• Keep a log of your infant's feeding and diaper patterns. For a printable log and more information about why this is a good thing to do, click here.

• Use the family and friends available to you for help. For more information about how to maximize the help they can give you, click here.

• Remember that there is a wide range for normal infant behaviors. Infants are very variable in their temperament, crying patterns and feeding-sleeping schedules.

• Remain confident in your abilities as a parent. You may feel lost and overwhelmed, but chances are you are doing fine.

• Remember that being born is a very exhausting and stressful process for your infant. Thus, he will do a lot of sleeping during this first week to recover.

• Since infants are only awake ~10% of the time during their first week after birth, you may have to wake him every couple of hours to feed or change diapers.

• Try to keep things in perspective by reminding yourself that your infant's needs are fairly simple during this first week - food, sleep, clean diapers, warmth, and physical contact.

For more information for your partner about nursing during the first week after birth, click here to download a First Ten Days of Nursing Handout from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.