Going home with a new baby is exciting, but it can be scary, too. Newborns have many needs, like frequent feedings and diaper changes. Babies can have health issues that are different from older children and adults, like diaper rash and cradle cap.

Your baby will go through many changes during the first year of life. You may feel uneasy at first. Ask your health care provider for help if you need it.

You might be surprised by how your newborn looks at birth. If you had a vaginal delivery, your baby entered this world through a narrow and boney passage. It's not uncommon for newborns to be born bluish, bruised, and with a misshapen head. An ear might be folded over. Your baby may have a complete head of hair or be bald. Your baby also will have a thick, pasty, whitish coating, which protected the skin in the womb. This will wash away during the first bathing.

Once your baby is placed into your arms, your gaze will go right to his or her eyes. Most newborns open their eyes soon after birth. Eyes will be brown or bluish-gray at first. Looking over your baby, you might notice that the face is a little puffy. You might notice small white bumps inside your baby's mouth or on his or her tongue. Your baby might be very wrinkly. Some babies, especially those born early, are covered in soft, fine hair, which will come off in a couple of weeks. Your baby's skin might have various colored marks, blotches, or rashes, and fingernails could be long. You might also notice that your baby's breasts and penis or vulva are a bit swollen.

How your baby looks will change from day to day, and many of the early marks of childbirth go away with time. If you have any concerns about something you see, talk to your doctor. After a few weeks, your newborn will look more and more like the baby you pictured in your dreams.

Spending time with your baby in those first hours of life is very special. Although you might be tired, your newborn could be quite alert after birth. Cuddle your baby skin-to-skin. Let your baby get to know your voice and study your face. Your baby can see up to about two feet away. You might notice that your baby throws his or her arms out if someone turns on a light or makes a sudden noise. This is called the startle response. Babies also are born with grasp and sucking reflexes. Put your finger in your baby's palm and watch how she or he knows to squeeze it. Feed your baby when she or he shows signs of hunger. You can visit our section on breastfeeding for tips to make these first feedings go well.

Newborn screening is the practice of testing newborns for certain disorders and conditions in the first 24 to 48 hours after they are born. In some cases, infants seem healthy at birth, but if they have these disorders or conditions they can develop serious medical problems later in infancy or childhood.

Newborn screening helps reduce and sometimes prevent negative outcomes by identifying conditions early. This may allow treatment to begin early enough to prevent damage. Newborn screening helps infants who, not very long ago, might have died in infancy or early childhood to grow to healthy adulthood.

Some physical conditions and issues are very common during the first couple of weeks after birth. Many are normal, and the infant's caregivers can deal with them if they occur. Mostly, it is a matter of the caregivers learning about what is normal for their infant and getting comfortable with the new routine in the household.

New parents and caregivers often have questions about several aspects of their infant's health and well-being.

Bowel Movements

Infants' bowel movements go through many changes in color and consistency, even within the first few days after birth. It's important to keep track of your infant's bowel movements. Some things to look for include:

• Color. A newborn's first bowel movements usually consist of a thick, black or dark green substance called meconium. After the meconium is passed, the stools ("poop") will turn yellow-green. The stools of breastfed infants look mustard-yellow with seed-like particles.
• Consistency. Until the infant starts to eat solid foods, the consistency of the stool can range from very soft to loose and runny. Formula-fed infants usually have stools that are tan or yellow in color and firmer than those of a breastfed infant. Whether your baby is breastfed or bottle-fed, hard or very dry stools may be a sign of dehydration.
• Frequency. Infants who are eating solid foods can become constipated if they eat too many constipating foods, such as cereal or cow's milk, before their system can handle them. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) do not recommend cow's milk for babies under 12 months.

Also, because an infant's stools are normally soft and a little runny, it's not always easy to tell when a young infant has mild diarrhea. The main signs are a sudden increase in the number of bowel movements (more than one per feeding) and watery stools.

Diarrhea can be a sign of intestinal infection, or it may be caused by a change in diet. If the infant is breastfeeding, diarrhea can result from a change in the mother's diet. The main concern with diarrhea is the possibility that dehydration can develop. If fever is also present and your infant is less than 2 months old, you should call your healthcare provider. If the infant is over 2 months old and the fever lasts more than a day, check the infant's urine output and rectal temperature and consult a healthcare provider. Make sure the infant continues to feed often.

Starting around the age of 3 to 6 weeks, some breastfed babies have only one bowel movement a week. This is normal because breast milk leaves very little solid waste to pass through the digestive system. Formula-fed infants should have at least one bowel movement a day. If a formula-fed infant has fewer bowel movements than this and appears to be straining because of hard stools, constipation may be the cause. Check with your healthcare provider if there are any changes in or problems with your infant's bowel movements.

Care of the Umbilicus

The umbilical cord delivers oxygen and nutrients to the fetus while it is in the womb. After delivery, the umbilical cord is cut. The remaining part of the cord dries and falls off in about 10 days, forming the belly button (navel).

Follow your healthcare provider's recommendations about how to care for the umbilicus. This care might include:

• Keeping the area clean and dry.
• Folding down the top of the diaper to expose the umbilicus to the air.
• Cleaning the umbilicus gently with a baby wipe or with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.

Contact your healthcare provider if there is pus or redness.

Colic

Many infants are fussy in the evenings, but if the crying does not stop and gets worse throughout the day or night, it may be caused by colic. According to the AAP, about one-fifth of all infants develop colic, usually starting between 2 and 4 weeks of age. They may cry inconsolably or scream, extend or pull up their legs, and pass gas. Their stomachs may be enlarged. The crying spells can occur anytime, although they often get worse in the early evening.

The colic will likely improve or disappear by the age of 3 or 4 months. There is no definite explanation for why some infants get colic. Sometimes, in breastfeeding babies, colic is a sign of sensitivity to a food in the mother's diet. Rarely, colic is caused by sensitivity to milk protein in formula. Colic could be a sign of a medical problem, such as a hernia or some type of illness.

If your infant shows signs of colic, the first step is to consult with your healthcare provider. Sometimes changing the diet of a breastfeeding mother or changing the formula for bottle-fed infants can help. Some infants seem to be soothed by being held, rocked, or wrapped snugly in a blanket. Some like a pacifier.

Diaper Rash

A rash on the skin covered by a diaper is quite common. It is usually caused by irritation of the skin from being in contact with stool and urine. It can get worse during bouts of diarrhea. Diaper rash usually can be prevented by frequent diaper changes.

Your healthcare provider can recommend care for diaper rash, which may include:

• Rinsing the skin with warm water, using soap only after bowel movements. Because baby wipes may leave a film of bacteria on the skin, their use is often not recommended.
• Exposing the rash to air as much as possible by loosely attaching the diaper at the waist, or removing the diaper entirely during naps.
• Laying the infant on a towel to absorb urine.

Caregivers should contact a healthcare provider if the rash is not better in 3 days or if the child becomes worse.

Spitting Up/Vomiting

Spitting up is a common occurrence for newborns and is usually not a sign of a more serious problem. After feeding, try to keep the infant calm and in an upright position for a little while. Keep a burp towel handy, just in case. Contact your health care provider immediately if your infant:

• Is not gaining weight
• Is spitting up so forcefully that stomach contents shoot out of the infant's mouth
• Spits up green or yellow liquid, blood, or a substance that looks like coffee grounds
• Has blood in the stool
• Shows other signs of illness, such as fever, diarrhea, or difficulty with breathing

Some parents worry that their infant will spit up and choke if they are put to sleep on their backs, but this is not the case. Healthy infants naturally swallow or cough up fluids—it's a reflex all people have. Where the opening to the windpipe is located in the body makes it unlikely for fluids to cause choking. Babies may actually clear such fluids better when on their backs.

The NICHD's Safe to Sleep® Campaign (formerly the Back to Sleep campaign) recommends placing infants to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Since the recommendation for back sleeping began in 1992, the number of fatal choking deaths has not increased. In fact, in most of the few reported cases of fatal choking, an infant was sleeping on his or her stomach.

Teething

Although newborns usually have no visible teeth, baby teeth begin to appear generally about 6 months after birth. During the first few years, all 20 baby teeth will push through the gums, and most children will have their full set of these teeth in place by age 3.

An infant's front four teeth usually appear first, at about 6 months of age, although some children don't get their first tooth until 12 or 14 months. As their teeth break through the gums, some infants become fussy, sleepless, and irritable; lose their appetite; or drool more than usual. If an infant has a fever or diarrhea while teething or continues to be cranky and uncomfortable, contact your baby's health care provider.

The FDA does not recommend gum-numbing medications with an ingredient called benzocaine because they can cause a potentially fatal condition in young children. Talk to your health care provider for advice on using these products for your teething infant. Other potential forms of relief for your infant include a chilled teething ring or gently rubbing the child's gums with a clean finger.

Urination

Infants urinate as often as every 1 to 3 hours or as infrequently as every 4 to 6 hours. In case of sickness or if the weather is very hot, urine output might drop by half and still be normal.

Urination should never be painful. If you notice any signs of distress while your infant is urinating, notify your child's health care provider because this could be a sign of infection or some other problem in the urinary tract. In a healthy child, urine is light to dark yellow in color. (The darker the color, the more concentrated the urine; the urine is more concentrated when the child is not drinking much liquid.) The presence of blood in the urine or a bloody spot on the diaper is not normal and should prompt a call to the health care provider. If this bleeding occurs with other symptoms, such as abdominal pain or bleeding in other areas, immediate medical attention is needed.

Jaundice

Jaundice can cause an infant's skin, eyes, and mouth to turn a yellowish color. The yellow color is caused by a buildup of bilirubin, a substance that is produced in the body during the normal process of breaking down old red blood cells and forming new ones.

Normally the liver removes bilirubin from the body. But, for many infants, in the first few days after birth, the liver is not yet working at its full power. As a result, the level of bilirubin in the blood gets too high, causing the infant's color to become slightly yellow—this is jaundice.

Although jaundice is common and usually not serious, in some cases, high levels of bilirubin could cause brain injury. All infants with jaundice need to be seen by a healthcare provider.

Many infants need no treatment. Their livers start to catch up quickly and begin to remove bilirubin normally, usually within a few days after birth. For some infants, healthcare providers prescribe phototherapy—a treatment using a special lamp—to help break down the bilirubin in their bodies.

If your infant has jaundice, ask your health care provider how long the child's jaundice should last after leaving the hospital, and schedule a follow-up appointment as directed. If the jaundice lasts longer than expected, or an infant who did not have jaundice starts to turn yellowish after going home, a health care provider should be consulted right away. If you intend to get discharged early, particularly within 48 hours of birth, your infant's jaundice may peak later in the first week.

It is almost impossible to say how severe the jaundice level is by just looking at the baby's skin, especially for infants of color. Therefore, make every effort to keep follow-up appointments so the health care provider can check the level of jaundice with a simple blood test.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding, also called nursing, is the process of feeding human breast milk to an infant, either directly from the breast or by expressing (pumping out) the milk from the breast and bottle-feeding it to the infant. Milk from the breast provides an infant with essential calories, nutrients, and antibodies to protect against some infections.

For women in the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) currently recommends:

• Infants should be fed breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months after birth. Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant does not receive any additional foods (except vitamin D) or fluids unless medically recommended.
• After the first 6 months and until the infant is 1 year old, the AAP recommends that the mother continue breastfeeding while gradually introducing solid foods into the infant's diet.
• After 1 year, breastfeeding can be continued if mutually desired by the mother and her infant.

According to the AAP, breastfeeding reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by more than one-third. Also, adolescent and adult obesity is reduced by up to nearly one-third in breastfed infants compared with those who are not breastfed. NICHD-supported research suggests that some of the fatty acids contained in breast milk play important roles in helping brain development.

Breastfeeding is beneficial to the mother, too:

• Nursing helps a woman's body secrete hormones, causing her uterus to contract and heal. These hormones also postpone the restarting of menstruation.
• Breastfeeding reduces the chance of postpartum depression, enhances mother-infant bonding, and can create a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
• Some authorities believe that breastfeeding women have lower risks of developing breast and uterine cancers.

About 75% of mothers initiate breastfeeding for their newborn infants. Mothers who are interested in breastfeeding should discuss it with their health care providers both before the baby is born and while in the hospital.

In addition, the Breastfeeding health topic provides detailed information about breastfeeding and related issues. The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers an online tool (https://www.myplate.gov/life-stages/pregnancy-and-breastfeeding) that can help women who are breastfeeding plan their meals to ensure that their nutrition is optimal using references to specific food groups.

When should solid foods be introduced?

The AAP recommends breastfeeding as the sole source of nutrition for infants for at least 6 months. As solid foods are added to the infant's diet, breastfeeding should continue until at least 12 months. Breastfeeding may go on after 12 months, if desired by the mother and infant.

The AAP offers specific recommendations about the variety of foods that an infant's diet should include starting after about 6 months of age, though solids may be introduced a bit earlier. Also, the AAP recommends limiting fruit juices in infants' and children's diets. Special care needs to be used when selecting and preparing "finger foods" that infants can handle themselves. Such items could lead some infants to choke on them.

All babies cry. Crying is the most effective way for babies to communicate their needs. If you are unable to calm your baby, you may begin to feel frustrated, angry, helpless, and distressed. No matter how you feel, always be gentle with your baby. Never shake an infant or child. Shaking a baby can cause injury or even death.

A plan for when your baby cries

Here are some suggestions on how to calm your baby, as well as yourself, when he or she is crying.

• Try to find the reason your baby is crying. Make sure all of your baby's basic needs (food, diapers, warmth, etc.) are met. Also, check for signs of sickness or pain, like fever or diaper rash.
• Comfort your baby. Try rubbing your baby’s back, gently rocking your baby, giving him or her a pacifier, singing, or talking to your baby to soothe crying.
• Take a walk or a ride. Take your baby for a walk in a stroller or a ride in a car if it is safe to go out. Always place your baby in a secure child safety seat in the back seat of the car.
• Take a time-out. Take a minute, relax, and calm down to reduce the stress you feel.
• Talk with someone. Talk with a good friend or family member about how you feel. This will give you a break and help you calm down.

Most parents know that the safest way to put their baby to sleep is on its back. Babies who sleep on their backs are much less likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Babies who always sleep with their head to the same side can develop flat spots. This handout tells you how to prevent this from happening.

What is SIDS?

SIDS is when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly – for no clear reason, even after an investigation. Babies who die of SIDS are usually under one year old. SIDS is sometimes called crib death.

Why do some babies develop flat spots on their heads?

Babies’ skulls are very soft and the bones can be affected by pressure. Babies also have weak neck muscles. Because of this, they tend to turn their heads to one side when placed on their backs.

If babies always turn their heads to the same side, the skull may flatten. This is known as a ‘flat head’. The medical term for this is positional plagiocephaly.

A little bit of flattening goes away on its own. More serious flattening may be permanent, but it will not affect a baby’s brain or development.

Can a baby’s flat head be prevented?

Yes. A simple way to prevent your baby from getting a flat head is to change the position of the baby’s head each day.

Because babies like to have something interesting to look at, they tend to turn their head to look out into their room rather than toward the wall. This way they can see you as you come and go.

Here’s how you can change the position of your baby’s head while still giving her the same ‘view’.

• One day, place your baby with her head at the head of the crib.
• The next day, place your baby with her head at the foot of the crib.
• Each day, alternate your baby’s orientation in the crib.
• Check to make sure that your baby is always looking out into the room.

You might also put a mobile on the side of the crib facing the room to encourage your baby to look that way.

What else can I do to prevent my baby from getting a flat head?

Babies should also have supervised ‘tummy time’ when they are awake, several times a day.

Not only will time on the tummy help prevent a flat spot on the head, but it is important for your baby’s development.

If your baby still develops flat spots, talk to your paediatrician or family physician.

What else can I do to help reduce the risk of SIDS?

The most important thing you can do to reduce the risk of SIDS is place your baby on his back to sleep. You should also:

• make sure that nobody smokes around your baby;
• avoid putting too many clothes and covers on your baby; and
• breastfeed your baby, it may give some protection against SIDS.

SIDS is the sudden death of an infant younger than 1 year of age that is still unexplained after a complete investigation. This investigation can include an autopsy, a review of the death scene, and taking complete family and medical histories.

NICHD also leads the Safe to Sleep^® campaign to educate parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers about ways to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death, such as accidental suffocation. Visit the Safe to Sleep^® website for more information.

Infant Car Seats

Car crashes are the number one killer of children ages 1 to 12 years in the United States. Proper use of car seats helps keep children safe. The type of seat your child needs depends on several things, including your child's size and the type of vehicle you have. With so many different car seats on the market, many parents find the job of choosing a car seat to be confusing.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides a set of guidelines regarding infant car seats. The guidelines are consistent with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) about choosing the most appropriate car seat for your child. AAP provides a listing of car seats and safety seat manufacturers.

Newer cars and trucks are equipped with the LATCH system for installing child safety seats (LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children). Special anchors, instead of safety belts, keep the seat safely in place. If your car or safety seat does not use the LATCH system, you will have to use the vehicle's safety belts to secure an appropriate car seat.

Be sure that everyone who transports your infant uses an approved safety seat that is properly installed—every time.

Hyperthermia and Heat-Related Illness

The term hyperthermia (pronounced high-purr-THER-mee-yah) refers to heat-related illness—or those illnesses associated with exposure to high temperatures in the environment, causing high body temperature.

When the body is exposed to high temperatures, as on a hot day, the body normally cools itself using different mechanisms, such as heavy sweating and losing heat through the skin. But in certain situations, such as when a person is inside a parked car when it is warm or sunny, sweating and other mechanisms may not be enough to cool high body heat. As a result, the body's temperature rises quickly and may damage the brain and other organs in the body. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hyperthermia occurs when the body heats up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. A body temperature of 107 degrees is usually fatal.

Infants' immature body systems are not able to cope with high temperatures, and infants are not able to communicate if they are too warm. That's why they are at especially high risk of hyperthermia.

According to the AAP, deaths from hyperthermia have increased in the last decade, especially among children and pets, mainly as a result of their being left alone in a car for even short periods of time. Even when the air outside is at "room temperature" (about 72 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperature inside a car can increase to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in just 30 minutes. One study showed that on a sunny, 72-degree day, the temperature inside a car can reach 117 degrees Fahrenheit, and cracking the windows did not decrease the rate of the rise in temperature. Thus, even when the weather is comfortable outside, children are at high risk for heat stroke and death from being left alone in a car.

Parents and caregivers should never leave a child alone in a car, not even with the windows down, and not even for a minute. In addition, parents and caregivers should develop plans for getting everyone out of the car to ensure that they all exit the car safely and no one is left in the car accidentally.

If you see a child left alone in a parked car, you should call 911 to request emergency help. It could mean the difference between life and death for that child.

Your infant should be examined by a health care provider regularly because growth and development occur so quickly in the first 2 years after birth.

Your child's first exam will occur shortly after birth. Your pediatric health care provider will probably schedule a visit just a few days after the infant is brought home from the hospital. A typical schedule for infants, based on recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, might look like this:

• By 1 month
• 2 months
• 4 months
• 6 months
• 9 months
• 1 year
• 15 months
• 18 months
• 2 years

Each visit includes a complete physical examination. The health care provider will check the infant's growth and development and will record your child's height, weight, and other important information. Tests for hearing, vision, and other functions will be part of some visits. Immunizations and preventive care are important to keep children healthy.

Well-child visits are key times for communication. Ideally, both parents should attend these early visits to the health care provider. These appointments give you and your pediatrician a chance to get to know each other and exchange questions and answers. Expect to receive information about normal development, nutrition, sleep, safety, diseases that are going around, and other important topics. Sometimes it helps to write down questions and concerns before the visit.

Special attention is paid to whether the child is meeting normal developmental milestones. The height, weight, and head circumference are recorded on a growth chart, which the health care provider keeps with the child's medical record. This can be a great start for a discussion about your child's health.

In addition to taking part in these scheduled well-child visits, call and visit a health care provider any time your infant seems ill or if you are worried about his or her health or development.

Immunization, also called vaccination or shots, is an important way to protect an infant's health. Vaccinations can prevent more than a dozen serious diseases. Failure to vaccinate may mean putting children at risk for serious and sometimes fatal diseases.

Infants are particularly vulnerable to infections; that is why it is so important to protect them with immunization. Immunizations help prevent the spread of disease and protect infants and toddlers against dangerous complications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a list of diseases that can be prevented with vaccines, as well as the benefits and risks of vaccination.

The CDC publishes a schedule of immunizations recommended for infants. These recommendations are approved by the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The CDC also offers an immunization schedule that can be customized for each child.

Children need strong, healthy teeth to chew their food, speak, and have a healthy-looking smile. Their first teeth (sometimes called baby teeth) help make sure their adult teeth come in correctly.

Your child's baby teeth are at risk for decay as soon as they break through the gums, usually around the age of 6 months. Tooth decay in infants and toddlers is often referred to as baby-bottle tooth decay. It most often occurs in the upper front teeth, but other teeth may be affected.

Parents can follow these steps as outlined by the American Dental Association to help prevent tooth decay in their infant:

• Begin cleaning your infant's mouth during the first few days after birth by wiping the gums with a clean, moist gauze pad or washcloth.
• When your child's teeth begin to come in, brush them gently with a child-size toothbrush and water.
• For children older than 2 years, brush their teeth with a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste. Be sure they spit out the toothpaste. Ask your child's dentist or physician if you are considering using fluoride toothpaste before age 2.
• Until you're comfortable that your child can brush on his or her own, continue to brush your child's teeth twice a day with a child-size toothbrush and a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste.
• When your child has two teeth that touch, you should begin flossing their teeth daily.

Helping a child learn to fall asleep and stay asleep is one of the more challenging parts of infant care. Newborns tend to sleep or drowse for 16 to 20 hours a day. Because their internal clocks are not yet set, they sleep a lot both during the day and at night. Newborns also have small stomachs, and so they need to be awake for regular feedings.

After a few months, infants usually begin to sleep in longer stretches at night and are awake for longer periods during the day. Practicing bedtime routines and putting your baby into the crib before the child falls asleep can help build better sleep patterns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against co-sleeping, the practice of infants and parents sleeping together (sometimes called bed sharing). Co-sleeping increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death, such as suffocation. The recommended alternative is room sharing, keeping the baby's sleep area in the same room where you sleep.

If you bring your infant into bed with you to breastfeed, make sure to put him or her back into the child's own sleep area in your room, such as a safety-approved crib or bassinet, when you are finished.

For babies in the first year of life, a good start begins with good nutrition, a safe home environment, regular medical and dental care, and car safety. Learn what steps you can take to give your baby the healthiest start in life.

Good Nutrition

Consider breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is the best method for early infant feeding and the healthiest option for most mothers and infants. Infants who are breastfed have reduced risks of ear and respiratory infections, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and obesity.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend infants receive only breast milk for about the first 6 months of life. These tips can help prepare you to breastfeed as soon as possible after delivery and get the support you need to stick with it.

Add healthy solid foods at 6 months.

Babies should be introduced to foods other than breast milk or infant formula when they are about 6 months old. Starting good nutrition practices early can help children develop healthy dietary patterns. CDC offers information and practical tips for feeding healthy foods and drinks to infants and toddlers.

Safe Home Environment

Two of the most important ways to make a home healthy and safe for infants are to make sure no one smokes in the home and to maintain a safe sleep environment.

Prevent exposure to secondhand smoke.

Babies who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to die from SIDS and are sick more often with bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections. Don’t allow anyone to smoke in your car or home. Rolling down a car window will not protect babies from secondhand smoke. Smoking in another room like a bathroom or bedroom pollutes all the air in your home. In an apartment, smoke in one room can go through the whole building.

Maintain a safe sleep environment.

Most sleep-related infant deaths, including deaths from SIDS, happen while the infant sleeps in an unsafe environment. To keep your baby safe while sleeping, you should:

• Place them on their back for all sleep times—naps and at night.
• Use a firm, flat (not at an angle or inclined) sleep surface, such as a mattress in a safety-approved crib, covered only by a fitted sheet.
• Keep their sleep area (for example, a crib or bassinet) in the same room where you sleep, ideally until they are at least 6 months old.
• Keep soft bedding such as blankets, pillows, bumper pads, and soft toys out of their sleep area. Don’t cover their head or allow them to get too hot.

Medical and Dental Care

Stay up to date on well-baby care.

Well-child visits are important for many reasons, including:

• Making sure your baby is growing as expected and able to do what’s expected for their age, like hold their head up or crawl.
• Discussing any concerns about your baby’s health.
• Getting scheduled vaccinations to prevent illnesses like measles and whooping cough (pertussis) and other serious diseases.

On-time vaccination throughout childhood helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. Learn more about what vaccines your infant needs

Take care of your baby’s mouth and teeth.

Oral health is essential to general health and well-being, and good oral health starts during infancy. Parents and caregivers should:

• Wipe gums twice a day with a soft, clean cloth in the morning after the first feeding and right before bed to wipe away bacteria and sugars that cause cavities.
• When teeth come in, start brushing twice a day with a soft, small-bristled toothbrush and plain water.
• Visit the dentist by your baby’s first birthday to spot signs of problems early.
• Talk to your dentist or doctor about putting fluoride varnish on your baby’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears.

Car Safety

Make sure your infant is properly buckled in a rear-facing car seat.

• Infants and toddlers should be buckled in a rear-facing car seat with a harness, in the back seat, until they reach the maximum weight or height limit of their car seat. This is typically between ages 2 and 4 years.
• Check the car seat manual and labels on the car seat for weight and height limits.
• Never place a rear-facing car seat in the front seat. Front passenger air bags can injure or kill young children in a crash.