care of the new born

1. Care of normal newborn
DEFINITION
1. From birth to 4 weeks (28 days ) of age , the baby is called neonates or
newborn.
2. Early neonatal period :- from birth to 7 days of life or 168 days of 168
hours, is early neonatal period .
3. Late neonatal period : from 7th day to 28th days of life is late neonatal
period .
4. Live birth :- live birth is defined as complete expulsion or extraction from
mother of product of conception , which after separation shows signs of
life for the least 1 hour .
5. Term baby :-any neonate born between 37-42 weeks of gestation is known
as term baby.
6. Pre term :- any neonate born before 37th week of gestation is called pre-
term .
7. Post term :- any neonate born at or after 42 weeks of gestation is known
as post term .
8. Perinatal period :- the period extending from 22nd week of gestation to 7th
days after birth is known as perinatal period .

2. Classification according to size
• Low birth weight (LBW) infant – an infant whose birth weight
is less than 2500g , regardless of gestational age.
• Moderately low birth weight (MLBW) infant :- an infant
whose birth weight is 1501-2500g.
• Very low birth weight (VLBW) infant – an infant whose birth
weight is less than 15000g.
• Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant –an infant whose
birth weight is less than 1000g.
• Appropriate for gestational age (APA).
• Small for dates (SFD) or small for gestational age (SGA).
• Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) – found in infants
whose intrauterine growth is retarded.
• Large for gestational age (LGA)-

3. Classification According To Gestational
Age
• Premature ( preterm ) infant – an infant born
before completion of 37 weeks of gestation ,
regardless of birth weight .
• Full term infant – an infant born between the
beginning of 38 weeks and completion of 42
weeks of gestation , regardless of birth weight.
• Post mature ( post –term) infant – an infant born
after 42 weeks of gestational age , regardless of
birth weight.

4. Classification According to mortality
1) Fetal death – Death of the fetas after 20 weeks of
gestation and before delivery , with absence of any
sign of life after birth .
2) Neonate death – Death that occures in the first 27
days of life is known as neonatal death . Early
neonatal death occures in the first week and late
neonatal death occurs between 7 to 27 days .
3) Perinatal mortality – describes the total number of
fetal and early neonatal deaths per 1000 live births.
4) Postnatal death – Death of neonate that occurs
between 28 days to 1 year.

5. Care of newborn
• Care of the newborn at birth is primarily
aimed at helping the new born to adapt
physiologically to extra uterine environment .
This physiological adaptation includes –
 initiation of respiration and oxygenation of
arterial blood .
Temperature regulation.
Initiation of feeding.