After birth & Measuring Health
Transition to Newborn
Birth process also puts stress on the baby.
The newborn rapidly goes from a warm, quiet, and dark prenatal environment into a bright, noisy, and cold postnatal environment. Fortunately, 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
Prepares the lungs to begin breathing, send additional blood to the baby’s brain and vital organs, and make the baby alert right after the birth.
Moments After Birth
Oxytocin causes the breasts to “let down” milk, heightens the mother’s responsiveness to baby
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.
Measures of Neonatal Health and Responsiveness
Right after birth the newborn is weighed, cleaned up, and tested for signs of any developmental problems.
Apgar Scale: a widely used method to assess the health of newborns at one and five minutes after birth.
Evaluates infants’ heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, body color, and reflex irritability.
The Apgar Scale
Baby 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.
Heart rate
0 = absent
1 = slow; less than 100 beats per minute
2 = fast; 100-140 beats per minute
Respiratory effort
0 = not breathing for more than 1 minute
1 = irregular and slow
2 = good breathing with normal crying
Muscle tone
0 = limp and flaccid
1 = weak, inactive, but some flexion of extremities
2 = strong, active motion
Body color
0 = blue and pale
1 = body pink but extremities blue
2 = entire body pink
Reflex irritability
0 = no response
1 = grimace
2 = coughing, sneezing, and crying
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.
After birth & Measuring Health
Transition to Newborn
Birth process also puts stress on the baby.
The newborn rapidly goes from a warm, quiet, and dark prenatal environment into a bright, noisy, and cold postnatal environment. Fortunately, 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
Prepares the lungs to begin breathing, send additional blood to the baby’s brain and vital organs, and make the baby alert right after the birth.
Moments After Birth
Oxytocin causes the breasts to “let down” milk, heightens the mother’s responsiveness to baby
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.
Measures of Neonatal Health and Responsiveness
Right after birth the newborn is weighed, cleaned up, and tested for signs of any developmental problems.
Apgar Scale: a widely used method to assess the health of newborns at one and five minutes after birth.
Evaluates infants’ heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, body color, and reflex irritability.
The Apgar Scale
Baby 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.
Heart rate
0 = absent
1 = slow; less than 100 beats per minute
2 = fast; 100-140 beats per minute
Respiratory effort
0 = not breathing for more than 1 minute
1 = irregular and slow
2 = good breathing with normal crying
Muscle tone
0 = limp and flaccid
1 = weak, inactive, but some flexion of extremities
2 = strong, active motion
Body color
0 = blue and pale
1 = body pink but extremities blue
2 = entire body pink
Reflex irritability
0 = no response
1 = grimace
2 = coughing, sneezing, and crying
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.
