The Fourth Trimester
The Normal Newborn
Often called the fourth trimester, a newborn’s first three months of life are spent growing and developing at a rapid rate. A newborn baby must adjust to life outside the womb, and these adjustments are called the fourth trimester. Newborn babies don't know they are separate from their mothers. Newborns are used to having the right temperature, cushioned, protected, always rocked or somehow moving, always close to mother's heartbeat while in the womb. Newborns are learning night - from - day: a new concept after life in the womb! Newborns must adjust to gravity. Newborns must build muscle tone. Newborns must build muscle strength. Hunger is a new sensation to all newborns. Before birth, all nutritional needs were met through mother's diet. Digestion, gas, and elimination are all new to babies! Some babies are truly distressed as these processes normalize and adjust. (colic - usually begins at 2 to 3 months of age). Appearance The normal newborn is 19 to 21 inches long. An average newborn baby may weigh about 7 pounds or more. Babies born to well nourished mothers tend to have higher birth weights and longer birth lengths (both indicators of lifelong health). Your baby’s head (if born vaginally) will be moulded from the bones sliding together so your baby’s head fits through your birth canal. Your baby’s head is large in proportion to the body. Babies born surgically (c-section) may not have the same appearance of a baby who has traveled down, through, and out his or her mother’s birth canal. At birth, your baby will have vernix, a protective sebaceous secretion that is white and thick, either covering or on parts of his or her body. Midwives call vernix “vanishing cream.” Vernix protects your baby’s skin from being “waterlogged” in the womb. Vernix also provides a lubricant to aid baby’s descent down, through, and out of the birth canal. Just-born babies are hairy. Lanugo is the fine downy hair covering a newborn baby’s ears, face, arms, or back. Lanugo falls off during the first few days of life outside the womb. Your newborn baby’s eyes may be swollen (pressure from birthing) and may have some small broken capillaries in the whites of the eyes. These broken capillaries are from pressure during birthing and disappear on their own. The normal newborn’s breathing is abdominal (as opposed to chest breathing). Your newborn baby may have tiny white pimples, called milia. Don’t squeeze! They are from over productive sebaceous glands and will go away. Your newborn baby’s arms will be flexed, held close to his or her body. Legs will also be flexed, at the hips and at the knees. Normal Newborn Behavior The average amount of time a normal newborn sleeps is about 20 out of 24 hours. Your baby will have definite periods of sleep and being awake; and also definite periods of sleep and feeding. Babies are born to suck Pre-born babies are often seen sucking fingers or fists on a sonogram. Some babies born with a “compound presentation” ( fist-at-cheek) delivered with the head, are thought to be sucking their thumb, fingers or fist until they can’t anymore! Newborn Inborn Reflexes The rooting reflex is the automatic turning of baby’s face, mouth open, toward stimulation of the cheek, ready to latch on and suck. Gently touch your baby’s left cheek, and s/he will turn his or her head to the left with open mouth. A strong rooting reflex is an inborn behavior that helps your baby to find your breast and latch on to feed. Babies prefer whatever is easiest and most efficient, with the least amount of work on their end. Some babies don’t want to wake up to eat. Some babies drift off to sleep as soon as they suckle a few moments, and then wake soon again to suckle to sleep again. Some babies want to eat every few hours, some every hour, some every 30 minutes, some every 10 minutes, and some all the time. Breathing Patterns The normal newborn’s baby's breathing is abdominal. Urination Baby should urinate within 24 hours after being born. Meconium Baby should pass meconium (first stool) within 48 hours. Bladder and bowel functions sometimes trigger the Moro/startle reflex in sensitive babies. |
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