Essential New-born Care

Summary

This video focuses on essential newborn care (ENC) to ensure proper care at birth and during the postnatal period. It highlights key components such as warmth, breathing, breastfeeding, infection prevention, and recognizing danger signs. The video also outlines the sequence of care from preparation for birth, immediate care during the first 60 minutes, to postnatal care up to 48 hours. The emphasis is on keeping the baby warm, monitoring for danger signs, and supporting breastfeeding, ensuring that the newborn's health is prioritized through proper hygiene and careful monitoring.

Takeaways

• 👶 Newborn care is essential for reducing preventable deaths in the first year of life.
• 🧼 Health providers must follow a step-by-step approach for essential newborn care, ensuring proper care at birth and during the postnatal period.
• 🌡️ Maintaining warmth is crucial, with delivery room temperature set between 26-28°C, and ensuring skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby.
• 🍼 Early breastfeeding should be supported, with mothers encouraged to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour after birth.
• ⚕️ Health providers should prepare by ensuring all necessary equipment is ready, including towels, gloves, a sterile delivery kit, and a functioning bag and mask.
• 🩺 Immediate care within the first 60 minutes includes drying the baby, ensuring breathing, cutting the umbilical cord, and monitoring for any birth injuries.
• 💉 Administer Vitamin K and neonatal vaccines within the first few hours after birth to prevent common health issues in newborns.
• 👁️ Monitor newborns for danger signs such as breathing issues, infections, or congenital malformations before discharge.
• 🫂 Encourage skin-to-skin contact and rooming-in to provide warmth, strengthen bonding, and promote breastfeeding.
• 🚫 Avoid unnecessary interventions like suctioning unless the nose or mouth is blocked, and do not bathe the newborn until discharge.

Q & A

What is the primary goal of Essential Newborn Care (ENC)?

The primary goal of Essential Newborn Care (ENC) is to ensure appropriate care at the time of birth and during the postnatal period to prevent newborn deaths, many of which are preventable.

What are the key components of Essential Newborn Care (ENC)?

The key components of ENC include warmth, immediate breathing, breastfeeding, infection prevention, and checking for danger signs in the newborn.

What should be the room temperature during delivery to ensure warmth for the newborn?

The labor room's temperature should be maintained between 26 to 28°C to ensure warmth for the newborn.

What steps should be followed in immediate newborn care during the first 60 minutes of birth?

During the first 60 minutes, immediate care includes checking for meconium, drying the baby, providing skin-to-skin contact, cutting the cord within 1 to 3 minutes, ruling out major malformations, and initiating breastfeeding.

How should the umbilical cord be cut and managed after birth?

The umbilical cord should be clamped or tied after it stops pulsating, with two clamps placed at 2 cm and 5 cm from the umbilicus. The cord should be cut between the clamps.

What is the role of skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the newborn?

Skin-to-skin contact provides natural warmth for the baby, promotes bonding, encourages breastfeeding, and helps regulate the newborn’s body temperature.

What vaccinations are administered during the early newborn care phase (60 minutes to 6 hours of birth)?

During early newborn care, the baby receives an intramuscular injection of Vitamin K (1 mg), and vaccines for BCG, OPV0, and Hepatitis B birth dose.

What danger signs should be monitored in the newborn during the first 48 hours of life?

The health provider should monitor the newborn for difficulty in breathing, temperature issues, infections around the cord stump, abnormal eye conditions, skin abnormalities, and other signs of distress or illness.

What is the recommended feeding practice for the newborn before discharge?

The newborn should be exclusively breastfed, and the health provider should ensure that breastfeeding is well-established with no feeding difficulties before discharge.

What are the important 'do nots' in newborn care based on the provided guidelines?

Do not suction the newborn unless the mouth or nose is blocked, do not separate the baby from the mother, do not place the newborn on a cold or wet surface, do not wipe off vernix, do not bathe the baby until discharge, and do not feed anything except breast milk.