This paper will look at the various ways to help the pregnant adolescent prevent her baby from being born with low birth weight. The nurses ' role in teaching the adolescent mom-to-be, the different implications of safety, communication, education, challenges, interventions, and nursing care as they pertain to her pregnancy and the risks she and her baby face. The causes that put the adolescent at risk for these complications will also be reviewed. Lastly, patient education and methods of teaching by the nurse to the adolescent of these risk factors will be discussed.
What is low birth weight? Why is it an issue? What are the risk factors for babies born with low birth weight? According to Pillitteri (2014), “low birth weight is a baby born weight under 2500 grams” (p. 708). Babies that are considered to be LBW can be preterm or full term.
Ryan et al. (2011), reported that:
LBW can arise from two conditions: preterm birth (<37 weeks gestation) or intrauterine growth restriction. Fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality are strongly related to LBW. During development, children who were born with a LBW may experience stunted growth, cognitive problems, and chronic diseases in later life. A multitude of determinants influence gestational age and growth of the fetus, which in turn cause LBW. These include socio-economic, behavioral, and physiological determinants such as nutrition, poverty, and gestational weight gain. (p. 588).
According to Chen et al. (2009),
It is generally thought low socio economic status is a key factor in low birth weight babies. Nevertheless, between 2006 and 2008, Scotland had stable falling of low birth weight infants just resulted from a decreased proportion of low birth weight infants in the least deprived areas (TSG, 2013). The study showed that low birth weight
The rate of pregnancies ending in low birth weight (less than 2.5 kilograms) is roughly twice as high in African-American populations in comparison to Caucasian populations; rates of extremely low birth weight (less than 1.5 kilograms) are almost three times as high, and the rates of infant mortality are twice as high.15 There
The article shows a correlation between the lack of prenatal care with infant mortality, and inadequate prenatal care with low birth-weight. Additionally, White women who delivered on a private service and received inadequate prenatal care experienced only slightly risk of low birth-weight. On the other hand, White and Black women who delivered on general service and received inadequate prenatal care experienced significantly higher risk of low birth-weight.
2.) How is low birth weight defined? Gestational age? Identify five risk factors associated with LBW and preterm birth.
Preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW) are the leading causes of neonatal morbidity, mortality, and disabilities (Swamy, Ostbye, & Skjaerven, 2008; Wilson-Costello, Friedman, Minich, Fanaroff, & Hack, 2005). These poor birth outcomes are costly. In fact, in 2001 LBW and PTB hospital expenses in the United States were approximately $5.8 billion (Russell et al., 2007). Furthermore, they comprised 27% of pediatric stays and 47% of all infant hospitalization (Russell et al., 2007). When considering total cost, such as long-term expense of special education service and lost productivity, preterm birth is estimated to be $26.2 billion dollars (Behrman & Butler, 2007). In order to lessen the cost of poor birth outcomes, the U.S. healthcare system should begin to incorporate aspects of preventative care at the level of maternal health.
Expanding preventative and therapeutic services for pregnant women can greatly reduce the risk for pre-term delivery that results in low birth weight infants (Gehrig & Willmann, 2016).
This goal focuses on specific topic areas that address a wide range of conditions, health systems, and health behaviors in order to improve wellness, health, and quality of life for women. The healthcare system has to be prepared for the challenges in public health for maternal and child health program predicted for the next generation in the way that it provides services for communities, health care systems, and families. The role of public health is to find out how to solve problems related to health risks for pregnancy by identifying existing health risks in women and by preventing future health problem for women and their children. These health risks include hypertension and heart disease, diabetes, depression, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy weight, inadequate nutrition, and genetic conditions. There are several factors that may become barriers of access for women in the healthcare system. One factor is the woman’s socioeconomic level, with the outcomes for maternal and child health becoming different for various socioeconomic levels. Poor maternal health may increase the risk of poor child health outcomes, and the socioeconomic status of the child’s parents affects their choice of healthcare options, such as receiving better quality medical care and food, as well as living in safer housing and neighborhoods. Many other factors that can also affect
A mothers health is very important for a unborn child. She needs to make sure she takes care of herself before and after her pregnancy. There are different programs offered to mothers who are pregnancy. For example, the Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) is a program that offer mothers supplementary foods, nutrition tips, health care referrals and many more options. In addition, a mother needs to make sure she does exercise during her pregnancy such as walking and drinking a lot of water. It is also important to eat healthy like eating more vegetables and proteins and cut down fats, meats, sugars and oily foods. This is how the WIC is helpful for mothers because WIC educates mothers what is healthy and what is not healthy. The WIC program is
The growth of a fetus is directly related to the nutrients and oxygen given by the mother. However, a mother’s diet in pregnancy alone has little effect on the baby’s birth size but does significantly impact the child’s life. The mother’s ability to nourish her baby is created during her own fetal life and is impacted by her nutrition in childhood. The fetal supply line is what affects the baby’s growth.
Evidence is beginning to suggest that preconception stress is an important predictor of adverse obstetric outcomes including preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA). PTB is defined as delivery before 37 completed weeks of gestation and in 2012, 1 in 9 babies, or 11.5% of live births were preterm in the United States (US) (National Center for Health Statistics, final natality data, n.d.). LBW is defined as less than 2500 grams. In 2012, 1 in 13 babies, or 8% of live births had a LBW in
During pregnancy, anatomical and physiological changes considered significant take place, which affect the woman's body, since this is an adaptive phase in which the female body requires ongoing professional follow-up, i.e., the earlier the beginning of prenatal care, the better the results. Within this scenario, we should highlight the importance of the nursing professional with regard to its performance, thereby emphasizing the activities related to prenatal care. For this reason, this work is intended to: analyze the scientific publications about the importance of nurses when providing prenatal care; identify the scientific publications about the importance of nurses when providing prenatal care; and describe the scientific publications
Many of the complications the baby is likely to face are linked to many topics and issues related to global health. When an unborn child is not getting proper nutrition and is not gaining the appropriate amount of weight, they are considered malnourished which results in them beginning stunted; this is measured has height-for-age. When a baby is stunted they fail to reach their physical growth, therefore, when a mother makes the decision to limit the food in her diet and over exercise she is choosing to negatively impact the growth of the baby during and after the pregnancy. Additionally, babies are more likely to be affected by communicable and non-communicable diseases once they are born. According to the National Institutes of Health, if the baby is considered under weight, they face a higher chance of getting infections and facing delayed motor and social
Birth weight remains one of the most important measures of a child’s well-being. Fetal growth is determined by four main factors: the mother, placenta, fetus, and environment (Box 16-1). Any disturbance to these systems can result in fetal growth restriction, defined by the World Health Organization and American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology as a birth weight less than the third and tenth percentile, respectively.1,93 Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), a type of fetal growth restriction, represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality for the fetal and neonatal population.
There are so many problems that can occur when dealing with a LBW child. These babies are much more susceptible to infection because of their size (Zaichkin 191). They are also at a greater risk for SIDS. SIDS is sudden infant death syndrome. The risk of this horrible syndrome is much greater with a low birth weight child (322). These children are also at a thirty to fifty percent greater risk of being re-hospitalized during their first year of life (355). They are also at a much higher risk of getting Cerebral Palsy.
Not only are young expectant mothers not able to access a variety of prenatal health services, but there is also a higher risk of maternal death for adolescent pregnancies, and for newborns their is an increased risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or obesity later in life. [Teen pregnancy statistics, 2016] Simply by improving education surrounding pregnancy and improving the access to healthcare in these countries, pregnancy complications would decrease, as would the number of deaths which result from unsafe births.