Hi, this is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be going through

Normal Care of the Infant After Birth.

And you can find notes at zero to finals.com slash normal care after birth

and in the zero to finals pediatrics book.

And you can find flashcards and questions at members.com.

So let's jump straight in. This section covers the normal care given to a healthy baby after

birth. There will be variation if the baby or the mother is unwell. For example, a premature or sick newborn may need

resuscitation and transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit. Let's talk about what happens

immediately after birth. Immediately after being delivered, the newborn will have skin-to-skin contact with the mother,

usually placed on the mother's chest, delayed cord clamping, with clamping of the umbilical cord

delayed by at least 60 seconds, they'll be dried and kept warm, feeding will be initiated as soon as the baby is alert enough.

They will have a vitamin K injection subject to the parental consent. They'll be measured for their

birth weight and they'll be labelled with their name and details.

Let's talk in more detail about vitamin K.

Vitamin K is an essential part of normal blood clotting.

Newborns have low vitamin K, as it only crosses the placenta very slowly,

and it's found in insufficient

amounts in breast milk.

All newborns are offered an intramuscular injection of vitamin K in the thigh shortly after

birth.

Some parents may decline this injection. Giving vitamin K reduces the risk of vitamin

K deficiency bleeding, or VKDB, which can involve bruising, umbilical stump bleeding, or intracranial

...