You’ve likely heard about the “golden hours” after birth — those precious first hours of your newborn’s life when everything can feel exhilarating, emotional, exhausting, and wonderfully surreal all at once.
After months of waiting, wondering, planning, and imagining what your baby might look like, the moment has finally arrived. You get to meet this tiny person who has been growing inside you!
But while you’re busy taking in those little fingers, sleepy expressions, and newborn snuggles, there’s also quite a bit happening during your baby’s first day. Nurses and medical providers will be checking on both you and your newborn, feeding begins, diapers make their debut, and you’ll start learning your baby’s unique little cues.
Here’s what you might expect during the first 24 hours after birth.
This resource is brought to you by the Pregnancy & Parenting Center, where parents and families can find compassionate, nonjudgmental support, education, and practical resources.
Meeting Your Baby
The moment you first meet your baby is one you may remember forever.
When you and your baby are medically stable, your newborn may be placed directly on your chest for skin-to-skin contact. This isn’t just an amazing opportunity for your first cuddle. Skin-to-skin contact can help your baby adjust to life outside the womb, including supporting temperature regulation and encouraging bonding.
And don’t worry if your baby doesn’t look quite like the perfectly pink newborns you’ve seen in photographs! Newborns may arrive looking a little red, purple, puffy, wrinkled, or even cone-headed following their journey through the birth canal. Many of these characteristics are completely normal and temporary.
If medical circumstances mean you can’t have immediate skin-to-skin time, that doesn’t mean you’ve missed your opportunity to bond. There will be plenty of opportunities for holding, cuddling, talking, feeding, and getting to know your little one.
The First Exam
Soon after birth, your healthcare team will assess how your baby is adjusting.
One familiar assessment is the Apgar score. Usually performed shortly after birth, it looks at five areas: heart rate, breathing, muscle tone, reflex response, and skin color.
Your newborn will also be weighed and measured, and their head circumference may be recorded. Depending on the circumstances, some of these routine measurements may happen after you’ve had a little uninterrupted bonding time.
Throughout the first day, nurses and other healthcare providers will continue monitoring your baby’s temperature, breathing, feeding, activity, and overall well-being.
Feeding Time
Your baby may show an interest in feeding surprisingly soon after birth. Some newborns are alert and ready to eat, while others are sleepy and need a little encouragement.
If you choose to breastfeed, these first hours provide an opportunity to begin learning together. And “learning” is an important word!
Breastfeeding is natural, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it comes naturally right away. Both you and your baby are figuring out positioning, latching, feeding cues, and what works best for you as a team.
Don’t hesitate to ask your nurse or a lactation professional for assistance. That’s what they’re there for!
If you’re formula-feeding, your healthcare team can help you learn how much and how often to offer your newborn and answer questions about safe formula preparation and feeding.
However you feed your baby, these quiet moments are also wonderful opportunities for closeness, eye contact, touch, and bonding.
Your Baby May Be Sleepy — Very Sleepy!
Newborns sleep a lot, and the first day is no exception.
After the excitement and stimulation of birth, your little one may spend much of those first 24 hours snoozing. Newborn sleep doesn’t necessarily happen in long stretches, though. Your baby will typically cycle between sleeping, feeding, being changed, and enjoying brief periods of alertness.
Take advantage of those peaceful moments when you can. You’ve been through quite an experience, too!
Rest and Recovery for Mom
While everyone is understandably excited about the new baby, remember that you are recovering from childbirth.
Your body has just accomplished something extraordinary.
Whether you had a vaginal delivery or Cesarean birth, recovery begins immediately. You may experience soreness, bleeding, uterine cramping, exhaustion, and plenty of emotions.
Accept help.
Let your partner, family member, nurse, or other support person take care of some of the little things so you can focus on resting, recovering, and caring for your newborn.
There’s no prize for doing everything yourself!
The First Diaper — and Beyond
Yes, diaper duty begins almost immediately!
Your baby’s first bowel movements consist of meconium, a thick, dark, sticky substance that developed in your baby’s intestines before birth.
It can be startling if you aren’t expecting it!
Over the next several days, your baby’s stool will gradually change as feeding becomes established.
Your healthcare team will also pay attention to wet and dirty diapers because they can provide useful information about feeding and how your baby is adjusting.
Before leaving the hospital or birth center, ask what you should expect regarding your newborn’s diaper output during the first few days at home.
Baby’s First Tests and Screenings
Your newborn will receive several routine screenings during the early newborn period. The exact timing and requirements can vary depending on where you live and where your baby was born.
These may include a newborn blood screening, hearing screening, and a screening that checks oxygen levels in the blood to help detect certain serious heart conditions.
Your healthcare provider can explain each screening, when it will be performed, and when you can expect results.
It may seem like a lot is happening to your tiny baby in a short period of time, so ask questions whenever you have them.
The Emotional Rollercoaster
You might expect to feel nothing but joy when your baby arrives.
Instead, you might feel joy…and relief…and anxiety…and exhaustion…and disbelief…and love…and maybe even the sudden urge to cry.
That can be a lot to process!
Your body is also undergoing major hormonal and physical changes after delivery. Give yourself permission to experience your emotions without expecting your first day as a parent to look like a movie scene.
If sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, or other difficult emotions become intense or persist, tell your healthcare provider. Postpartum mental health is an important part of your overall health.
Taking care of you matters, too.
Managing Visitors
Everyone wants to meet the baby!
Grandparents, siblings, relatives, and friends may be eagerly awaiting their opportunity to see your newest family member.
But those first hours are also important for rest and bonding.
It is perfectly reasonable to limit visitors, shorten visits, turn off your phone, or simply say, “We’re resting right now.”
You don’t need to entertain anyone.
Your job is to recover, care for your baby, and begin settling into your new role.
Getting to Know Each Other
One of the most beautiful parts of those first 24 hours is simply observing your baby.
Look at those tiny eyelashes. Count those fingers and toes. Notice the little noises your baby makes.
Talk to your newborn, too. Your voice is already familiar from months spent listening to you from inside the womb.
You’re also beginning to recognize your baby’s signals. Is that rooting motion a sign of hunger? Does that little wiggle mean they’re waking up? What helps them settle?
You won’t understand every cue immediately — and you don’t need to.
You and your baby have plenty of time to learn about each other.
Preparing to Go Home
Depending on the type of delivery and the health of you and your baby, you may begin discussing discharge and home care during this period.
Before leaving, your healthcare team should provide instructions about feeding, diapering, safe sleep, umbilical cord care, follow-up appointments, and warning signs that require medical attention.
Ask every question you have.
There are no silly questions when you’re learning to care for a newborn!
You may even want to keep a list on your phone as questions occur to you. Between exhaustion, excitement, visitors, and newborn care, it’s easy to forget something you meant to ask.
The Golden Hours Are Just the Beginning
Your baby’s first 24 hours may be beautiful, messy, emotional, exhausting — and completely different from what you pictured.
That’s okay.
Take pictures if you want them. Write down the little details you never want to forget. Let someone photograph you holding your baby, too.
But don’t feel pressured to document every second.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is put the phone down, hold your newborn close, and simply be present.
The first day is only the beginning.
There will be first smiles, first giggles, first foods, first steps, first words, and thousands of ordinary little moments that somehow become extraordinary because they belong to your family.
You don’t have to know everything on Day One.
Parenthood is something you grow into, one feeding, one diaper, one cuddle, and one day at a time.
Welcome to the adventure!
Sources & Additional Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics — Information about newborn care and skin-to-skin contact.
Mayo Clinic — Information about the Apgar score and newborn assessments.
La Leche League International — Breastfeeding positioning, latch, and feeding support.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — Information about newborn screening.
American Psychological Association — Resources concerning postpartum mental health and postpartum depression.
ZERO TO THREE — Information about bonding, attachment, and early childhood development.
March of Dimes — Newborn care and preparing to bring your baby home.
This article is intended for general educational purposes and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always talk with your healthcare provider about questions or concerns regarding your health or your newborn’s health.