What do I need to prepare for discharge from the maternity hospital?

Oddly enough, most of us are under the influence of superstitions and prejudices. This also applies to preparation for the birth of a child. Many believe that there is no need to buy anything in advance. It is not our job to argue with this and prove the opposite. Even if you do not rush with purchases, you will certainly have enough time (the mother and baby will be in the maternity hospital for about a week) to provide the new family member with everything necessary. As for the things and care items that will be needed in the maternity hospital, almost all maternity hospitals have stalls where the necessary goods are available in these cases. In short, if you have enough money, then all problems associated with buying the necessary things can be solved. The main thing is to weed out what may be completely unnecessary or impractical. It is also in your interests to choose goods that are of good quality, but at a reasonable price. Of course, before going to the maternity hospital, you will have to think about where the baby's crib, changing table, where the baby's things, toys, bottles, pacifiers, first aid kit, etc. will be located. It is advisable to renovate the room where the baby's room will be located before the birth.

Now let's move on to what you need to buy for your baby.

• Thermometer.
• Large bath towel.
• Cotton wool and napkins.
• Sterilized sunflower oil (either sterilize it yourself or buy it at the pharmacy. You can use sea buckthorn oil instead of sunflower oil).
• Baby powder.
• Scissors with rounded ends for cutting nails.
• A comb for a child. 8. Bandage. 9. Potassium permanganate (manganese). 10. Baby cream. 11. Enema. 12. Gas outlet tube.

The room for a newborn should be light, well ventilated, the temperature in it should not exceed 25 ° C. Do not worry if you cannot allocate a separate room for the child. He can, and at first should, be near his parents. The child must have his own crib. The design of the crib in which the child will sleep until three years old can be any. The main condition is that it should be easy to wash. The most common design of the crib is a prefabricated structure of lattice panels with a plywood bed inside. At the same time, one or two side panels can be lowered and raised, making it easier to put the baby in the crib. A mattress and a "book" pad are also necessary, protecting the child from hitting his head on the bars of the lattice.

While the child is small, he does not need a pillow in the crib. But in the stroller it should be, but very small. The stroller itself should be multifunctional. It should have winter and summer options. While the child is small, the stroller should protect him from wind and bad weather. Therefore, it should be closed on all sides, and on top it should have a folding canopy made of waterproof material. Later, when the child learns to sit, you can use the summer - sitting - version of the stroller, which should also have an umbrella from the sun. When buying a stroller, do not forget to take care of yourself. After all, you will not only walk with the stroller, but also go shopping. Therefore, the stroller should have a luggage compartment.

There is a wide range of baby carriers available for carrying a child. They have some advantages over a stroller. Firstly, the child is always close by, touching you with his body. (When you go to the store, it is not always possible to bring the stroller in there and the child has to be carried around the store in your arms). Secondly, your hands are free and you do not need to ask strangers for help to carry the stroller into transport or lift it up to the floor if there is no elevator in the building. Thirdly, the position of the child in the backpack is such that his legs are spread apart and hang down. This resembles the movement of African children, sitting on their mother's back, who ties them with a wide scarf. You may ask: "What is the advantage here?" Well, here it is! African children almost never have congenital hip dislocation, which requires treatment. This is due to the fact that their legs are constantly in a spread position. In Europe, we usually swaddle our babies so that their legs are stretched out and brought together. Usually, neonatologists (pediatricians) check newborns in maternity hospitals for congenital hip dislocation. Congenital hip dislocation is a genetically determined disease that is inherited. Moreover, it can be difficult to diagnose sometimes. To be more precise, sometimes it is not a hip dislocation as such, but simply an insufficiency of the acetabulum (the articular surface of the pelvic bone into which the head of the femur is inserted - the hinge of the hip joint). And if you carry the baby in a backpack, the joint will take the correct shape faster. If this pathology is detected, then correction must be carried out. To do this, a child with congenital hip dislocation is put in special plaster pants that give the legs a spread position. As a result, the hip joint gradually takes the necessary shape (at birth, it is not yet fully formed).

Thus, by purchasing such a backpack, you are carrying out "preventive treatment of congenital hip dislocation". The only caveat: the backpack must have a rigid back of sufficient height. This is necessary in order to give the child, who is still too small and cannot sit, such a position that he lies down, not sits, since his spine should not be subjected to prolonged vertical load.

The child's clothes should be made only from natural materials. No synthetics! Since the child grows quickly, there is no point in buying a lot of things for one period (about 3 months).

For a newborn you need to buy:

• diapers (100 x 100 cm) cotton (thin) - 20 pcs.;
• diapers (150 x 100 cm) flannel, flannel (warm) - 10 pcs.;
• thin cotton and warm baby rompers with long sleeves - 6-10 pcs.;
• diapers (60 x 65 cm) made of gauze folded in 2-4 layers - 20 pcs.;
• bonnets or light scarves - 4 pcs.;
• Pampers type diapers.

What else should you prepare for the baby's arrival? A chest of drawers or a cabinet for all the things we have already listed, and a bath for bathing, a basin for washing baby clothes.

Now let's move on to the baby's dishes. The baby will need to buy one separate deep and one shallow plate, allocate a separate spoon, and in the future a fork, and don't forget about a cup for the baby. Not all of this dishes will be needed at once, but they should still be there. And here it is not even the hygienic side of the issue that is important, but the psychological one: the habit of eating from the same dishes at the same time. This is a kind of unconditional reflex to feeding, so that at the mere sight of his dishes the child wants to eat.

You will also need bottles with nipples. There is a wide selection of such containers in stores now. The bottles should be from 100 to 200 ml. You will need no more than three. One will contain water, and in the other you can store the milk expressed after the previous feeding. The bottles can be glass or plastic.

You will need a brush to wash the bottles. The nipples on the bottles either already have a hole, or you will have to make one yourself. To do this, take a syringe needle, heat it over a flame until it is red hot and carefully pierce the nipple at the top. Milk or water should flow out of the hole in not too frequent drops - if they flow in a stream, the child may "become lazy" and stop sucking the breast (after all, sucking from such a nipple is much easier).

And, of course, don't forget about the pacifier. You will definitely need it. However, if the baby is breastfed, there is no need to rush to "poke" the pacifier. If he falls asleep peacefully after feeding, then it is not needed. A pacifier is a prosthesis that promotes the release of certain hormones that regulate the digestive function. You have probably noticed more than once that after a hearty lunch you want to sleep. This is due to the fact that blood flows to the digestive organs and, accordingly, flows away from the brain, which does not receive a certain amount of oxygen. This is a kind of hypoxia, and the additional action of hormones causes drowsiness. Thus, by sucking on a pacifier, the child stimulates the release of hormones and "increases his drowsiness." A pacifier can play a positive role in maintaining a constant level of hormones that regulate the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and ensures the normal process of digestion and assimilation of food. Studies have shown that weakened babies who did not suck out the full volume of food and were fed through a tube, had a greater weight gain if they sucked on a pacifier between feedings. However, if you adhere to a free feeding regimen (i.e. feed the baby when he "asks"), then perhaps he will not need a pacifier. But if he is restless between feedings, has trouble falling asleep, then a pacifier will only help you.

When choosing a pacifier, preference should be given to a latex nipple, which is still better than a silicone one. There are regular and orthopedic pacifiers - those that correct malocclusion. You can choose a pacifier by trial and error. Buy 3-4 different latex nipples and try which one suits and "likes" your child best. Remember that nipples should not last longer than three to four months. The pacifier should be stored in a glass or cup. There is no need to sterilize it. You can simply wash it if it falls on the floor. Never lick a dropped pacifier! Firstly, why lick dirt stuck to the nipple? Secondly, do not pass on your germs to your child. If you are outside, either take a spare pacifier with you or carry a bottle of water (which, by the way, is more reasonable, since the child may want to drink during a walk), and then you can wash the dropped pacifier.

In conclusion of the "ode" to the pacifier, it should be said that if your child is partial to the pacifier and treats it as a best friend, do not rush to wean him off it even if he is already over a year old. Firstly, if he "doesn't suck" the pacifier enough, he will suck his finger, which is less hygienic, and later - bite his nails. Secondly, scientific research has shown that premature weaning off the pacifier subsequently has a negative impact on the sexual behavior of an adult.