Nowadays, there is a great number of breastfeeding counselling services to be provided in Estonia, but counselling related to the mother and neonatal care or newborn patronage (monitoring the newborn/infant after birth at home) is very rare and is sometimes provided by Family Physician.
New parents return home from the maternity hospital on the second or third day of their baby's life. As a rule, the doctor's first visit does not take place until the newborn is two weeks old or even later. The knowledge that is given in the hospital is insufficient or often forgotten because bringing home a new baby can be a confusing and stressful time for parents. Therefore, such counselling is needed within their first days at home when the mother and baby are discharged from the hospital. This period is the most difficult for parents when the mother and the father adapt to a new family member, a long-awaited newborn baby.
The new parents do not exactly understand yet how to deal with a newborn. Theoretical knowledge acquired from family school lectures or the Internet do not always help in independent practice. A newborn baby looks very small and fragile: it does not hold its head well yet, it has delicate skin and sometimes reacts to the touch with crying. All that mentioned above makes the new parents feel afraid, and even taking the baby and holding in arms at first looks like a big problem. In addition, there are a lot of other concerns, such as how to wash and bathe the baby, care about umbilical cord, do the morning hygiene, change clothes and so on. Usual diaper changing also seems problematic at first time.
Parents of premature babies often need help because they feel uncertain and they invite a medical worker to get answers to their questions and acquire confidence.
Proper newborn care creates prerequisite for growing a healthy child. In addition, if a mother has enough knowledge about newborn care, she feels more confident because of having specialists' advice or being supported by a medical worker. The risk of postpartum depression decreases if she can get answers to her questions. When a baby is comfortable, it cries less, it smiles more, eats and sleeps better, giving its parents time for rest and recover.
