Is it normal for a newborn's lips to tremble?

For mothers, it is necessary to understand some common sense about the care of newborns so as not to panic when encountering emergencies. In fact, newborns have many abnormal conditions in the first few days after birth. Common ones include hiccups, spitting up milk, startle reaction, yellowing of the skin, trembling chin, etc. Many mothers start to think that their children are not normal when they see their children encounter such situations. In fact, these abnormalities are often not diseases, but are just manifestations caused by changes in the baby's growth environment or physiological reasons. Let me give you a detailed introduction below.

Normal reactions of newborn babies during development

1. Weight loss

Newborns often lose weight one week after birth. This is because the baby's food intake has not yet been normal, and the daily excretion of urine and feces, breathing and skin excretion of water that is invisible to the naked eye causes a temporary imbalance in the body, resulting in weight loss in the first 3 to 4 days after birth. The amount lost may be as much as 10% of the birth weight, but as the baby gradually adapts, this weight will be gained back in eight or nine days.

2. Sneezing

If a newborn baby occasionally sneezes, it is not a cold, because the blood flow in the newborn baby's nasal cavity is more vigorous, and the nasal cavity is small and short. If there are tiny external substances such as cotton wool, fluff or dust, they will irritate the nasal mucosa and cause sneezing. This can also be said to be a way for the baby to clean the nasal cavity by himself.

3. Limb curling

Before birth, due to the limited space in the uterus, the fetus's movements are mostly with the head toward the chest, the hands tightly clasped in front of the chest, the legs curled up, and the palms clenched. After birth, the head, neck, trunk and limbs will naturally stretch out gradually, so babies are often born with slightly bent calves, inverted feet, slightly outward rotation of the arms, fists, or flexed limbs.

4. Horse Teeth

Newborns often have small, smooth milky white particles of varying numbers near the gum edge or midline of the upper jaw. If there are few, there may be 1 to 2, and if there are many, there may be dozens of them. These are what we commonly call "horse teeth" or "plate teeth".

Note that it will generally be absorbed by itself in about 2 weeks. Do not pick it with a needle or rub it with a cloth to avoid damaging the mucous membrane and causing infection.

5. Startle

Newborns often have local muscle twitches after falling asleep, especially slight tremors in the fingers or toes, or when exposed to slight stimuli such as strong light, sound or vibration, they will open their hands upwards and quickly retract them, sometimes accompanied by a "startle" reaction with crying. This is due to the incomplete development of the newborn's nervous system. At this time, the mother can calm the baby down by gently pressing any part of the baby's body with her hand.

Note that if the baby has symptoms such as staring, tremors, or constant blinking, repeated chewing and sucking movements, irregular breathing, cyanosis of the skin, and twitching of facial muscles, the baby should be sought for medical diagnosis in time.

6. Spilling milk

Within 3 months after birth, the cardia muscles of the baby are not fully developed. At this time, the cardia is like a bottle mouth that cannot control the contraction well, and the stomach capacity of the newborn is also small, so it is easy to cause the milk in the stomach to flow back. Therefore, within a few months after birth, especially after feeding, crying, moving too much, or patting the baby's back, the baby will more or less spill milk. So after feeding the baby, the mother can pat his back with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes to make the baby burp. Avoiding excessive crying or sleeping in the right side position can also reduce spitting up of milk.

Note that the overflowing milk is usually white and flows out slowly from the mouth. It is not normal if the milk is forcefully spurted out, the amount is large, or if substances containing bile are spit out.

7. Squinting eyes

Strabismus is the uncoordinated movement of the two eyes. Generally speaking, the eyeballs of newborns are not yet fixed in the early stage, and they look a little cross-eyed. In addition, the eye muscles are poorly regulated, and there is often temporary strabismus. This is a physiological phenomenon, also called pseudostrabismus. It is particularly common in babies with wide faces and flat noses. Parents can observe it themselves at home.

Note that if the pupil reflection points of the baby's two eyes are in the same position when exposed to light, it is pseudostrabismus and does not require treatment; otherwise, it will require surgical correction after diagnosis by a doctor.

8. Vaginal bleeding in baby girls

Within one week after birth, it is common for baby girls to have some bloody discharge or mucus in their vagina, just like leucorrhea and menstruation. In fact, it is due to the influence of estrogen in the mother's body during the fetal period. After birth, the estrogen level in the baby's body drops sharply, causing the shedding of uterine and vaginal epithelial tissue. It is a normal physiological phenomenon.