Welcoming a new baby in 2010 or recently brought home your bundle of joy? Bringing home a new baby means big changes around the house. But parents, especially new moms and dads, often need to change more than dirty diapers. Newborns are sensitive, and everything they see and hear sticks with them. In an effort to raise a healthy and happy child, parents need to reconsider some of their old habits and make a few alterations in their routines.

To help keep your new baby safe and healthy in those first critical months, and throughout life, experts and seasoned parents make the following 5 recommendations:

You want everything that touches your baby to be clean, including your hands. Start washing your hands frequently, especially after touching pets, public door handles and dirty diapers, as soon as your baby is born, and then keep it up. Hand washing helps prevent the spread of germs. So don't hesitate to ask your newborn's visitors to wash up before touching as well.

"My twin daughters were born at 30 weeks gestation – 10 weeks early – so we made a lot of changes in our routines their first year home," says Kelly Damron, a mom from Phoenix, Ariz., and author of Tiny Toes: A Couple's Journey Through Infertility, Prematurity and Depression (Twin Peas LLC, 2007). "For example, when they were in the NICU we had to wash our hands before we could touch them. We kept that habit and required anyone visiting to wash their hands the minute they walked in the door – this lasted for at least 12 months."

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