Healthy New Born: Characteristics, Nutrition and Feeding Techniques
Who is Newborn?
According to World Health Organization (WHO), a newborn infant, or neonate, is a child under 28 days of age. During these first 28 days of life, the child is at highest risk of dying. It is thus crucial that appropriate feeding and care are provided during this period, both to improve the child’s chances of survival and to lay the foundations for a healthy life.
Characteristics of Healthy New Born Baby:
All the features of a healthy newborn baby have listed in the below:
- Gestation: 37-42 completed weeks,
- Cry or take breath just after delivery,
- Birth weight: 2.5 – 4kg,
- Breathing: Spontaneous, regular and rate between 30-60breath/minute,
- Colour: Pink but slight peripheral cyanosis soon after birth is considered normal,
- Heart rate: 100-160 beats/minutes,
- Blood pressure: 45-60/ 25-40 mm of Hg,
- Axilary temperature: 97.5-99 degree F,
- OFC (occipito-frontal circumference); about 35 cm,
- It sucks soon after the birth,
- Normal eyes and other parts of the body including genital and orifices,
- Most babies pass urine within 24 hours of birth,
- No obvious congenital malformation,
- Most babies pass meconium within 24 hours,
- Normal fontanelle,
- Absence of anaemia, jaundice, cyanosis injury.
Newborn Baby Nutrition and Feeding:
It is universally accepted that human breast milk is the best source of nutrition for newborn babies and infants. Breastfeeding also has many non-nutritive benefits that lead to the best health and development of the baby. According to the World Health Organization, “exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is the optimal way of feeding infants.
1. Preparation of breast feeding:
- Preparing the breast,
- Other preparation for breast feeding,
- Frequency and length of feeding,
- Learn about the feeding process,
- Know about body for breast feeding,
- Set up support.
2. Feeding techniques:
- Positioning,
- Hand position,
- Sucking patterns,
- Initiating breastfeeding,
- Removal from the breast,
- Next feeding,
- Burping.
Physiological and Behavioral Adaptations of the Newborn:
All the physiological and behavioral adaptations of the newborn are listed in the below:
- Respiratory adaptations,
- cardiovascular adaptations,
- Hematologic adaptations,
- Hepatic adaptations,
- Gastrointestinal adaptations,
- Urinary adaptations,
- Immunologic adaptations,
- Neurologic adaptations.
More questions related to this article:
- What are the features of a healthy newborn baby?
- What are the key characteristics of a healthy newborn baby?
- What are the physical characteristics of a newborn baby?
- How is the health and wellness of a newborn determined?
- Explain physiological and behavioral adaptations of the newborn.
- Discuss about newborn nutrition and feeding techniques.
- What are the characteristics of normal newborn?
- What are the common characteristics of a baby?
Maria Khatun Mona is a Founder and Editor of Nursing Exercise Blog. She is a Nursing and Midwifery Expert. Currently she is working as a Registered Nurse at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has great passion in writing different articles on Nursing and Midwifery. Mail her at “[email protected]”
