Baby's breath can withstand considerable variation in both temperature and moisture while being most aggressive in areas of low rainfall. It is commonly found in lightly grazed pastures, roadside ditches, hay fields, and abandoned fields. Please click here to see a county level distribution map of baby's breath in Washington.
Sometimes a newborn's head is molded unevenly while passing through the birth canal. Babies are born with soft areas on their heads called fontanels. The skull bones in the soft spots haven't yet grown together. The soft spots allow a baby's relatively large head to move through the narrow birth canal. They also accommodate a baby's rapidly growing brain during infancy. A newborn's head that is shaped unevenly right after birth often rounds out over time.
In other cases, a baby's head shape changes after birth. This is a result of pressure on the head when the baby lies in the same position often. Spending too much time lying flat in one position can lead to an uneven head shape well past the time when birth-related lopsidedness evens out. This is known as positional molding or positional plagiocephaly.
Positional molding might be most noticeable when you're looking at your baby's head from above. From that view, the back of your baby's head might look flatter on one side than on the other. The ear on the flat side might look pushed forward.
Because a baby's skull is malleable, a tendency to rest the head in the same position can result in an uneven head shape. The back of the head might look flatter on one side than on the other. This is known as positional plagiocephaly.
As a baby gains better head and neck strength and learns to roll over, pressure on the head is more evenly distributed on the skull. Over time, a newborn's uneven head typically evens out. Changing a baby's position often and encouraging tummy time while a baby is awake also may help.
Your child's health care provider will do a physical exam. If your baby is diagnosed with positional plagiocephaly, changes in the way you position your baby can minimize head unevenness. For example:
Your baby's health care provider also may recommend physical therapy to treat head unevenness. Physical therapy for positional plagiocephaly involves exercises to help change a baby's preferred head position and strengthen the neck and head muscles.
If tummy time, frequent position changes or physical therapy doesn't improve head unevenness by age 6 months, your baby's health care provider might prescribe a molding helmet. A molding helmet is a custom-fitted helmet that relieves pressure on the flattened side of your baby's head.
Molding helmets are most effective in treating head unevenness when treatment begins between ages 4 months and 12 months. During this period, the skull bones are still malleable, and the brain is growing rapidly. Treatment with a molding helmet isn't likely to be effective after age 1, when the skull bones are fused together and head growth becomes less rapid.
Rarely, two or more of the bony plates in a baby's head join too early. This pushes other parts of the head out of shape as the brain grows. This condition is known as craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis is typically treated during infancy. To give the brain enough space to grow and develop, surgery is needed to separate the fused bones.
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Babies born more than 3 weeks earlier than their expected due date are called "premature." Premature babies (preemies) didn't have enough time to grow and develop as much as they should have before birth.
Yes, preemies may have many special needs. Younger and smaller babies tend to have more health problems than babies born closer to their due dates. So they often need care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Breast milk is the best nutrition for all babies, especially preemies. It has proteins that help fight infection. Most preemies can't feed straight from the breast or bottle at first. Mothers pump their milk and it's given to babies through a tube that goes through the nose or mouth and into the stomach.
If you don't breast feed or pump milk, your baby will get formula. Preemies need more calories, proteins, and other nutrients than full-term babies do. So extra nutrients called fortifiers may be added to pumped milk or specially designed preterm formulas may be used to help your baby grow.
Preemies often need special care after leaving the NICU, sometimes in a high-risk newborn clinic or early intervention program. Depending on their health, they may need care from specialists, such as doctors who treat problems with the brain and nervous system (neurologists), eyes (ophthalmologists), and lungs (pulmonologists).
Preemies must go to all doctor visits (including well-child checkups), get the vaccines that all babies need to stay healthy, and have routine hearing and eye exams. As your little one grows, doctors will check your baby's:
Take care of yourself by eating well, resting when you can, and getting exercise. Spend one-on-one time with your other children when you can, and get help from others. Look for support from friends, family, and support groups. You also can get support online from groups such as:
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Young babies can't control their arm or leg movements. If their nails are too long, sharp or jagged, they may scratch themselves. If you notice your baby's nails need to be smoothed, you may need to trim them.
If it's hard to stop your baby scratching themselves, you can put mittens on their hands. However, as your baby grows, it's best to have mittens off while they're awake so they can learn to use their hands.
Make sure you have plenty of light and that you hold your baby on your lap or on a flat surface. Hold their hand or foot firmly so they don't move. It can help if someone else holds the baby while you cut the nails.
Even with the best of care, it's possible to accidentally cut your baby's finger or toe. If it's bleeding, gently press a soft, clean cloth over the cut until the bleeding stops. Don't put on a dressing like a band-aid, as your baby might suck on it and it could come off.
If the skin next to your baby's nail is red, swollen or painful, they may have an infection. If this happens, you can soak their finger or toe in warm water and apply some antiseptic cream to keep the area clean. Put a mitten on your baby's hand so they don't suck off the cream.
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At birth, an infant is very sensitive to bright light. You may notice how small their pupils look, limiting how much light enters their eyes. A newborn baby can see something next to them with their peripheral (side) vision, but their central vision is still developing.
At about 1 month, your baby may focus briefly on you but may still prefer brightly colored objects up to 3 feet away. Infants are able to see across a room even at birth, but they are mostly interested in objects very close to them.
For their first 2 months, babies' eyes often do not work together very well. You might notice your baby's eyes appear to be crossed or they may seem to wander out to the sides. In most cases, this is normal and they will eventually correct themselves. But if one of your baby's eyes constantly turns in toward their nose or outward away from the nose, talk with your pediatrician.
At about 2 months old, babies usually are able to follow a moving object with their eyes as their visual coordination improves. In fact, at around 3 months old, your baby may have enough eye and arm coordination to bat at a nearby moving object.
At around 5 months old, a baby's ability to see how far an object is from them (called depth perception) has developed more fully. They are seeing the world in 3 dimensions (3-D) more completely. They get better at reaching for objects both near and far. They also have good color vision at this point, though not quite as fully developed as an adult's.
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