Abstract
Imagine a tiny baby born at only thirty weeks and weighs in at 3lbs 5oz. This baby is now considered to be a premature infant. When this happens to a newborn they are immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to be assessed and possibly assisted with involuntary actions such as breathing and temperature control. The infant’s body might not be developed enough to regulate blood glucose, fight off infection, or maintain proper liver function. The most substantial concern in premature infants in weight gain. The best way to tackle most of the complications that come with a premature birth is breast milk. Depending on the level of maturity, the newborn can either breastfeed directly from the breast, or the milk can
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Whether the newborn is being fed through intravenous (IV) or a nasogastric/orogastric (NG/OG) tube it will still be important to try and establish an emotional bond not only for the mother, but for the newborn as well.
Newborns have shown to make greater advances in maturity when there is skin-to-skin contact, also known as Kangaroo Care. The benefits of Kangaroo Care coincide with the benefits of the actual mother’s milk. The benefits include; increasing the newborns system immunity, facilitates the parent to newborn bonding, maintains the physiological ability, and also optimizes breastfeeding (Shiau, Anderson, 1997). A quantitative study was done on Kangaroo Care in 1993 that shows during kangaroo care the sample group of newborns showed pulse, oxygen and respiratory rate all within normal limits (Gale, Frank & Lund, 1993). This is very important for newborn premature infants because respiration rate is a common issue as well as regulating temperature. If a newborn is skin-to-skin with their parent, the body heat from the parent will help the premature infant increase and maintain their own temperature. The reason a premature infant would need an NG/OG tube could be because their instinct to suckle is not fully developed or matured, their swallow could be underdeveloped, or a mixture of both depending on how premature the newborn
There are a lot of different equipment and people who are involved in the NICU. The equipment varies from feeding tubes to ventilators and many other things. Feeding tubes are used on the babies who are unable to eat from a bottle. The nurse puts the tube either through the mouth or nose and it goes all the way to the stomach. Ventilators are used when a baby has trouble breathing. It helps to keep oxygen flowing through out the baby’s body until the lungs are able to fully function by themselves. Phototherapy is also used in the NICU, it is used to get rid of bilirubin which is the cause of jaundice. In the NICU they use Monitor's which allows them to keep track of the babies vital signs. “Arterial lines are some what similar to an IV but they are placed in arteries and are used to measure blood pressure and the oxygen level.” Isolettes are the small bed that are enclosed by clear hard plastic. Infant warmers are beds that
Skin to skin contact in the delivery room and breastfeeding are best for mothers and infant. Skin to skin contact helps mothers become confident with their infants, decreases the mother’s anxiety toward motherhood, helps produce more breast milk, and helps them become aware of their infant’s cues, not to mention an incredible lifelong bonding experience. As for the infant’s benefits of skin to skin contact, it helps with temperature regulation, stabilization of the heart rate, control of the infant’s blood sugar, and helps with weight gain. When initiating immediate skin to skin contact, infants should be placed on their mother’s chest for instinctive skills. The infant begins to smell their mother’s breast and look at their mother, which
Matos, Ribeiro and Guerra write about the benefits of breastfeeding and breast milk and how the antioxidants within the milk help strengthen a babies immune system. They provide a lot of scientific research and information on the different types of antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients that are within breast milk.
closeness with her newborn” (United Sates 3). With all of these proven health benefits, there is
Breast milk is widely acknowledged as the complete form of nutrition for infants with a range of benefits for infants’ health, growth, immunity and development (Breastfeeding- Natural Is Best). All these factors can decrease Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS) and mortality. In serval meta-analyses babies that are breastfeed have a 36% decrease in the risk of SIDS. According to The Lives Saved Tool, an estimated 823,000 yearly deaths would be saved if breastfeeding was scaled up to universal levels. Disorders like necrotizing enterocolitis, that has a high case-fatality, showed a 58% decrease with breastfeeding (Victoria, Cesar G, et all.).
Inclusion criteria. Upon completion of the literature search and thorough examination of the abstracts, inclusion, and exclusion
• Giving your baby fluids through an IV tube. This may be needed if your baby has difficulty feeding.
The provision of breast milk for the high-risk neonate cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is essential. Human milk is the preferred nutrition for all infants (AAP, 2012). Human milk provision is especially beneficial for the vulnerable ill or premature infant. The infant’s transition from the nutrients received in utero by the placenta and amniotic fluid would continue through the use of colostrum or the first milk (Rhodes, 2014). The preterm infant, having missed the last trimester in utero to receive the placental immunoglobulin IgG, would receive a passive immunity of immunoglobulin sIgA if given colostrum.
World Health Organization (2002) has announced that women should be encouraged if possible to breastfeed their child(ren) exclusively for the first six months of the child’s life and once the child is six months of age to continue breastfeeding along with appropriate, healthy food for up until the child reaches the age of two years old or older so that the child can receive all the nutrients that the child needs in order to achieve optimal growth, health and development. While the child is growing and developing to meet his or her milestones, it is crucial to monitor the child’s health. National Heart, Lung and Blood institute (2017) mentions that obesity is related to unwanted, potential life-threatening disorders such as; diabetes, heart
The ultimate goal in neonatal healthcare is not to simply “save babies,” but to improve the quality of life for the infant and parent. The child is being treated, but the family must live with the long-term consequences of the daily decisions made in caring for the baby. The two main issues in this decision making process include the stake of survival and the future quality of life. Even the smallest decisions, such as mode of ventilation or environment the baby is kept, can and will affect the infant’s transition to normal. The most famous case of neonatal decision-making involves a baby born in 1982. He was born with Down’s syndrome and a tracheoesophageal fistula, or abnormal connection between the upper parts of the esophagus and windpipe.
Breast milk is the ideal food to provide adequate quality and quantity of nutrients for the first six months. It is stated that institutional delivery creates better opportunity for neonates to receive skin-to-skin care from their mother, a newborn care proven to increase the likehood of early initiation, exclusive and prolonged duration of breastfeeding.
Whether the newborn is being fed through intravenous (IV) or a nasogastric/orogastric (NG/OG) tube it will still be important to try and establish an emotional bond not only for the mother, but for the newborn as well. Newborns have shown to make greater advances in
Any infant enters the world completely relying on their mother, whether it’s to provide security, comfort, or their first meal. Breastfeeding, although pretty self-explanatory, is the act of a woman feeding a baby with milk from her breast. It is recommended that a baby be breastfed for the first time within an hour of their birth and exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life (Belsky, 2012). However, there is a stigma attached to breastfeeding in some areas of the world, especially the United States, so a common alternative is formula. There are many benefits not only the infant can gain from being breastfed, but also benefits the mother can obtain from providing this nutrition for her child. This paper will discuss
The nurse would want to ensure adequate nutrition for the baby and preventing aspiration or infection
Nurses working within the neonatal unit require a particular set of skills to adequately fulfil their roles and responsibilities within this fragile setting. The role of a neonatal nurse is to provide intensive nursing care to an infant who has inherited complications at birth due to varied reasons (Tubs-Colley, Pickler, Younger, & Mark, 2015). These complications often manifest as undeveloped internal organs that make simple bodily functions such as breathing and regulating body temperature incredibly difficult. The neonatal nurse provides close monitoring and extremely individualized care per patient to stabilise and further develop these body systems artificially post-uterine (Drozdowicz & Dillard, 2014).