The period of the newborn: characteristic, features

So 9 months have passed in anticipation of a miracle, the time when the expectant mother not only looks forward to the happiness of the upcoming meeting with her baby, but is also full of anxieties and fears about childbirth.

When the baby comes into the world, it seems that everything is already behind, but in fact, right after birth, your baby probably begins the most important period of newborn life.

The duration of the neonatal period

The neonatal period lasts until the end of the first month of the child's life (conditionally 28 days). And it begins with the first breath of the baby. In addition, it is customary to distinguish the early and late neonatal period. The early neonatal period lasts the first 7 days of life, and the late, respectively, the next three weeks.

The essence and basic characteristics of the neonatal period

The neonatal period is such a period of time when the baby is physically separated from the mother, but the physiological connection is very strong.

The characteristic of the period of the newborn baby has a number of features:

- incomplete maturity of systems and organs of a newborn baby;

- significant immaturity of the central nervous system;

- changes in the functional, biochemical and morphological nature;

- functional mobility of water metabolism;

- the body of a newborn baby is highly susceptible to external factors (even minor changes can lead to serious disorders, and physiological processes flow into pathological ones).

The period of the newborn is characterized by the fact that the baby sleeps almost constantly. Surrounding affection, care, meeting the needs of food, drink and sleep by adults helps the baby survive.

This period is also adaptive to new unfamiliar living conditions:

- gradually the baby begins to sleep less and stay awake more;

- the visual and auditory systems develop;

- the first conditioned reflexes develop (for example, if the baby lies on his knees to his mother, he knows that he needs to open his mouth and turn his head).

Description of the baby in the neonatal period

Description of a newborn baby has a number of main features:

1) In a newborn baby, one can observe differences in the proportions of the body in comparison with an adult. The baby’s head is much larger in relation to the body (in a full-term baby, the mass of the head is about 25% of the whole body, in a premature baby - up to 30-35%, while in an adult - about 12%). This feature is due to the fact that the development of the brain during the neonatal period is ahead of other organs and systems.

2) The head circumference in full-term infants is about 32-35 cm.

3) The shape of the head can be different, and it depends on the birth process. At Caesarean section, the baby’s head is round. Passing through the natural birth canal of the child involves the mobility of the bones of the skull, so the baby's head can be flattened, elongated or asymmetric in shape.

4) On top of the skull, the baby has a soft little crown (from 1 to 3 cm) - the place of the head where there is no cranial bone.

Face and hair of a newborn

1) The eyes of newborn babies are usually closed on the first day of life, so it’s hard to examine them.

2) The baby’s nose is tiny, and the nasal passages are narrow, the mucous membrane in the nose is tender, and therefore requires special care.

3) The lacrimal glands are not yet fully developed, therefore, during the neonatal period, the child cries, but tears do not stand out.

4) Most babies are born with dark-colored hair, which is most often worn, and a permanent hairline appears. There are children who are born completely bald.

5) The skin of the baby is very delicate and sensitive. The stratum corneum is thin. The skin color in the first minutes after birth is pale with a bluish tint, while a little later the skin becomes pink and even reddish.

Does a newborn baby see?

There is an opinion that after childbirth, the baby’s hearing and vision are not fully developed, so the baby can’t see and hear anything. Only after some time, the baby begins to recognize silhouettes and hear voices and sounds. Like it or not, you need to figure it out. Find out when the child begins to see.

How and what do newborn babies see?

It is scientifically proven that a newborn child is able to see, because this function of the human body is congenital and is formed in the womb. Another question is how well the visual organ is developed. Immediately after the child begins to see, all the objects and people around him seem vague. This is easily explained, because so the vision gradually adapts to the new environment of life and is rebuilt.

It can be said for sure that the child after birth gives a good distinction between light and darkness. He squints strongly if a source of bright light is directed at him, and opens his eyes in darkness and darkness. It is also easy to explain, because even an adult is difficult to get used to the bright light after staying in the dark. A child in the womb is in the gloom, and is born, as a rule, in the birth hall, where there is bright light and lamps.

Although there are cases when the baby can spend the first minutes after birth with his eyes wide open, and it seems that he is watching everything that is happening around him and does not take his eyes off his mother.

For about 2 weeks after birth, the baby can stop looking at the subject for only 3-4 seconds.

Physiological conditions of the neonatal period

Features of the neonatal period are the so-called physiological conditions that every young mother should know about in order to prevent pathologies and diseases.

1) Erythema of the skin (on the hands and feet, it looks reddish with a bluish tint due to vasodilation, due to a decrease in temperature from 37 degrees in the womb to 20-24 and a change in the aquatic environment). In this physiological process, body temperature, appetite and general condition of the baby remain unchanged. After 3-4 days, the skin begins to peel off in places of redness. This process does not require treatment and special care.

2) Vascular reactions during the neonatal period. Most often, this physiological process manifests itself in premature babies. You can observe:

- uneven reddening of the skin, when one part of the body acquires a reddish tint, and the other, on the contrary, is pale and even with a bluish tint due to sleep or lying on one side;

- marbled, bluish manifestations on the skin occur due to the immaturity of the vascular system.

Such processes usually go away a few days after birth, but require medical supervision.

3) Jaundice of newborns is manifested due to immaturity of liver function and inability to neutralize an increased amount of bilirubin in the blood. Physiological jaundice usually accompanies newborns in the first days of their life and disappears a week after birth. Premature babies require closer attention, because this process is delayed and lasts about 1.5 months. If yellowness remains, then a specialist call will be required.

4) Blockage of the sebaceous glands. Often in newborn babies on the nose, forehead or cheeks you can find small white pimples, they can not be touched. In a few weeks, everything will go away by itself.

5) Acne. Towards the end of the first month of a baby's life, small pimples with a white tint on the face may appear. This process does not require treatment and takes place after balancing hormones in the baby’s body - after 2-3 months. Compliance with hygiene and applying a thin layer of Bepanten once every 3 days is the only thing that is allowed to be done in this case.

Diseases of the newborn

Diseases of the neonatal period can be divided into several types:

1) Congenital diseases - diseases that develop in the fetus in the womb as a result of exposure to negative environmental factors. Such diseases include:

- Congenital type hepatitis in newborns manifests itself if the mother has been ill with it during or before pregnancy;

- Toxoplasmosis, which is transmitted from cats;

- cytomegalovirus infection;

- listeriosis (a newborn can be infected with this disease during pregnancy, childbirth or in the children's department);

- congenital malaria;

- tuberculosis;

- syphilis.

2) Congenital malformations of organs and systems:

- defects of the heart, lungs and gastrointestinal tract;

- congenital dislocation of the hip;

- congenital clubfoot;

- congenital torticollis.

3) Injury of labor:

- damage to the skeleton;

- hypoxic birth trauma.

In the neonatal period, children do not become infected with such infectious diseases as measles and rubella, since the mother transmits antibodies to them during pregnancy and after birth.

The crisis of the newborn

The crisis of the neonatal period is the very process of the birth of the baby, its passage through the birth canal of the mother.

According to psychologists, for a child, the birth process is a very complex and crucial stage.

There are several main causes of such a crisis in newborns:

- Physiological. As a result of birth, the child is physically separated from his mother, which is a huge stress for him.

- The baby falls into unfamiliar living conditions for him, where everything is different from what was in the womb (habitat, air, temperature, light, change of food system).

- Psychological reasons. After the birth and physical separation of the baby from the mother, the child possesses a sense of anxiety and helplessness.

Immediately after birth, the baby survives thanks to innate unconditioned reflexes (respiratory, sucking, orientative, protective and grasping).

Weight Gain Table

The table of newborns (weight and height) includes approximate monthly averages of growth and weight gain in infants.