Your 3 and 4 Week Old Baby A Parent's Guide to Newborns

Baby's First Doctors Visit

Sometime between 2 weeks and one month old, your pediatrician will have you come in for a well-check with your baby. Most well-checks are relatively the same. There are a number of things that the doctor will be looking at to make sure your baby is progressing normally. Some of the things your doctor will look at include:

• Your baby’s weight, length and head circumference. This is done so that the doctor can create a growth chart from birth, and make sure your baby is growing properly.
• A physical exam of baby which will include listening to your baby’s heart and lungs with a stethoscope, feeling the baby’s abdomen to make sure there are no abnormal bumps or growth, and rotating the hips to rule out any dislocation or possible hip dysphasia.
• Your baby’s soft spot will be checked, to make sure it isn’t closing too fast, giving the brain time to grow properly within the skull.
• If your baby did not receive his first hepatitis B vaccination at birth, he should be receiving it at this appointment as well. These are just a few of the more common items a doctor will check for at this visit. Every pediatrician is different so they might skip something. If there is something you want checked, that your pediatrician doesn’t check, just ask them! They will probably check it for you.

What Might Concern You at 3 and 4 Weeks

  Colic! A word known by the world to make any parent shutter in the fear of the possibility, or sigh in the relief that it didn’t happen to them. How do you know what is normal in terms of your baby’s tears?

Colic is defined as a baby crying non-stop at least three hours a day, three days a week, and for at least three weeks. Some might think this doesn’t sound too bad, but in reality most colicky babies cry more than three hours a day, non-stop, and 6-7 days of the week. Colic can show its’ ugly head as early as three weeks old (although some babies get colicky later) and can last up till 4 months old.

If your baby has colic, then there will be no consoling him. If he won’t nap, he is dry, fed, and burped, but still crying; all you can really do is try to comfort him. Rock him, hold him, but don’t get discouraged if nothing you do makes his stop crying. Remember to take breaks yourself, so that you don’t break down and start crying, too. It is perfectly acceptable to lay your baby down in his crib, bassinet, or other safe place, and let him cry for a while so that you can take a shower, talk to a friend on the phone, or eat dinner.