M4.1_DP

• Multiple births


  Births where more than one baby is delivered
• Heredity


  The passing of traits from parents to their offspring
• Prenatal development


  Development of the fetus during pregnancy
• Environmental influences


  Factors in the environment that can affect prenatal development
• Customs surrounding childbirth reflect a culture's beliefs, values, and resources
• Birth practices in the Philippines

  • Placing squash leaves on a woman's abdomen to induce labor
  • Drinking coconut water to make for quick labor
• Prior to the 20th century, childbirth in Europe and the United States was a female social ritual
• Childbirth in those times was "a struggle with death" for both mother and baby
• After the turn of the 20th century, childbirth began to be professionalized in the United States, at least in urban settings
• Today hospitals are finding ways to humanize childbirth
• Parturition


  The act or process of giving birth
• The birth process


  1. Uterine, cervical, and other changes

  2. Uterine contractions that expel the fetus
• A woman may have felt false contractions known as Braxton-Hicks contractions at times during the final months of pregnancy, or even as early as the second trimester
• Stages of childbirth

  1. Dilation of the cervix

  2. Descent and emergence of the baby

  3. Expulsion of the placenta
• Vaginal delivery


  The usual method of childbirth
• Cesarean delivery


  The delivery of a baby by surgical removal from the uterus
• The neonatal period, the first 4 weeks of life, is a time of transition from the uterus, where a fetus is supported entirely by the mother, to an independent existence
• Newborn appearance


  • Large head (one-fourth the body length)
  • Receding chin (which makes it easier to nurse)
  • Fontanels (where the bones of the skull do not meet)
• Newborn body systems

  1. Separate circulatory systems and heartbeats during pregnancy

  2. Neonate must take over the function of getting oxygen fully after birth
• If a neonate does not begin breathing within about 5 minutes, the baby may suffer anoxia or hypoxia, which may cause brain damage
• Three to four days after birth, about half of all babies develop neonatal jaundice caused by immaturity of liver and evidenced by yellowish appearance which can cause brain damage if not treated promptly
• Apgar scale


  Standard measurement of newborn's condition, assessing appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration
• Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)


  Neurological and behavioral test to measure neonate's responses to the environment
• Children who inherit the enzyme disorder phenylketonuria or PKU, will become mentally retarded unless they are fed a special diet beginning in the first 3 to 6 weeks of life
• Low-birth-weight babies


  • Weight of less 5 pounds (2,500 grams) at birth because of prematurity or being small-for-date
• Preterm (premature) infants


  • Infants born before completing the 37th week of gestation
• Small-for-date (small-for-gestational-age) infants


  • Infants are born around their due dates, but are smaller than would be expected due to inadequate prenatal nutrition
• Risk factors for low birth weight

  • Demographic and socioeconomic factors
  • Medical factors predating the pregnancy
  • Prenatal behavioral and environmental factors
  • Medical conditions associated with the pregnancy
• Postmaturity

  A fetus not yet born as of 2 weeks after the due date or 42 weeks after the mother's last menstrual period
• Stillbirth


  Death of a fetus at or after the 20th week of gestation
• Infant mortality rate


  Proportion of babies born alive who die within the 1st year due to birth defects and genetic abnormalities
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)


  Sudden and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant
• About 90 percent of all injury deaths in infancy are due to one of four causes: suffocation, motor vehicle accident, drowning, and residential fires or burns
• Children grow faster during the first 3 years, especially during the first few months, than they ever will again
• As a baby grows into a toddler, body shape and proportions change
• The genes an infant inherits have a strong influence on whether the child will be tall, thin or stocky, or somewhere in between
• Teething usually begins around 3 or 4 months, when infants begin grabbing almost everything in sight to put into their mouths, but the first tooth may not actually arrive until something between 5 and 9 months, or even later
• Breast-feeding is almost always best for infants and mothers
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Breastfeeding (2005) recommends that babies be exclusively breast-fed for 6 months
• Breast-feeding is inadvisable if a mother is infected with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus or any other infectious illness