Below are 20 tips for new parents.  Most of these are straight forward, but some may surprise you.  Many of the recommendations are taken from the guidelines for pediatric care from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

1. All babies will lose some weight after they are born.  In fact, losing up to 10% of the birth weight is considered normal; they typically regain this weight by 10-14 days of life.
2. All babies should sleep on their backs, not on their side or on their stomachs.  This is done to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and was known as the "Back to Sleep" campaign.
3. All babies should receive play time on their tummies, known as Tummy Time, several times per day for at least 3-5 minutes per session.  This allows them to strengthen their neck and back muscles, and reduces the development of flat heads.
4. All infants who are exclusively breastfed should receive 400 IU per day of Vitamin D supplementation.
5. Baby bumpers in cribs are not recommended, as they can pose a safety risk to infants sleeping in their cribs.
6. Shaking or hitting a crying infant is never OK, and actually can cause permanent damage to your baby, including blindness, mental retardation, and death.
7. It is not recommended to feed water to infants.  In most cases, it is not recommended to feed cereal or other baby foods to infants until at least 4 months of age.
8. In the past, it has been recommended to administer a pain reducer, such as Acetaminophen (Tylenol) to infants prior to them receiving vaccines.  This is no longer suggested.  Studies have shown that their response to the vaccine, and the vaccine's effectiveness, can be somewhat lessened if Acetaminophen is given prior to the vaccine administration.
   
9. Fever is defined as a temperature >100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.  For infants, take temperatures rectally, as this is most accurate.  Any fever in a newborn under 2 months of age necessitates an immediate call to your pediatrician; no medication should be given until speaking with your doctor.  In addition, Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) should NEVER be given to any infant under 6 months of age.
   
10. There have been NO reliable studies to date linking ANY vaccines with the development of autism.
11. Co-sleeping with an infant, with them sleeping in the same bed as the parent, increases the risk for infant injury or suffocation, and is not recommended.
12. Use Bisphenol A (BPA)-free bottles to feed your baby; do not use bottles that contain BPA, which are often marked by the recycle number 7 or the letters PC on the side of the bottle.
13. Infants are at high risk for sunburn and overheating, and should not be in direct sunlight, especially during peak sun hours; keeping them in hats and under shade is advised.  
14. If sun exposure is unavoidable, sunscreens are OK to use for infants.  However, they should contain physical blockers (titanium or zinc based, for example) instead of chemical blockers, protect against both UVA and UVB light, and be at minimum SPF 30.
15. It is NOT necessary to clean the umbilical cord with alcohol or other cleansers on a routine basis.  Keep it dry, and it usually falls often within 2 weeks of life.  
16. Bathing in a tub may occur once the umbilical cord has fallen off; until then, sponge baths are recommended.  In general, bathing is only needed a few days per week, and washing hair once per week or so.
17. Diaper wipes, soaps, lotions, and other products used for your baby should be chemical-free, alcohol-free, non-fragranced and hypoallergenic to minimize the likelihood that the product will irritate the skin or cause a rash.
18. It is normal for newborn skin to appear dry and flaky.  The skin is used to being in water for 9 months, and is just adjusting to the outside world.  No emollients or lotions are necessary, unless there are deep cracks or bleeding.
19. Developmentally, the first milestones pediatricians look for are cooing and smiling, and these typically occur around 6 weeks of age.
20. Baby acne is very common between 1-2 months of age.  Unless severe, it typically does not require treatment, and will resolve on its own within a few weeks.

There are many questions out there about what is safe to feed babies and what is not.  For some foods, there is more of a consensus.  For example, generally speaking, babies are not given any kinds of nuts or shellfish due to concerns about allergies.  However, for other foods such as root vegetables, there are differing opinions and lots of misinformation out there... especially for parents making their own baby foods.

When talking about root vegetables-- such as carrots, squash, spinach, kale, green beans, beets, cabbage, broccoli --  the concern is the risk of too many nitrates, which are potentially harmful compounds that these foods have from the soil.  For babies under 3 months of age, there is a theoretical risk of ingesting too many nitrates from these foods, which could potentially cause methemoglobinemia (a dangerous blood condition).  However, for babies over 3 months old (which hopefully all babies being fed ANY solid foods are), this risk is essentially nil.

When discussing this topic, the AAP has a statement that confirms that root veggies are OK for babies over 4 months of age.  Their statement is as follows: "Infants fed commercially prepared infant foods generally are not at risk of nitrate poisoning.However, home-prepared infant foods from vegetables (eg, spinach,beets, green beans, squash,carrots) should be avoided until infants are 3 months or older,although there is no nutritional indication to add complementary foods to the diet of the healthy term infant before 4 to 6 months of age."  In fact, it appears that once infants are 6 months old, the amount of stomach acid they produce is sufficient to effectively reduce the amount of nitrate-producing bacteria in the digestive tract.  Thus, at this age, the production of nitrates is limited and the risk is reduced.

Also of note, is the following: while this risk is most often discussed with regards to parents making their own baby foods from raw vegetables, all of the jarred commercial baby food carrots and vegetables have nitrates too. Nitrates are naturally occurring and thus cannot be removed... so even jarred organic carrot baby foods have nitrates (though sometimes in lesser amounts).

More information on this issue can be found here.

Many parents of newborns and infants ask us about the use of baby bumpers in cribs.  Logically, they seem like a good idea, and they can certainly make cribs more visually attractive.  In this case, however, our intuition betrays us... baby bumpers in cribs can be dangerous, and can cause more harm than good.  Many groups have come out against the use of baby bumpers in cribs, including the AAP, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the First Candle/ National SIDS Alliance.  We agree, and also advise against using baby bumpers in cribs.

This is such an important issue, in fact, that our own State's Attorney General Lisa Madigan is currently making a push to legally ban the production and sale of baby bumpers.  Historically, the use of bumpers made sense, to prevent infants from getting their heads stuck between the slats of the crib.  Today, however, due to regulations placed on require that the slats be close enough together that an infant's head cannot fit between them.  This regulation makes bumpers unnecessary and, according to a September 2007 study published in the journal Pediatrics, they actually pose a suffocation risk to infants.

For more information on bumpers, see this website.