New Born Care Week is celebrated every year throughout the country from 15 to 21 November. The aim is to generate awareness and suggest measures to improve the health of new borns and to increase child survival rates.
Statistics in India
In India out of every 1000 newborn babies, 70 die during the first year of life. The most crucial phase is the 0-4 weeks of life (called the neonatal period), since two third of all newborn deaths occur during the first week of life. Infant mortality has significantly dropped over the last one decade, but it is still very high.
Main Causes of Death among the Newborn
- Infection
- Lack of oxygen to fetus and new born baby
- Premature deliveries
- Complications at the time of delivery
- Birth defects
The care process of mother and child is divided into three phases:
Antenatal Care (Mother care during pregnancy) (1st Phase):
- Administer tetanus toxoid vaccination to mother
- Management of anaemia and high blood pressure
- Check for infections and nutrition of mother
- Help preparedness of mother for delivery
- Identification of danger signs and prompts referral
Intra-partum Care (Mother care at the time of childbirth) (2nd Phase):
- Clean delivery
- Skilled care during delivery
- Timely access to emergency obstetric care
- Care during pregnancy and delivery
Post-Partum Care/ postnatal care (Mother and newborn care after the childbirth) (3rd Phase):
- Recognition of complications: Post-Partum hemorrhage, lacerations (injury of birth canal), Inversion of uterus (uterus turns inside out after delivery)
- Counselling for family planning
- Maintaining infant health and infant feeding
Suggestive measures
- Education of expectant mothers about various problems during pregnancy.
- Basic minimum care during pregnancy, nutrition counselling and supplementation of iron and vitamins.
- Institutional/Hospital deliveries to be encouraged, else these may be conducted by trained personnel.
- Early diagnosis of problems in newborns and early referral to hospitals for optimum care and treatment.
- Proper and timely vaccination should be given to the newborn
Points to remember after childbirth
- Wash your hands with soap or use a hand sanitizer before handling your baby
- Be careful to support your baby’s head and neck
- Start breastfeed immediately after the delivery
- Exclusive breastfeeding to the baby for the first 6 months and only after this solid food should be introduced
- Child should be fed on demand or at least 8 times in 24 hours
- Don’t feed honey, water or things other than breast milk in lieu of a ritual as it can be a source of infection to a baby
- Cord Care- Give baby a sponge bath until the umbilical cord falls off and the navel heals completely (1-4 weeks)
- Kangaroo Mother Care to low birth weight infants: The method involves holding the baby in a special way stuck with the chest to provide skin to skin contact with the mother and exclusive and frequent breastfeeding
Activities to do:
- Prioritize actions for delaying age at 1st pregnancy in convergence with stakeholders and other departments with special focus on teenage pregnancy
- Train an adequate number of health care providers for Family Planning Services and ensure availability of commodities
- Promote counselling and birth preparedness
- Organise street plays, awareness programs related to newborn assessment and care
- Gather community people together and hold a discussion session with experts
References