Caring for a healthy newborn in the maternity hospital.

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A newborn baby is a great joy, but also a huge responsibility for parents. To help the baby adapt to new environmental conditions, young mothers should know the basic principles of caring for a newborn.

Care begins with the delivery room stage, which is always ready to receive the newborn baby. The room has a table with a heated surface, a kit for providing emergency care to a newborn, and scales. The temperature in the room where the child is born is maintained at a level of at least 25 °С.

Immediately after birth, the baby is dried with a dry, warm diaper in the hands of the midwife and laid out on the mother’s bare chest and stomach. This begins the next stage of care - skin-to-skin contact (SSC), which is carried out during the first 1-2 hours of life. A disposable clamp is applied to the umbilical cord without separating the child from the mother, directly on the mother’s stomach, after the umbilical cord stops pulsating. Early clamping of the umbilical cord is carried out according to indications (the need to provide emergency care to the child, the risk of developing a conflict regarding the blood group or Rh factor). An assessment of the child’s condition by a neonatologist is carried out immediately after birth, without separation from the mother, in order to exclude pathology and monitor the child’s adaptation. Weighing, measuring and a full physical examination may be carried out later, before transfer to the neonatal unit.

In cases where contact with the mother is temporarily impossible (caesarean section, the need for manipulations on the mother), skin-to-skin contact with the father is practiced (during partner childbirth). The mother and child are in the delivery room under the supervision of a midwife for the first 1-2 hours after birth.

Since the sucking reflex can be suppressed during the first 40 minutes of life, the newborn is applied to the breast as soon as he is ready during the first hour of life, but no later than 2 hours. A midwife is located next to the mother and child, who assesses the signs of the newborn’s readiness to suck (the baby raises his head, opens his mouth, sticks out his tongue, sucks his fist) and helps him to attach well to the breast, giving the correct body position.

The transfer of a newborn from the delivery room to the department is carried out 2 hours after birth, provided that the condition of the mother and child is satisfactory.

When transferring, the nurse of the department for newborn children compares information from the development history of the newborn and the tags on the child’s arms.

CARE OF A NEWBORN CHILD IN THE DEPARTMENT FOR NEWBORN CHILDREN (MOTHER AND CHILD COMBINED ROOM).

The temperature in the shared ward is maintained at least 25 °С. After transfer to the postpartum ward, the nurse in the department for newborn children teaches the mother all the elements of caring for the newborn, shows her how to wash the baby with running warm water under the tap, avoiding touching the baby’s body with the sink. The mother dresses the child herself, using home clothes (diapers, onesies, undershirts) or swaddles the lower part of the body with a diaper.

The child's body temperature is measured 2 times a day with an electronic thermometer in the armpit. Normal body temperature is – 36.5-37.5 °С. The nurse teaches thermometry to the mother and then the mother herself measures the child’s body temperature.

No special eye treatment is required. If necessary, the mother washes the baby's face with warm running water. If the eyes are dirty, it is necessary to rinse them with a cloth or cotton ball moistened with sterile water from the outer corner of the eye to the inner one. Separate cotton balls or napkins are used for each eye.

If nasal breathing is difficult, the nasal passages are toileted. It is necessary to moisten a cotton ball in sterile water, twist the flagellum and gently screw it into each nasal passage (in turn), removing crusts or mucus.

The umbilical cord is collected using the open dry method.

A neonatologist or pediatric nurse also teaches the mother how to care for the umbilical cord and umbilical wound. The main maintenance requirement is to keep it clean and dry. If the umbilical cord remains dirty, it is important to rinse it with warm running water and dry it with a clean diaper. The umbilical remnant should be left open to air or covered with clean, loose clothing. The diaper should not cover the remainder of the umbilical cord until it falls off. The umbilical cord remnant falls off on its own. The child may be discharged home with the umbilical remnant still remaining. Breastfeeding is carried out at the request of the child, and not according to a regimen. The nurse in the department for newborns teaches the mother the rules of breastfeeding, explains to her the signs of correct attachment and positioning of the baby at the breast, evaluates the correctness of attachment and the effectiveness of sucking. If necessary, re-trains the mother. If a woman has difficulties breastfeeding and caring for her newborn, a pediatric nurse advises her and provides practical assistance.

A neonatologist and a pediatric nurse daily examine the umbilical cord, umbilical wound, skin and mucous membranes for the presence of purulent-inflammatory diseases.

COME TO US FOR HAPPINESS!

Head neonatal departments

Ann D.N.