Significance of Essential Newborn Care in dealing with High Risk Pregnancy

High risk pregnancy refers to the chances of mother's baby for health
problems, or preterm/early delivery. On age factors, those who have high risk of
pregnancy are 17 years old or younger or 35 years old and older. Other factors include
underweight/overweight, the mother have existing conditions like hypertension,
diabetes mellitus, depression and other health problem, lifestyle factors like smoking,
drinking alcohol, taking illegal drugs, and environmental hazards. If you meet one or
more of these factors, a mother should see a doctor throughout her pregnancy
(prenatal care), eat healthy diet and exercise more often, gain a healthy or exact
amount of weight, protect yourself from infections and different hazards, get
immunizations and take vitamins, try to avoid, or reduce stress in life. On the first
trimester of a mother, she should take extreme precautions to her pregnancy because
this is the time where organogenesis occurs, where formations of organs start. Life
and different factors should be taken in moderation.
The significance of essential newborn care plays an important role between
the mother and the newborn. One of the four time-bound interventions for essential
newborn care is that the newborn should be dried immediately to prevent
hypothermia which can be crucial to newborn's survival, second is keeping the mother
and baby in uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact that can also prevents hypothermia,
hypoglycemia, third is properly tied cord clamping and cutting until the umbilical cord
pulsation stops. And last but not the least, the initiation of breastfeeding. This is to
ensure that the newborn guarantees to receive the colostrum or the first breastmilk
on which are containing antibodies that protects the newborn against diseases.
Newborn screening also plays an important role when a mother is at high risk of
pregnancy because newborn screening helps to find or determine if the newborn have
certain serious medical conditions so that the treatment may begin right away. On
some cases, the baby might look healthy or normal at first that's why newborn
screening is considered essential to detect diseases or serious medical condition that a
newborn may have.
For nursing management, considerations, and priorities, assessment like
APGAR Scoring, and cephalocaudal assessment is observed. APGAR scoring is done
during the 1 to 5 minutes of life. The heart rate, muscle tone, reflex, irritability and
color are evaluated. Apgar is also considered as the baseline for all future
observations. On physical examinations, it is done to detect any observable conditions
and physical defects. The newborn's height and weight can determine their maturity
and establish baseline data for their height and weight. Laboratory examinations such
as Newborn screening also plays an important role when a mother is at high risk of
pregnancy because newborn screening helps to find or determine if the newborn have
certain serious medical conditions so that the treatment may begin right away. On
some cases, the baby might look healthy or normal at first that's why newborn
screening is considered essential to detect diseases or serious medical condition that a
newborn may have. Delivery of high risk pregnancy should take place on a hospital
setting, giving birth at home is considered too risky for both mother and the newborn.
References:
https://doh.gov.ph/book/export/html/1125

https://www.maternalfetalcarepc.com/services/high-risk-pregnancy-management
 
Armando Fuentes, MD
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/high-risk.html