How to Care for Your Newborn

How to Care for Your Newborn

Once you find out you’re pregnant it seems like everything shifts focus to how you are going to take care of yourself and your unborn child. Furthermore, you start making decisions about how to care for your baby once it enters the world. One of the most important aspects is choosing a pediatrician that your child can turn to from birth until adulthood for medical care. Choosing a doctor that you like and can trust is important not just for parents but also children.

Having the same doctor means that children are also more likely to get the proper care, tests, and vaccines they need to keep them healthy. Having a continuous, trustworthy relationship with your children’s doctor will ensure that your child gets the care and treatment they need through all aspects of their developing life.

Looking for a Pediatrician

So, when is the best time to start looking for a pediatrician? Usually a good time to start searching is between 28 and 34 weeks. This will give you enough time to do your homework and not feel rushed to find a doctor that you feel you truly can trust. You can ask your friends, colleagues, and family members for personal recommendations and referrals. Once you determine which doctors sound good it’s time to setup a one-on-one meeting to learn more about their training, practice and services.

This is also a time to determine whether the pediatrician is a good fit for your family and that you feel a good, positive connection with them. Prepare questions ahead of time so that you get the most out of your consultation.

Newborn Care

Once your child is born they will usually see a pediatrician for the first time within the first week of birth. After that, your newborn will come into the office regularly for monitoring, vaccines, screenings, and checkups. These routine checkups are crucial, as they allow your pediatrician to monitor everything from their hearing and vision to certain health problems and developmental delays. By bringing your child in for their regularly scheduled appointments your pediatrician will be able to catch problems and provide early interventions to reduce the risk for complications and long-term issues.

When your baby arrives it’s natural to have a lot of questions. Your pediatrician isn’t just here to provide your child with comprehensive health care; they can also provide you with answers to everything from breastfeeding and bathing to diet and sleep schedules.

Your pediatrician can educate parents, especially new parents, on the dos and don’t of caring for their newborn.

If you are currently pregnant it’s never too soon to find the right pediatrician for your budding family.

Contact Us

Our Address
31 Hall Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Tel: (413) 253-3773
Fax: (413) 256-0215
Email: [email protected]

Patient Care Hours:
Monday-Friday
8:00 AM - 4:45 PM: In-office and MyChart Telehealth visits
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: MyChart Telehealth visits only

Sat
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM: MyChart Telehealth visits only

* Please note: It is our policy that we do not approve referral requests for visits to outside urgent care centers during times that our office is open.

Holidays
We are open for urgent visits only on most Holidays. However, our office is closed on the following holidays:

- New Year's Day
- Easter Sunday
- Memorial Day
- July 4th
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day

For urgent concerns, you can always reach an on-call provider, even when our office is closed.