Many people like to put a small pillow under a newborn baby’s head, but this move is a mistake, because the pillow can not only make the baby uncomfortable, but also cause accidents! When can babies use pillows? How high is the pillow? Let the experts tell us!
The pillow is not conducive to the normal development of the newborn.
This is because:
1. The newborn’s spine is straight and has not yet formed physiological bending. When lying flat, its back and back head are on the same plane, which will not cause muscle tension and lead to a stiff neck.
2. The newborn’s head is big, almost equal to the shoulder width. Flat sleep and side sleep are both natural. Pillows are not needed.
3. The neck of the newborn is very short, but it is uncomfortable when using pillows, and it is easy to form head and neck bending, which affects the breathing and swallowing of the newborn, and even leads to accidents.
When does the baby need a pillow? How high is the pillow?
1. If the individual newborn has the phenomenon of overflowing or spitting milk, the upper part of the body can be slightly padded higher to prevent spitting.
2. When the baby is three or four months old, the cervical vertebra begins to bend forward. At this time, the baby can sleep on a pillow 1 cm high.
3. When the baby begins to learn to sit at seven or eight months old, his thoracic vertebrae begin to bend backward, and his shoulders also develop wider. At this time, the baby should sleep with a pillow 3 cm high.
The too high or too low pillow is not conducive to sleep and normal development of the baby.
Choice of bedding for baby
In the first seven days after birth, the babies’ sleep time is often longer than the waking time. When awake, most of them spend time in small beds, so the quality of the bedding is very important.
1-2 sets of quilts should be prepared separately for newborns, which is suitable for small bed use. The quilt should be made of light-colored cotton cloth or light flannelette. New cotton is applied to the cotton tire, because the old cotton is neither warm nor sanitary, it is better not to use the old cotton tire for reform. The quilt should not be too thick or too large. Generally, each quilt should be about 500g, and the size should match the size of the small bed. Two quilts should be prepared to facilitate washing and changing. They can be increased or decreased with the change of seasons. One quilt can be covered in spring and autumn, and two quilts can be covered in winter. Parents can also prepare 2-3 small quilt covers, preferably made of all cotton cloth, which is easy to change and wash. If possible, prepare two more blankets, which will increase or decrease with the change of temperature. Because the blanket is thin and warm, it can also be used when the mother feeds the newborn. It can make the mother and the baby contact each other closely and achieve the correct posture of feeding.
It’s also very important to prepare the bedding for the newborn. The bedding on the small bed can’t be too soft. It’s better to fold up the old cotton tire to make a mattress, and then spread a thin layer of cotton tire on it. The bone of the newborn is soft and is in the development and growth stage. If the mattress is too soft, such as spring mattress or sponge mattress, it can make the baby’s spine often crooked, which is easy to cause spine deformation, even hunchback, and is not conducive to the activities of the newborn, affecting the development of bone and muscle.
The sheet of newborn’s bed is best to use cotton products. You can press all sides of the sheet under the mattress, so it’s not easy to mess up.
Before the newborn goes home from the hospital, the prepared clothes, bedding sheets, etc. should be exposed in the sun for about 4 hours for standby. Wash and change beddings frequently and often get the sun, which will not only make the bedding soft and warm, but also play the role of disinfection and sterilization.
