The Newborn

The next series of articles will deal with the characteristics of a newborn baby. (They are essentially derived from one of my assignments from a module called "Medicine in Society"). As it was the case for the previous articles on the Heart, the articles on this topic will span over a few weeks, after which I will have to look for another topic

The characteristics of a baby can be classified in three categories: (i) anatomical, (ii) physiological, and (iii) psychological.

To facilitate the learning process, firstly consider each characteristic separately. The anatomical part can be subdivided into the following:

(i) Length and weight. (ii) The skin. (iii) The head. (iv) The chest. (v) Anogenital area. (vi) Skeletal structure. (vii) Muscles.

These are readily available in textbooks, but I thought I might include a few lines.

(i) Length and weight. The normal range of length is from 47.5 to 53.75 centimetres. The weight of the normal newborn also tends to vary. About two-thirds of all full-term infants weigh between 2700 and 3850 grams, or between 6 and 8.5 pounds (many infants, of course, weigh more or less than this). The average boy weighs around 7.5 pounds and the average girl weighs approximately 7 pounds. During the first few days after birth, the infant tends to lose 5 to 10 percent of its weight. Factors contributing to this initial loss are the withdrawal of hormones originally obtained from the mother, the withholding of water and the loss of faeces and urine.

(ii) The skin. The skin is soft, covered with lanugo (a slight downy distribution of fine hair over the body, most evident on the shoulders, back, extremities, forehead and temples, which disappears during the first weeks of life) and overlaid with vernix caseosa (a cheese-like, greasy, yellowish-white substance that covers the skin). The latter consists of secretions from sebaceous glands and epithelial cells and dries or fades spontaneously and rubs off the skin.

(iii) The head. The head is proportionately large, averaging 34 to 35 centimetres in circumference and normally ranging from 33 to 37 cm. The head is one fourth of the total length of the infant. The cranium is large and the face is relatively small when compared with the adult cranium and face. The jaws are relatively small and the chin is receding. There are deposits of fatty tissue in the cheeks known as sucking pads, which disappear when sucking is no longer the only way of taking food. The tongue is relatively large and protrudes when the mouth is open. The head's circumference equals or exceeds that of the chest or abdomen.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic