The Neonate characteristics and rhythms of newborns

Content

• Prenatal development
• Physical appearance and body systems of the neonate
• The senses
  • 1. Vision
  • 2. Hearing
  • 3. Smell
  • 4. Taste
• Activation states
  • Sleep patterns
  • Feeding patterns
• Bibliographic references

Prenatal development

The neonate arrives in the world with the ability to feel the environment and respond, but after fighting through a hard path, it must begin to breathe, eat, adapt to the climate and respond to a confusing environment (Papalia et al., 2022). The newborn abruptly goes from a warm, dark and aqueous world to a cold, gaseous and full of light universe. The first month is a very important period because the child must adapt to live outside the protected environment of the maternal uterus, and their body systems are not mature. The first four weeks are the recovery period of the birth process.

The most notable changes They are (Timiras and Curry, 1972):

• Passes from the amniotic fluid in the air.
• It goes from having a constant and regulated temperature to variable.
• Pass minimum stimuli to the external stimulate environment.
• Stop nourishing by maternal blood fluid to do so by external feeding.
• The oxygen supply ceases to be from the blood through the placenta to be launched by lungs.
• Metabolic elimination before the mother through the placenta, while now it does it for her own body systems.

Physical appearance and body systems of the neonate

In their first days of life, the Neonatos lose about 10% of their weight Due to the loss of fluids, but around the fifth day they stabilize the loss, and return to the time they were born at 10/14 days.

Their Body characteristics They are distinctive: big head (1/4 of the length of the body); Sometimes this head can have a not very defined shape by molding, retracted chin and malleable nose cartilage. He Reddish dye It is related to skin density, which is so fine that it allows the vision of the capillaries through which blood flows. He Prenatal hair (lanugo) and the Fat layer They cover them (Vernix Caseosa) To avoid infections.

In these first moments, the need to survive means a cluster of demands on body systems, since until now all physical functions were done through the mother's body, but now babies must do everything for themselves (Yunes -Zárraga et al., 2011):

• Circulatory system: Fetus and mother have separate circulatory systems, however, the blood of the fetus is cleaned through umbilical cord (oxygen). Then, the circulatory system must work in itself. The heart rate is rapid and irregular and blood pressure will only stabilize the tenth day of life.
• Respiratory system: The fetus receives oxygen and issues carbon dioxide through the umbilical cord. A newborn needs more oxygen than before and has to achieve it by itself. At the time of exposing a newborn to the air, it begins to breathe, and if the breathing has not begun within the first five minutes, it can suffer permanent brain damage by Anoxia.
• Gastrointestinal system: In the uterus the baby depended on the umbilical cord for its food and undone; At birth the child has the suction reflex to feed and gastrointestinal secretions to digest it. When the intestines are full, the sphincter muscles will open automatically, and for many months this movement cannot be controlled. The jaundice suffered by more than half of babies is due to the immaturity of the liver.
• Temperature: The fatty layers that they develop during the last stage of fetal life help the stabilization of body temperature after being born despite external changes. The temperature inside the aqueous medium oscillates around 37º, but the air of the delivery room usually has a temperature between 20 and 30 °. The temperature control system begins with considerable effort, within fifteen minutes of birth contain the blood vessels by removing the blood from the surface of the body where the temperature is lower.

The senses

1. Vision

The child from birth is able to see, although not with the accuracy of an adult, it is blurred, although it will quickly improve as the visual cortex and the eyes mature, at the end of the neonatal period the vision has clarified, although they will have to pass months until I see how an adult. At birth, a baby is very sensitive to intense light, so its pupils appear very small to limit the amount of light that enters.

The focus capacity is reduced and do not accommodate perfectly at the distance of objects. Visual acuity is very small, It is 30 times less than an adult, and It will not be achieved until four years. The Binocular convergence, ability to focus the eyes to the same point, it is not fully established, since you can see one thing with one eye and another with another, or have a kind of double image. It cannot attribute meaning to objects, the child does not recognize the things he sees.

From the moment of birth it distinguishes the light of darkness and the contours of things, passing from lighter to darker areas and the edges of a figure that stands out on the background.

2. Hearing

Auditory perception already is present in the uterus, But the neonate is not usually able to direct the head to the sound source, He usually moves his eyes. Reacts to sounds, The low and rhythmic sounds reassure him, It has preference for certain frequencies that correspond to the human voice, thanks to which they pay special attention to the type of sounds that will then imitate. They seem to prefer exaggerated tones to normal speech.

3. Smell

The odors that adults consider pleasant produce facial relaxation and initiation of suction movements. Babies of less than 12 hours react with Disagree to strong odors expressed by facial gestures. The olfactory center It is formed at the beginning of fetal development, which means that newborns They have a sharp sense of smell.

An interesting experience showed that two -day children preferred a cloth impregnated from breast milk to a clean one and manifested it with directed movements to the cloth. While at the beginning they showed a difference between known and unknown milk at six days if they established a difference oriented making milk with the smell of their mother, which indicates rapid habituation to that smell.

4. Taste

From birth The child recognizes tastes and flavors And it manifests it through facial expressions, which are present before having tried some food, even milk. Newborns are also sensitive to taste intensity, With strong solutions their expressions intensify.

Activation states

After observing the activity of newborns, P.H.Wolff (1966) identified six activation states; They are regular states and follow a predictable daily cycle. Children will be alert for short periods of time during the first week, and unless they are feeding they will pass the 75% of the time in a state of sleep, because it is likely that for them be it necessary to disconnect from the number of potentially stimulating situations what's up.

1. Regular dream: The eyes are closed and the body relaxed completely, the relaxed face and the immobile eyelids. Breathing is slow and regular.
2. Irregular dream: The eyes are closed, but soft movements of the extremities or rapid eye movements are observed. Grimaces and other facial expressions are observed. Breathing is irregular and faster than in regular sleep.
3. Drowsiness: The child is very inactive, opens his eyes, which seem inlet and closes them. Breathing is regular but faster than in regular sleep.
4. Inactivity alert: The eyes are open, brilliant and follow the objects in motion. The child is inactive, but with a serene face
5. Activity in the vigil: Perform activities in which the whole body participates, has open eyes and breathing is irregular
6. Crying: The child cries and executes a vigorous and disorganized motor activity, crying adopts multiple forms, crying, anger, pain, discomfort. The child does not attend to external stimuli

Sleep patterns

The newborns They sleep around 16 or 17 hours every 24, They rarely do it more than four hours without waking. The newborn begins his awake and alert life for about two hours and then sleeps for cycles of about four hours. In each cycle only half an hour will be awake. The dream retains energy for growth and supplies a protective effect of external stimulation.

The sleep neonate/vigil cycle is intimately related to nutrition; Sleep, wake up hungry, eat, remain on a quiet alert for a short period of time, fall asleep and stay calm again. The harmony with which these cycles with the world will depend on the society in which it is born.

Feeding patterns

In the first days, food periods can be irregular, but very Soon an adjustment is established that leads to the food to occur five or six times a day. Some changes are later produced and periods between meals become longer.

In the first act of breastfeed, the baby can suck strongly, but after a few days he will suck, swallow and breathe coordinatedly. A NEONATE You can swallow three times faster than an adult would do it and do it at the same time it breathes; To do this, press the nipple against the palate, adapting its suction to the consistency and fluid of the liquid. Mamam also provides oral stimulation, satisfies the baby's taste, exercises the mouth and throat muscles, provides social contact and is a powerful source of relief for a restless baby.

Cry, sleep and suck seem jointly to maintain and change the baby's states, regulating periods of calm and attention.

Epigenetics: the open character of genetic inheritance

Bibliographic references

• Curry, j. J., & Timiras, P. S. (1972). Development of Evoked Potentials In Specific Brain Systems After Neonatal Administration of Estradiol. Experimental Neurology, 3. 4(1), 129-139. https: // www.Scientedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/001448867290194x
• Papalia, n., D'Ouza, r. D., & Hobson, S. R. (2022). Optimal Timing of Labour induction in contemporary clinical practice. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 79, 18-26. https: // www.Scientedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1521693421001814
• Wolff, Ph (1966). The causes, controls and organization of behavior in the newborn. Psychological issues , 5 (1), 1-105. https: // Europepmc.ORG/ARTICLE/MED/5984605
• Yunes-Zárraga, J. L. M., Herrera -pen, m., & Ávila-Reyes, R. (2011). Body composition in the newborn. Pediatrics of Mexico, 13(3), 114-119. https: // www.Medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/summary.CGI?Identical = 31703