Newborns & feeding
Newborn care here: what the first month of visits actually involves
A first visit within five days of discharge, then two weeks and one month. Weight checks, feeding help, jaundice, the newborn screen results, and an after-hours line on the main number.
Families sometimes ask what “newborn care” means beyond the check-up. This is the month, visit by visit, as it happens in our office.
Before you leave the hospital
Call us and we hold a slot two to three days out. If the hospital wants the baby seen sooner, for jaundice or weight loss, we see them the next day. Bring the discharge papers; they carry the birth weight, the feeding record and the hearing and heart screen results.
Visit one: three to five days old
The baby is weighed naked, and we compare to birth weight and discharge weight. We look at the skin and eyes for jaundice, and check a bilirubin level if needed. We watch a feed if breastfeeding is hard, and fix the latch there and then or arrange a lactation consultant. We look at the cord, the circumcision if there was one, the hips, the heart and the eyes. And we ask the parents how they are sleeping and feeling.
Visit two: two weeks
By now the baby should be back to birth weight. We review the newborn screen results from the state lab, which arrive around this time, and call you earlier if anything is abnormal. We talk about safe sleep again, because the first exhausted weeks are when the rules slip, and about what a fever means in a baby this age.
Visit three: one month
Growth, feeding, the first social smiles, and the second hepatitis B vaccine. Reflux, gas and crying peak around now; we sort out what is normal and what needs a change.
Between visits
The office phone is answered on weekdays from 9 to 5. After hours, the same number goes to our after-hours line. A rectal temperature of 100.4°F or higher in a baby under two months is an emergency and means the ER before the phone call; breathing trouble, a baby who will not wake to feed, and blue or gray color are the same. Almost everything else is a phone call.
What we provide that people do not expect
- Lactation help in the office and referral to consultants who take your insurance
- Screening for postpartum depression in mothers, and a referral the same week if needed
- Reach Out and Read: a new book at visits from six months, and guidance on talking and reading to a newborn from day one
- Help adding the baby to your insurance and choosing us as the primary care provider on Georgia Medicaid plans
- Care in English or Spanish
Newborn visits are available to new families whether or not they came to the prenatal visit. Call before you leave the hospital.
