Extracted from Your Baby Week By Week, by Simone Cave and Dr Caroine Fertleman (Vermillion - £12.99)

Your baby in week 0

Arriving home from hospital with your brand new baby is when reality kicks in for most new parents. For the past few days you've been cocooned by a safety net of medical staff, and now you're on your own it will probably dawn on you just how little you know about looking after a newborn baby.

Your midwife will still visit

But you're not quite on your own yet because the day after you leave hospital you'll get a visit from a community midwife. She will probably turn up unannounced, but don't worry about tidying the house or even getting dressed - she's there to help and won't judge you.

The midwife will feel your tummy to check that your womb is contracting, and then take your pulse, blood pressure and temperature to rule out infection and problems resulting from the birth. She will ask how you are feeling both physically and emotionally, and make sure there are no problems with your breasts, whether or not you are breastfeeding.

The midwife will also check your sanitary pad to make sure that any blood loss is normal and look at your legs to rule out blood clots, and finally she will check your stitches if you had them. She'll also answer all your questions and give any baby care help that she can - for example with breastfeeding.

As well as making sure that you are okay, your midwife will examine your baby. She'll weigh him, look at his cord stump, check the colour of his skin to rule out jaundice, and take his temperature. Your midwife will also give your baby a heel prick (Guthrie) test on his seventh day.

This involves taking a blood sample from his heel which may make him cry briefly. The blood is tested for phenylketonuria - a rare, serious metabolic disorder - and hypothyroidism, which happens when there are low levels of thyroid hormone.

Some health authorities check for other conditions such as cystic fibrosis but this varies across the country. Both of these conditions are straightforward to treat, but lead to serious developmental problems if treated late or left untreated. If you don't hear the results of this test within a couple of weeks don't worry, it means your baby is clear - some areas only notify mums if there is a problem.

If you had a home birth, your midwife will leave a few hours after the birth, but return later that day or the next when you'll also get a visit from your GP to check your baby over.

Whether you had a home or hospital birth, your midwife will continue to visit for the next 10 days, probably every other day. She'll leave you a 24-hour telephone number so that you never feel completely on your own. It's natural to have dozens of worries this week, so don't hold back in speaking to your midwife however petty you think your concern may sound.

Sleep patterns

Your baby will be exhausted from the birth, so on the first night you may well get a good sleep and a chance to recover from the birth. He is likely to sleep for up to 10 hours without wanting milk or needing his nappy changed. If you're in hospital, put some ear plugs in and make the most of it as this will be the last unbroken night's sleep for months.

Your second night with your new baby will probably be a very different story as his appetite kicks in, making him wake every hour or two for a feed. Newborns have no circadian rhythms - which regulate the body clock - so they don't get any sleepier at night. Instead they will constantly nap and feed around the clock, oblivious to whether it is night or day.

Crying

You may be lulled into a false sense of security at the beginning of the week if your baby hardly cries and sleeps most of the time. This is nature's way of giving you and your baby a chance to recover from the birth.

After a few days your baby will cry more and you'll probably have no idea why. You won't yet know him well enough to distinguish his different cries but there's a good chance he's crying because he's hungry. He's too young to cry from being overtired or because he's got a wet nappy. So whether you are breast or bottlefeeding, offering him milk whenever he cries is your best chance of soothing him.

Feeding

During week one, your main goal should be to get feeding established. This can be challenging because new babies need to learn what to do and will seem a bit confused and clumsy whenever they are offered a breast or a bottle.

Do feed on demand, whether breast or bottle-feeding. This is important because a newborn's stomach is very small, so he needs lots of little feeds. And current thinking is not to push a newborn into a four-hour feeding pattern because he will feel hungry on this regime.

Nappies

In this first week, you probably won't have much idea how often you should change your baby's nappy. As a guide, change him about every three hours - less often at night.

You'll also be concerned about what's a 'normal' nappy. If your baby has fewer than six wet nappies in 24 hours it can indicate dehydration, as can dark, yellow urine. Urine should be almost colourless, and nappies should be heavy. More than eight wet nappies a day show that your baby is getting plenty of fluid.

Washing

You don't have to bath your baby this week, although you might like to if your midwife is around to show you how. But you should 'top and tail' him every day, which means washing his face and bottom.

Use cotton wool and warm water (boiled and cooled is best but tap water is okay) and use separate bowls for his bottom and face. You can also use cotton wool to dry him, but you don't need any soap or shampoo.

Use 100 per cent cotton wool, which is more absorbent than mixed fibre. Begin by wiping each eye with a separate piece of wet cotton wool, then clean the rest of his face - babies get milk and sick under their chins and behind their ears (don't wash inside the ears though).

Extracted from Your Baby Week By Week, by Simone Cave and Dr Caroine Fertleman (Vermillion - £12.99)