Lifting and Carrying Newborn

Lifting and carrying a baby is a very responsible task; whenever someone raises pr picks up a baby, instructions are to be careful as baby is very fragile and little mistake can lead to a hurt your baby.

The baby’s head is much more giant than their body and neck muscles are not developed and strong for supporting the baby’s head. Thus, you must lift a baby carefully and give support to their neck. The primary reason of why baby’s neck doesn’t provide secure support to the head of the baby is that the head of the baby weighs 1/3rd of baby’s total weight, whereas neck muscles are very delicate and undeveloped. So, it is very much essential to take care that the baby’s head doesn’t drop.

In this blog we will discuss all things that need to be kept in mind while holding a baby.

What is Infant Torticollis?

At birth, the neck muscles or the ligaments are not strong enough, so there are chances of the baby’s head to drop in the front or at the back, which can cause a lot of pain to the baby. The name of this disorder is ‘torticollis.’ The babies who are suffering from torticollis face difficulties in turning as the muscles of the baby get damaged, which brings stiffness in the neck, and the posture of the baby gets ruined, the head of the baby tilt on one side.

The babies going through torticollis have problems when they turn their bodies. The other symptoms are:

The head is only in one direction.
The babies with this disorder don’t turn their heads to see you; they rest their heads on one shoulder only. If they try it also, then also they can’t and ultimately get irritated
At the time of breastfeeding, also they prefer to get feed from one breast only
Some kid’s brains get flat from one side as they rest in one position only
Some babies get a lump in their neck

What is Shaken Baby Syndrome?

If the baby’s head is shaken very forcefully as you have not provided proper support to it so that the baby could suffer from “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” If there is no support to the head and it is shaken continuously, the brain inside the skull also gets shaken, and due to this, blood vessels, nerves, or tissues get damaged, and the baby could suffer from

Impaired speech
Learning disabilities
Memory problems
Balancing, seizures
Severe mental retardation

Types of Infant Carrier

There is a difference between a baby carrier and an Infant carrier. The infant carrier is for newborns upto 4 months. During these 4 months, the baby is on his/her back for four months. So that infant carrier is only suitable which support back of the bay body. A baby carrier, also called a Kangaroo carrier, is for six months to 2 years. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss an Infant Carrier.

An infant Carrier is the best option to support the newborn baby’s spine. You can use Hoopa Infant carrier as a feeding pillow as well. You get two uses of the product at a single price. Hoopa Infant carriers are explicitly designed to give strong support to the body due to strong back support and ergonomic contouring; it’s different from other infant carriers. It provides excellent support to the neck, spine, and bottom, and facilitates even a kid to handle the newborn very easily
US Consumer Product Safety Commission has given a warning to parents for not using ‘sling-style carrier.’ According to researchers, there have been many casualties due to this sling style carrier as these slings don’t give support to the head of the baby and bend the baby’s neck in the front and fold it. There has been an air supply problem due to which babies get suffocated. Please avoid sling style carrier. Babies born premature or born with low birth weight have a high risk, so they don’t use sling bags until one year of their age. After that, you can use it when baby can control over neck but take care that the child’s face doesn’t go out of the sling bag.
Soft Infant Carrier has the same issue with the sling-style carrier; it doesn’t give support to the baby’s spine, and if seen, it looks like the baby has been wrapped in a blanket. If your baby’s height is less, it can cover the baby’s face, which will make it challenging for the child to breathe. If the body’s spine is not supported well, it causes pain in the child’s body or can also cause deformity. To make baby comfortable and give him strong back support, you should depend on ‘HOOPA FEEDING PILLOW.’ It provides two facilities in one product as you can use it as an infant carrier and for feeding the baby. This helps in carrying the baby easily by mother and other members, especially the kids. It follows the US consumer comfortable and give him strong back support, you should depend on ‘HOOPA FEEDING PILLOW.’ It provides two facilities in one product as you can use it as an infant carrier and for feeding the baby. This helps in carrying the baby easily by mother and other members, especially the kids. It follows the US consumer standards, which help in keeping the spine of the body of your baby protected and provides complete support to the baby’s neck or bottom.

NURSEMAID

When parents pick their babies from their arms, there are many risks involved concerning dislocation of the bone, ‘called nursemaid’ or ‘pulled elbow.’ So it would be best that you are careful while picking up your child as you can give them a lot of pain to their bones or hand or damage the shape of it. So wisely choose the right infant carrier to provide the proper support to your child’s body.

Let’s discuss some of the questions related to lifting and carrying the baby.

Q1 – What things should be kept in mind while picking up the newborn baby?

Always keep in mind to wash your hands before picking up the child, whether it’s you, your family member, or anybody else. Don’t touch the baby without washing the hands. Both the head and the spine of the baby’s body are fragile, and the buttocks, so it’s essential to support them—these things to be kept in mind during first four months. Most of the time, parents wrap their babies in a swaddle or blanket, but that doesn’t support the baby; you need to be very careful while doing this.

After two months, babies start twisting on their own from the belly, they can turn, and they can even sleep, so when you choose infant carrier choose wisely.

Now you can look at this picture and analyze yourself that this carrier supports the body? It covers the baby and doesn’t support the body; it’s total wastage of money to buy these types of carriers.

Even kids can carry the infant placed in Hoopa Infant Carrier. If you hold the baby correctly in Hoopa Infant carrier, your one hand remains free, and you can lift the baby from one hand. There is no risk involved. Just imagine, how comfortable it is without compromising the baby’s safety, and you can perform several works like opening the door, drinking water, attending to the phone, and much more.

Q2 – How to lift a baby from the bed?

If you want to lift the baby from the bed, keep your one hand under the neck and other hand under the bottom, bend down slowly towards the mattress, and then lift the infant carefully.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB1L0HkmKls

Let’s now move towards some positions of holding and carrying a baby.

CRADLE HOLD

Q3 – At what positions should the baby be kept in hands?

The easiest way to hold a new born baby is to lift the baby with both the hands. Hold the baby from the bottom with one of your hands, slide other hand under the baby’s neck. But sometimes, in this position, you rest the baby’s head on front side of your elbow, which is not at all safe.

For providing correct position to the baby, without making any mistakes, use Hoopa Feeding Pillow.

SHOULDER HOLD

When you are wandering in a home, you should hold the baby on your shoulder, keep the baby’s body parallel to your body and hug them and keep their head in a resting position over your shoulder. On the one hand, give support to the neck and head of the baby and, with the other hand, provide support to the buttocks of the baby.

BELLY HOLD

Belly hold is opposite of cradle hold; in this, you keep the baby on your arm while giving support to his belly, and both the legs of the baby are kept around your hands which provides full support to the baby’s body.

LAP HOLD

In this position, either sit on a chair by keeping your legs down or fold your legs and very cautiously keep the baby on your lap, slowly giving support to the baby’s head and neck through your forearms. Baby’s feet should tuck in your waist.

How to put down a baby?

Some points should be kept in mind while laying the baby down or on the bed. Keep one hand under the neck of the baby and the other under the bottom and lay the baby on the bed very cautiously. Bend your knees or waist as much as you can towards the bed. Now very safely remove your hands from the bottom of the baby’s body and keep your hands on the baby’s tummy for 5-10 secs so that baby feels comfortable.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB1L0HkmKls

Tips for Carrying Baby Outdoors

Ques : At what age can a baby be taken outdoor?

Most pediatric health experts say that if your baby is not undergoing any particular condition, you don’t need to wait for 1.5-2 months to take your baby out; keep the essential precautions.

It’s nice for a baby to step out and get embrace the nature. Sunlight, fresh air are all sources of vitamin D which help in boosting the baby’s energy and mood.

To keep the baby healthy and safe, you should keep various things in mind, like in which environment you are taking the baby out and how the people are around there. Do look into the following points before taking baby out:

Limited direct sun exposure: Sun provides us vitamin D, which is very necessary for newborns and us, but newborns can easily have sunburn. So keep in mind don’t keep baby in the sun for more than 10-15 mins and if you are out, cover the baby so that direct sunlight doesn’t drop on your infant.
Keep germy hands and faces away: Don’t give your baby to other hands as you don’t know whose hands are clean and who is not infected.
Mind the heat and cold: Never over-dress or undress the baby. It is often seen that parents and especially the grandparents want that baby should be wrapped in many layers of cloth, but it’s not like that. In fact, in summers, if you wrap the baby, the baby gets irritated.

Do keep in mind these points as well :

Keep the body of baby protected, especially the neck
Don’t shake the baby much; keep the infant in a comfortable position
While holding the baby, don’t hold any hot or cold things in your hand
Don’t take kids in front of sharp or hot objects

If you go out for few hours, it’s difficult for you to carry a baby, and continuing holding the baby in one hand may create cramps as well. To avoid all this stuff, use Hoopa Feeding Pillow, a carrier designed to provide proper support and comfort. Using this, you will not have a problem in lifting the baby within your home or outside the home. And if you are going outside the house, you can even carry your baby, and you can even feed as well.

Please share your experience as comments on this blog. It will inspire and provide learning to others. HoopaBaby/howtolift&carrybaby

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