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Apgar Scale:
a widely used method to assess the health of newborns at one and five minutes after birth.
Oxytocin causes
the breasts to “let down” milk, heightens the mother’s responsiveness to baby
With the apgar scale, the baby is assessed at
1 minute and again at 5 minutes after birth
A newborn is rated
0, 1, or 2 on each measure, for a maximum score of 10.
A score of 7 to 10 indicates
the baby is in good to excellent condition.
A score of 5 to 7 may mean
the baby needs help to establish breathing, and the test should be repeated every 5 minutes up to 20 minutes.
A score below 5 is
rare and may reflect a variety of problems.
Babies are physiologically well prepared to
handle the stress of being born.
The skull of a baby is
malleable to fit in birth canal
Vernix caseosa (a skin grease)
protects the baby against heat loss before and during birth.
The mother’s production of stress hormones during labor triggers
the production of stress hormones in the baby
Stress hormones in the baby help by
preparing the lungs to begin breathing, sending additional blood to the baby’s brain and vital organs, and making the baby alert right after the birth
Fathers also show hormonal changes that are associated with
positive emotional reactions to infants.
Today, hospitals offer rooming in, in which
the infant stays in the mother’s hospital room all or most of the time.
Right after birth the newborn is
weighed, cleaned up, and tested for signs of any developmental problems.
The newborn rapidly goes from
a warm, quiet, and dark prenatal environment into a bright, noisy, and cold postnatal environment.
The apgar scale evaluates
infants’ heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, body color, and reflex irritability.
Reflex irritability
0 = no response
1 = grimace
2 = coughing, sneezing, and crying
Body color
0 = blue and pale
1 = body pink but extremities blue
2 = entire body pink
Muscle tone
0 = limp and flaccid
1 = weak, inactive, but some flexion of extremities
2 = strong, active motion
Respiratory effort
0 = not breathing for more than 1 minute
1 = irregular and slow
2 = good breathing with normal crying
Heart rate
0 = absent
1 = slow; less than 100 beats per minute
2 = fast; 100-140 beats per minute
Note
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