How to Care for an Infant

Caring for an infant can be challenging if it is your first time being a caregiver. While taking care of an infant, you will constantly learn and discover new things that will help you provide the best care. One of the best things a caregiver can do before they start caring for an infant is to ensure they are in the best health. Infants have not fully developed immune systems; therefore, they are highly sensitive to certain infections and disease.

As a caregiver, you can help protect your baby’s health by staying up to date on all vaccines, such as the whooping cough vaccine and the flu vaccine. Another way to prevent the spread of disease is to ensure you have clean hands whenever caring for an infant.

In addition to ensuring you are staying healthy, understanding the basics of sleep safety, needed checkups, vaccinations, safety tips, developmental milestones, and feeding stages will help as the baby continues to grow. Knowing the basics will help you as a caregiver build a secure attachment with infants. A secure attachment between a caregiver and an infant builds a relationship based in trust which will eventually act as a motivator for the child to explore the world around them as they grow and form their own identity. Babies may experience different behaviors or symptoms to be concerned about as they grow and develop. The most common ones are shaken baby syndrome, colic, jaundice and an ear infection. Use the pdf guide below to identify some symptoms to look for.

Crying and Colic are Normal

Crying is one of the ways babies communicate. Crying-including prolonged bouts where your baby may seem inconsolable is normal developmental behavior in babies. Taking care of a crying infant is a lot of work, and feeling frustrated, drained and a little desperate is a normal reaction to a hard situation. Keeping your emotions in check - staying calm - is important for your own sake for also for your baby.

If your baby starts fussing and you don't know what to do, try mimicking the womb by swaddling your baby. Rock your baby while you hold them in their swaddle and play some soft music to try to calm them down. If that doesn't work, try going for a walk. All of these ideas are was to calm and soothe your baby while bonding with them.

Helpful Resources

5 Things to Know About Caring for Infants
by Mecklenburg Birthing Connections

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Common Infant Illnesses
by Mecklenburg Birthing Connections

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Basic Car Seat Safety

Download .PDF