New Born Care Week. (National Health Portal)

New Born Care Week

New Born Care Week is celebrated every year throughout the country from15 to 21 November. The aim is, to generate awareness and suggest measures to improve health of new born and child survival.
In India out of every 1000 newborn babies, 70 die during the first year of life. Most crucial phase is the 0-4 weeks of life (called the neonatal period), since two third of all newborn deaths occur during the first week of life. Infant mortality has significantly dropped over the last one decade, but it is still very high.

Main Causes of Death among the Newborn

• Infection
• Lack of oxygen to foetus and new born baby
• Premature deliveries
• Complications at the time of delivery
• Birth defects

Care process of mother and child is divided in three phases :
Antenatal Care (Mother care during pregnancy) (1st Phase):

• Tetanus toxoid vaccination to mother
• Management of Anaemia and High Blood Pressure
• Infections and Nutrition of mother
• Preparedness of mother for delivery
• Identification of danger signs and prompts referral

Intra-partum Care (Mother care at the time of childbirth) (2^nd Phase):

• Clean delivery
• Skilled care during delivery
• Timely access to Emergency Obstetric Care
• Care during pregnancy and delivery

 Post-Partum Care/ postnatal care (Mother and newborn care after the childbirth) (^3rd Phase):

• Recognition of complications: Post-Partum haemorrhage, lacerations (injury of birth canal), Inversion of uterus (Uterus turns inside out after delivery).
• Counselling for Family Planning.
• Maintaining infant health and infant feeding

Suggestive measures

• Education of expectant mothers about various problems during pregnancy.
• Basic minimum care during pregnancy, nutrition counselling and supplementation of iron and vitamins.
• Institutional/Hospital deliveries to be encouraged, else these may be   conducted by trained personnel.
• Early diagnosis of problems in newborns and early referral to hospitals for optimum care and treatment.
• Proper and timely vaccination should be given to the newborn

Points to remember after childbirth

• Wash your hands with soap or use a hand sanitizer before handling your baby.
• Be careful to support your baby's head and neck.
• Start Breastfeed within an hour of the birth.
• Exclusive breastfeeding to the baby for the first 6 months and only after this solid food should be introduced.
• Child should be fed on demand or at least 8 times in 24 hours.
• Don’t feed honey, water or things other than breast milk in lieu of a ritual as it can be a source of infection to a baby.
• Cord Care-  Give baby a sponge bath until the umbilical cord falls off and the navel heals completely (1-4 weeks)
• Kangaroo Mother Care to low birth weight infants: The method involves holding the baby in a special way stuck with the chest to provide skin to skin contact with the mother and exclusive and frequent breastfeeding.

“Exclusive Care to Mother during pregnancy and after Delivery is the best possible care for the new born”