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Newborns up to One Year
Channing Callahan
Dixie State University

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Newborns up to One Year
Teaching about newborns was particularly important at Millcreek High School. Our
presentation was given to a class of high school females in an Adult Roles class. Each of these
girls had children of their own or was pregnant. It was important for us to teach this topic
because a lot of these students dont have family support or are single parents. Many of them
havent been educated about hospitalization, delivery, and what to expect when you bring your
baby home for the first time. We focused on covering all this, along with giving relative
information about babies up to one year of age.
We began planning for our project by defining our teaching objectives. Our objectives
were as follows: have students verbalize and understand what an APGAR score is and is used
for, have students understand what tests are done on a newborn shortly after birth, have students
understand some of the basic reflexes and perform them on their own child or a baby doll, have
students understand what happens to a postpartum mom and some of the things to expect after
delivery, have students verbalize some of the major milestones newborns reach. We also chose
the format of a powerpoint presentation to present our information and chose to do a jeopardy
game for a little quiz of what they learned.

We started our presentation with talking about newborns in the hospital and what the
moms could expect. We talked about several of the tests nurses perform on the babies soon after
they are born. We taught about the APGAR score and how it is given after one and five minutes.
We also discussed lab tests and medications they give to newborns. We talked about checking
the babys bilirubin and glucose levels, and what the nurses might do if they are abnormal. We
talked about Erythromycin antibiotic ointment and what its purpose is in the newborns eyes.
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We also taught all the newborns reflexes that they exhibit. We had one of the mothers go
and grab her eight month old son out of the nursery and demonstrate the reflexes on him in front
of the class. She demonstrated: the Babinski, moro, grasp, rooting, stepping, and sucking reflex.
We also demonstrated these reflexes on baby dolls.

Our presentation continued with discussing about the changes that the postpartum mom
goes through. We taught them the acronym BUBBLEEE and explained what happens to each
system of the womans body. The students in the class were a little shy at first, but by the end
they were willing to share some of their experiences with us.

The last of our presentation focused on milestones children reach before their first
birthday. Some of the ones we mentioned were: when the fontanels close, when they first hold
their head up, when they start to crawl, walk, when they get their first tooth, etc. This was
especially fun because some of the mothers chimed in and shared with us when their kids met
these milestones.
Our jeopardy game was used as a quiz to evaluate what the students leaned during our
presentation. We divided them up into groups and had them work together in order to come up
with the correct answers to our questions. They were very engaged and, after we broke the ice,
they were more willing to participate. They were appreciative and enjoyed our presentation
because it was relevant to their lives.

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I thought that our group worked together great. We all pitched in and helped to develop
our powerpoint and teaching notes. We each picked slides to present to the class and we each
shared the workload. I thought this was a valuable clinical experience and it solidified my
knowledge of the newborn child.

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References
Newborn Reflexes. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2014, from
http://www.whattoexpect.com/baby-behavior/newborn-reflexes.aspx
Ricci, S., & Kyle, T. (2013). Maternity and Pediatric Nursing (2nd ed., pp. 415-520).
Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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