How does a newborn look and what does he know?

Emergence into the light is the most difficult period in a person's life. Impressions of the "journey" through the narrow patrimonial ways remain forever in the subconscious of the person, because during childbirth he undergoes extraordinary tests.

In the womb of the mother the child developed at a constant temperature, he was provided with uninterrupted supply of food and oxygen. Amniotic fluid and tissues of the mother's body protected it from mechanical injuries. The lungs of the baby were in a collapsed state, the gastrointestinal tract was practically not functioning. Despite the fact that the child sees something, being in the womb, it's still very dark there ... And suddenly !!! As a result of childbirth, it comes from the water environment to the air, from the heat to the cold, from the darkness into the room, flooded with blinding light, from the silence to the room where loud voices are heard, the sound of instruments, the noise perceived by the child, like the cacophony of sounds !! With his tender skin he feels new, sometimes rather unpleasant touch. If you compare his feelings with the feelings of an adult, they can be described as follows: you undressed - about an hour very strongly squeezed from all sides; then poured cold water and expelled to frost; in the face sent a beam of searchlight and next to the ear placed a blacksmith with a hammer, which is the power to rub on the anvil! Well, got used to the image?

Stunned, blinded, chilled, the baby screams desperately. After the first cry, the child begins to breathe.

Together with the first inhalation, a restructuring in the child's body begins - the air begins to pass through the lungs. As a consequence, the work includes a small circle of blood circulation, which in utero did not function. To do this, the direction of blood flow in the heart changes (in utero blood from the right ventricle and atrium was pumped immediately to the left heart, thanks to the presence of "windows" in the septum of the heart, since there was no need for blood through the lungs that did not breathe).

Newborn has significant differences in the proportions of the body compared with the proportions of an adult. His head is much larger in relation to the body. A full-term baby has a fourth part of the body, a premature baby has up to a third, whereas an adult has only the eighth part. Such dimensions of the newborn's head are explained by the predominant development of the brain.

In full-term newborns, the head circumference averages about 34 cm. The shape of the head may be different. It depends on how the process of childbirth took place. If the child has been removed by caesarean section, then it will be round. If the child was born through natural birthmarks, then because of the passage through them the head changed its shape due to the mobile bones of the skull. Therefore, it can have an elongated, oblate, asymmetric shape. Between the frontal and two parietal bones there is a fontanel - a soft place where there is no bone. Its dimensions are individual and range from one to three centimeters. Often, young mothers are afraid through the fontanelle to damage the baby's brain with a careless touch. Do not be afraid: the brain of the baby in the place of the fontanel is reliably protected by strong membranes.

In childbirth often arise cephalohematemata. This is the accumulation of blood under the periosteum (most often on the parietal bones). Usually cephalohematomas do not violate the general condition of the child and resolve within 2-3 weeks.

The nose of the newborn is very small, the nasal passages are narrow, and the mucous membrane covering them is tender. It contains a large number of blood vessels. We must ensure that the nasal passages of the child are free. Otherwise, he can not suck, because he will suffocate.

To look at the eyes of the newborn on the first day of his life is rather difficult, since he closes them tightly. In a healthy full-term newborn eye, clear, cornea

Transparent, pupils round, the iris has a gray-blue color, and only to year-two color of eyes can change. Lacrimal glands are still underdeveloped, so in the first month of life the baby cries without tears.

On the head, most newborns grow hair. Usually, these hair changes within two to three weeks. Almost all newborns have black hair. The degree of "hairiness" in all children is different. It happens that children are born simply "shaggy", and there are almost "bald" newborns.

The skin of the newborn is tender, elastic, velvety to the touch, very elastic. The horny layer is very thin, so it is easily vulnerable. The color of the skin depends on the time elapsed from the moment of birth. In the first minutes it is pale blue, but as soon as the baby begins to breathe, the skin becomes pink. Very often, a white curd grease is present on the skin of the newborn. This is a natural skin protection. Usually it is removed, but it can be absorbed on its own. Sometimes on the skin, small hemorrhages in the present part can be detected. They pass by themselves.

The newborn can have pink spots on the bridge of the nose, eyelids, neck, etc. This is not hemangioma, but dilated blood vessels. The spots will disappear on their own in one to two months.

Newborns sometimes have a bluish-gray "Mongolian" spot on the lower back, buttocks, and thighs. In children of the Mongoloid race, these spots occur in 90% of cases. (Apparently, this is a genetic tribute to the Tatar-Mongol yoke.) The spots usually disappear by 4-7 years.

Occasionally small dotted bubbles may appear on the skin of the newborn, filled with a transparent liquid that resembles drops of dew. With the development of sweat glands, these drops disappear.

After removing the original grease, under the influence of a lower ambient temperature, the blood vessels of the newborn expand, and its skin becomes bright red. This is the physiological erythema, which will gradually disappear by the end of the first week of life.

About a third of newborns on the second or fifth day of life appear toxic erythema. It looks like condensed red spots or rings, often in the center of them is a grayish-yellow vial. Spots are more common on the extensor surfaces of the extremities, on the buttocks, on the chest, less often on the abdomen or face. On the palms, feet and mucous membranes they are not. The condition of the children is not disturbed, the temperature remains normal. This is akin to an allergic reaction (allergic reaction), associated with substances that got to the child from the mother's body.

At the end of the second - the beginning of the third day after birth, in 60-70% of children the skin begins to turn yellow. Jaundice begins with a face, then descends on the back between the shoulder blades, then on the entire trunk and limbs. Eye whitening, oral mucosa may be dyed. The maximum jaundice is observed on the third or fourth day, after which it begins to decrease, and completely disappears by the end of the first week of life. This is physiological jaundice. It must be distinguished from the hemolytic disease of the newborns, which occurs in the Rhesus-conflict (the Rh-negative mother, the Rh-positive child) or if the mother has 0 (I) blood type, and the child has another. Jaundice in hemolytic disease begins at the end of the first day or even earlier. Some babies are already born yellow. Hemolytic disease is a serious disease requiring intensive treatment.

The breathing of a newborn is irregular: sometimes it becomes more frequent, sometimes it slows down. At times it becomes barely audible. Sometimes a child can snore or even snore in a dream. If breathing becomes difficult, and the child becomes blue, you should immediately consult a doctor!

Sometimes children shudder in a dream from loud sharp sounds or at unexpected change of a position of a body. This is not a pathology. Just some children (and adults too) are more fearful than others. Another thing - a small tremor of the chin and pens. This may indicate, on the one hand, that the child's nervous system is not yet completely perfect, on the other hand, about the possible lack of magnesium in the body. When expressed, often repeated tremor (tremor) requires consultation of a neurologist.

On the third or fourth day, newborns can be "engorged" with mammary glands, and girls have vaginal discharge. This is the so-called sexual crisis, caused by the impact of the mother hormones that are in the child's body.

The newborn's chair in the first two days is dark (almost black) with a greenish tinge, viscous and sticky - it's meconium. Two days later the feces become transitional, and four days later it becomes normal for a baby who is breastfed: yellow, creamy, with an acidic odor.

Sometimes newborns hiccup. This is the reflex movement of the diaphragm, which appears after eating (most often). It does not last long - a few minutes, is not dangerous and usually does not bother the child. Perhaps the air in the stomach has accumulated: hold the baby after eating vertically, so that he vomits.

In a newborn, in addition to shouting of different intensity and direction, there are innate reflexes. Some of them are vital - for example, a respiratory reflex. The rest of the reflexes will disappear as the child grows. Their presence or absence indicates the degree of maturity of the nervous system and the level of development of the child. When the child lies on his stomach, he turns the head to one side so that he can breathe. This reflex is called protective. So you do not have to worry about lying down on your belly and suffocating. Another thing, you need to make sure that it does not lie on a soft surface - cushion, feather bed, so that he does not bury his nose in them.

Of the reflexes that refer to the period of the newborn, it is possible to single out a search reflex - when you touch the baby's cheek, it turns its head toward the stimulus. Thus, the child is looking for a source of nutrition - the mother's breast. The sucking reflex manifests itself as soon as the nipple of the mother's breast gets to the baby in the mouth - he starts to suck (to fix this reflex, you need to put the baby to the breast as soon as possible). A swallowing reflex is inseparably connected with it, thanks to which the child can not choke on mother's milk and swallows it. Reflex crawling is that the child, resting his legs on the substituted stop, pushes away from it (for example, from your palm) and creeps. Therefore, leaving the child alone, one must remember the existence of this reflex and put it so that it can not crawl away far, much less - fall to the floor from the height of the changing table. The rest of the reflexes are not as important to you as for a pediatrician who assesses the degree of development of your child's nervous system.

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