Re: How long after delivery ..
nothing much really…
just little things that ammi used to do with my nieces and nephews and I learned to do as well.
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shaping the head included what you’ve already read in this thread as well as pressing down with the palm of your hand on the forehead so as to keep it from having a rounded/convex shape.
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massage the baby with oil and a small ball of kneaded dough. this removes the tiny hairs that the baby’s body is often covered with. it is said that if you do this well then chances are that the child will have less issues with hair removal later on in life. (e.g. my own legs need to be waxed once in three/four months)
I did this with Noor, who happened to be a very hairy baby, and thankfully most of the fuzz was gone never to return. My SIL didn’t do it and her daughter ended up with hair on her back etc. -
gently pinch/massage the bridge of the nose, lifting it from the base upwards so as to narrow it. since this is the only area of the nose where there actually is bone, you have an opportunity to shape it in the early days after birth. ammi used to encourage my bhabhis to do this as they nursed the babies. she said aisay karnay say naak “khaRi” hoti hai. (e.g. you’ve seen my nose right?
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with the side of your thumb, push down on the area between the nose and the upper lip (i.e. where the moustache would be). as some children suckle/latch the upper jaw may have a tendency to extend beyond the lower jaw. pressing on this part of the face as the child feeds shapes the mouth/jaw to an aligned position. (n.b. this is a greater problem for women that are ahem well-endowed and the baby has to latch onto a larger nipple) doing this can also help eliminate the need for braces later on in life.
…and for the record…I was a forceps delivery…still have the tiny dent at the top of my forehead as evidence…but now I wonder what else was wrong with me that ammi knew so much about “shaping”