a later date, but most of the problem will be fixed.
You may delicately clean between babies fingers and toes when you bathe them, but part of caring for a newborn is cleaning those areas a few times a day. You may not think of it until you see baby with her hand in her mouth and you notice lint between her fingers. His or her little hands are going to grab everything they can once the figure out they can use those fingers, and they are going to pick up all types of nasty things no matter how well you clean. Keep those hands and toes clean so you can feel good when those tiny digits find their way into baby's mouth for the first time.
You may not think of it as caring for a newborn, but you can think of this as saving what you used to care for your new baby. You will be glad that you did. Most think to save the outfit they wore home from the hospital and perhaps the ID bracelets, but they don't save much more. Have a box handy (you won't have much time to organize now) as a catch all for things that you may want to save. Perhaps you want to save the tiny diaper they fit into if they were a preemie (just don't save a used one!), or the first washcloth you used for their first bath. Toss it in the box once it has dried. Save small things you may not think of normally, as they are going to be most precious in the years to come. They really do grow up too fast.