Newborns come with all sorts of new experiences, including plenty that make you worry. New parents often wonder if their baby should poop that much or if the veins on their baby's head should be so obvious. The good news is most of these concerns are nothing to fret over.
Read on for 10 perfectly normal newborn situations you don't need to be concerned about.
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Touching the Soft Spots on Your Baby's Head
Despite caution to the contrary, you shouldn't be stressed if you happen to have touched the soft spots on your baby's head. When you touch your baby's soft spots, known as the fontanels, you're not touching their brain.
So what are you touching? A thick, protective membrane. The soft spots exist so your baby can safely negotiate the narrow birth canal and allow for brain and skull growth in the first year. Since their skull is flexible, your little one's downy head has already survived a pretty rough ride with no harm done.
While you don't have to be overly cautious about touching the soft spots, you should protect the areas from trauma.
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Seeing a Baby's Pulse in Their Fontanels
What you're seeing are the normal workings of your baby's circulatory system. Because the fontanels cover areas of the skull that have not yet fused, they're soft, which makes arteries and veins on your baby's head visible.
There are two fontanels—one in the back of the head and one in the front. According to the National Library of Medicine, the back fontanel closes first, around 1 to 2 months, and the front closes later between 7 and 19 months.
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Blood in Your Newborn's Diaper
When babies are born, they experience a withdrawal from hormones they were exposed to in the womb. As a result, within the first week of life, it's not uncommon for a baby with a vagina to have a "mini period" in which the uterus sheds a little blood.
According to research, it occurs in about 5% of newborns. It's not a medical concern, and health care providers consider this perfectly normal.
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A Small Hollow in Your Baby's Chest
Relax, this isn't a heart problem. The breastbone is made up of three parts, and the indentation you see is likely the bottom piece, angling backward.
As your baby grows, their chest and belly muscles will pull it straight. Even before then, layers of baby fat will cover up this normal bit of newborn anatomy.
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Soft, Squishy Poops After Every Feeding
Breastfed babies poop a lot because breast milk is quickly digested. In fact, it is not uncommon for breastfed babies to have a bowel movement after every feeding.
Formula-fed babies may have less frequent bowel movements, perhaps one to four poops every day. But there is a wide range of normal when it comes to the frequency of a baby pooping.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), most health care providers are less concerned about how often your baby poops and more concerned that they are pooping regularly, whatever that norm may be for their body.
Regarding the squishy issue, most newborn poops are soft simply because babies are on an all-liquid diet.
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Constant Hiccuping
Hiccups are common in newborns and even in utero. Hiccups in babies are caused by the same thing that causes them in everyone else—spasms of the diaphragm.
In babies, hiccups are usually triggered by feeding or swallowing too much air. Regardless of their cause, hiccups are a harmless part of babyhood.
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Crying
Newborns have an immature nervous system and startle easily, which are just two reasons why they shed so many tears. Crying is also a newborn's main form of communication. Common reasons for newborn crying include:
- Hunger
- Tiredness
- Boredom
- Overstimulation
- Discomfort or pain
- Colic
Crying is your baby's only way of communicating their needs. Simply put, they're wired to cry a lot. So though they may look pained, they're not harming themselves.
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A Pimply Facial Rash
Thanks to maternal hormones still circulating in their body, many newborns have acne, which usually occurs between 2 weeks and 2 months of age. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA), around 20% of newborns experience neonatal acne.
Baby acne most commonly occurs on a baby's cheeks and nose, but it can also appear on the rest of the face and torso. It's harmless and just requires gentle cleansing.
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Swollen Breasts on a Newborn
Those same hormones that cause newborns with vulvas to have a mini period can also swell the breasts of babies of any sex. And it's common: According to researchers, about 70% of newborns experience breast engorgement.
Surprising? Yes. Temporary? Absolutely. Worrisome? Not at all.
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Sneezing All the Time
Babies have tiny noses! Just a small bit of mucus will make them sneeze. After all, it's the only method new babies have for clearing their noses! And because your newborn has just emerged from their watery home in your uterus, they're likely to have at least a little congestion, which may cause quite a few sneezes.
Unless their sneezing is accompanied by thick, yellow mucus, which indicates a cold, all that sneezing is just a phase they'll outgrow.
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Key Takeaways
There sure are a lot of things to worry about as a new parent. Fortunately, there are also a lot of things you don't need to worry about. Sneezing, crying, soft spots, hiccups, visible veins on your baby's head, and plenty of other newborn behaviors and features are a completely normal part of being a tiny baby. If you have any concerns about your newborn, don't hesitate to consult a pediatric health care provider.
