Infant care covers everything involved in keeping a baby healthy, safe, and developing well from birth through age 2. That includes feeding, sleep, hygiene, vaccinations, physical safety, and tracking developmental milestones. For new parents, the sheer volume of information can feel overwhelming, but the core principles are straightforward once you know what to expect at each stage.
Feeding in the First Year
Newborns eat frequently. Formula-fed babies typically start with 1 to 2 ounces every 2 to 3 hours, totaling 8 to 12 feedings in a 24-hour period. Breastfed babies follow a similar rhythm, feeding on demand. Over the first few weeks, the gaps between feedings gradually stretch to every 3 to 4 hours as your baby’s stomach grows.
Solid foods enter the picture around 6 months. Signs your baby is ready include sitting up with support, controlling their head and neck, opening their mouth when offered food, and swallowing rather than pushing food back out with their tongue. You don’t need to introduce foods in a particular order. By 7 or 8 months, babies can eat from different food groups: infant cereals, pureed meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurt, and soft cheeses.
A few specifics matter. If you’re using infant cereal, vary the types (oats, barley, multigrain) rather than relying only on rice cereal, which can increase arsenic exposure. Introduce potentially allergenic foods like eggs, peanuts, fish, wheat, soy, and dairy products early, alongside other new foods. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new single-ingredient food so you can spot any allergic reaction. Cow’s milk and fortified soy beverages as a drink should wait until after 12 months, though yogurt and cheese are fine before then.
Safe Sleep Practices
Sleep-related deaths remain one of the leading risks for infants, and the guidelines for reducing that risk are specific. Place your baby on their back for every sleep, including naps. Use a firm, flat mattress in a safety-approved crib or bassinet, covered only by a fitted sheet. Nothing else belongs in the sleep space: no blankets, pillows, bumper pads, or stuffed animals.
Keep the crib in your room for at least the first 6 months. Watch for overheating, which is a risk factor. If your baby is sweating or their chest feels hot to the touch, they’re too warm. A sleep sack or wearable blanket is a safer alternative to loose bedding for keeping your baby comfortable.
Bathing and Skin Care
Newborns don’t need daily baths. Three times a week is enough until your baby becomes more mobile. Bathing too often strips moisture from their skin. Between baths, clean the face, neck, and diaper area during regular changes, and check skin folds at the thighs, groin, armpits, and chin for trapped moisture or irritation. A damp washcloth handles these areas well.
Most newborns don’t need lotion after a bath. If you notice dry patches, a small amount of unscented baby moisturizer on those areas is fine. Persistent dryness usually signals you’re bathing too frequently rather than that you need more product.
What’s Normal in a Diaper
Newborn stool changes color and texture rapidly in the first week. The very first stools are black or dark green and tarry, called meconium. Within a few days, this transitions to a yellow-green, then settles into a pattern based on how your baby is fed. Breastfed babies typically produce seedy, loose, light-mustard-colored stool. Formula-fed babies tend toward yellow or tan with hints of green, slightly firmer but still soft.
Frequency varies more than most parents expect. Some breastfed babies poop after every feeding, while others go as long as once a week. Both are normal as long as the stool stays soft and the baby continues gaining weight. Formula-fed babies most often go about once a day. The main color to watch for is black stool that persists beyond the first few days after birth, which warrants a call to your pediatrician.
Developmental Milestones to Watch
Babies hit physical, social, and cognitive milestones on a loose but generally predictable timeline. These aren’t rigid deadlines, but they give you a frame of reference for what’s typical.
By 2 months, most babies can lift their heads during tummy time, track your movements with their eyes, smile back at you, and make sounds besides crying. By 4 months, they hold their heads steady when you carry them, prop up on their elbows during tummy time, coo with vowel sounds, and turn toward your voice.
At 6 months, babies reach for toys, roll from tummy to back, sit with hand support, recognize familiar people, laugh fully, and “blow raspberries.” By 9 months, they sit independently, transfer objects between hands, use fingers to rake food closer, show clear emotions on their faces, and may become clingy or shy around strangers. At 12 months, many babies are pulling to stand, possibly taking first steps, waving, and saying a word or two with meaning.
Vaccinations in the First Year
The immunization schedule is packed during infancy because babies are most vulnerable to serious infections before their immune systems mature. The first vaccine, for hepatitis B, is given at birth. At the 2-month, 4-month, and 6-month well-child visits, your baby receives a cluster of vaccines protecting against rotavirus, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, a type of bacterial meningitis, pneumococcal disease, and polio. At 12 months, the schedule adds protection against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and hepatitis A.
A newer addition to the schedule is a single dose of a protective antibody against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), typically given during the birth hospitalization depending on whether the mother received an RSV vaccine during pregnancy.
Car Seat Safety
Children under 2 must ride in a rear-facing car seat unless they weigh 40 or more pounds or are 40 or more inches tall. Rear-facing seats distribute crash forces across the back, neck, and head more evenly than forward-facing ones, which is critical for infants whose neck muscles and spinal structures are still developing. Always follow the height and weight limits printed on your specific seat. Improper installation is one of the most common safety failures: thousands of children are injured each year because of it. If you’re unsure about your installation, many local fire stations and highway patrol offices have certified child passenger safety technicians who will check it for free.
Recognizing a Fever in Young Infants
A rectal temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher defines a fever in infants. In babies under 2 months old, any fever at this threshold is treated seriously and typically requires prompt medical evaluation, because young infants can deteriorate quickly from infections that would be minor in older children.
Beyond fever, the warning signs that something needs immediate attention include a dusky skin color, difficulty breathing, lethargy or unusual irritability, inconsolable crying, difficulty feeding, vomiting, and decreased wet diapers. These apply at any age during infancy, but they’re especially urgent in the first two months of life.