Five Common Skin Manifestations That Occur In Newborns

The major nursing actions to take while measuring a newborn are to measure the head and chest circumference, including the frontal occipital circumference. The nurse should also weigh the newborn on the proper scale, making sure to never turn her back on the newborn. These findings should be recorded in the chart and reported to the mother and family by the nurse. A safe weight loss for the newborn is 5-10% of his/her birthweight in the first few days. The average newborn will lose a total of 6 to 10oz. This occurs so the newborn can lose the excess fluid in its body.

The five common skin manifestations that occur in newborns are milia, telangiectatic nevi, erythema toxicum, nevus flammeus, and mongolian spots. Milia includes small white spots on the newborns face, nose, and chin. These small bumps look like pimples and normally go away on their own.

Rooting should be done by stroking the newborns cheek. The newborn should react by turning towards the touch with an open mouth. The sucking reflex should be tested by sticking a gloved finger in the newborn 's mouth and the swallowing reflex is evaluated when the newborn eats. These tests evaluate the newborn 's nutritional intake.

It is important to perform screening tests on newborns for metabolic and genetic disorders and hearing to identify conditions early and prevent serious problems. These are done by the nursing staff before discharge to reduce the preventable complications of early hearing loss.

It is very important to have the proper car seat for a newborn because they are at a greater risk of injury in crashes. This is because newborns spines are still developing and their heads are large for their bodies. When a newborn rides rear-facing in a car seat, his/her upper body is cradled by the back of the car seat in case of a frontal crash. This is especially important because frontal car crashes tend to be the most common