The birth of a baby is a life-changing experience. As well as being exciting, it can also be a frightening time for new parents. There are many new things they have to learn and cope with. Parents often require much support, information and guidance from health professionals during the neonatal period.

Specific issues and concerns that new parents may wish to discuss with healthcare workers could include:

• feeding
• sleeping
• crying and colic
• nappies
• washing and bathing
• recognising and dealing with illnesses
• vitamin K and screening for disease (e.g. cystic fibrosis, hearing problems, bloodspot screening)
• caring for the umbilical cord
• neonatal jaundice
• baby blues
• registering the baby’s birth.

Some useful websites providing information and guidance on care of the newborn baby are listed below.

The BBC Parenting website offers practical advice on caring for a new baby. Topics include bathing, sleeping and nappies.
www.bbc.co.uk/parenting

The National Childbirth Trust offers support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood and aims to give every parent the chance to make informed choices during labour and birth. The ‘after the birth’ section gives lots of information, practical advice and the opportunity to share other parents’ experiences of coping with a new baby.
www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com

The TIPS website has been set up by a registered midwife to publish evidence-based information about breast feeding, skincare, cordcare and other midwifery-related subjects.
www.tipslimited.com

BabyCentre is a parenting resource offering practical advice from expert sources, such as obstetricians, paediatricians, doctors, midwives and parents.
www.babycentre.co.uk/baby

Fathers Direct is the UK national information centre for fatherhood. It exists to support the welfare of children by the positive and active involvement of fathers and male carers in their lives. There is a specific section for new fathers.
www.fathersdirect.com

The Multiple Births Foundation (MBF) and the Twins and Multiple Births Association (TAMBA) have websites providing information about caring for two or more newborn babies.
www.multiplebirths.org.uk        www.tamba.org.uk

The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association (CPHVA) website provides information about the organisation and its work. It also provides a gateway to many other sites that provide information on community nursing, public health and primary healthcare.
www.amicus-cphva.org

The World Health Organization (WHO) Child health page offers links to activities, reports, events and news about child health issues.
www.who.int/topics/child_health

BMC Paediatrics is an open access, peer-reviewed journal with articles on all aspects of child health.
www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpediatr

GP notebook is a system designed to provide a concise synopsis of the entire field of clinical medicine with material organised systematically to ensure rapid retrieval of information. The Paediatric system provides comprehensive information about the health and development of children, including neonates.
www.gpnotebook.co.uk

NMAP offers free access to a searchable catalogue of hand-selected and evaluated, quality internet resources for nursing, midwifery and allied health professions.
http://nmap.ac.uk

The Child Health and Paediatrics specialist library is a virtual library that addresses a wide range of topics related to the health and wellbeing of children. It is primarily aimed at professionals involved in the care of children but also aims to be valuable to anyone seeking information on a wide variety of aspects of child health.
http://libraries.nelh.nhs.uk/childHealth

The British Medical Journal provides a collection of articles on neonatal health issues.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/collection/neonates

Midwives on-line is a web-based portal dedicated to the information needs of midwives, both nationally and globally. It aims to link to quality, relevant, timely and where appropriate, evidence-based information to support midwives. There is also a section for parents-to-be.
www.midwivesonline.com

The UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre is a national organisation that sets UK-wide standards for neonatal bloodspot screening, and ensures greater parental involvement in this service.
www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/newborn

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) website offers the latest news on child health issues, electronic publications and links to other useful sites (including some paediatric journals).
www.rcpch.ac.uk