Checks on babies after birth include facial features and body proportions, limbs and spine, hands, umbilical cord, weight, temperature, length and head circumference.
Within 24 hours of birth, a check is made for the passing of meconim: a black, sticky, tar-like bowel movement.
Further checks are made on earrs, the fontanelles, the abdomen, the gentals, the hip joints, the eyes and nose and the nerves and muslces.
At 7 to 10 days, the newborn blood spot screening is done. It tests for: cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell aneamia and thalassaemia, PKU and thyroid function. If the baby has PKU, a special diet is needed to prevent brain damage. For thyroid function, treatment prevents abdnormal growth and development.
6 weeks after birth, the mother has a post-natal apointment to check her emotional state, that her uterus has shrunk back to size and is tucked backed in to the peleivs, any sitches have dissolved/healed, her blood pressure is normal and for post-natal bleeding.
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