Chapter Five: Prenatal Development and Birth
After Birth
A low birth weight infant weighs less than 5.5 pounds. An extremely low birth weight infant weighs less than 2 pounds. A preterm baby is born at least three weeks early. Both preterm and low birth weight infants struggle with lung development. Low-birth weight infants have more health and developmental problems and are more likely to have a learning disability, ADD or ADD and breathing problems. It is important to nurture preterm infants carefully. Massage has led to greater weight gain, improved skills, and better academic performance. Kangaroo care is extremely important for preterm infants. This skin-to-skin contact leads to better sleeping, more weight gain, less crying and longer periods of alertness.
The Apgar Scale is widely used to assess health at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. This is usually administered by the nurse and is one way to identify high-risk infants. The Apgar Scale tests skin color, pulse rate, reflexes, activity, and respiratory effort.
The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale is performed within 24 to 36 hours after birth. It tests neurological development, reflexes and reactions to people.
The Postpartum Period lasts approximately six weeks. It is the period after childbirth when the mother is adjusting physically and psychologically.
Involution is the time when the uterus returns to pre-pregnancy size. During the postpartum period, women experience emotional and psychological changes including anxiety, depression and coping difficulties. Postpartum depression is characterized by strong feelings of sadness, anxiety or despair in new mothers including depression, changes in appetite, crying spells and an inability to sleep.
After giving birth, a mother has a difficult decision to make–whether to stay at home or go back to work. Societal, career and financial pressures affect mothers’ options. Fathers can have difficult adjustments as well. The father may feel the baby always comes first in the mother’s mind. However, the postpartum reaction is improved if the father attended childbirth classes and was active in the delivery. It is important that both parents are committed to caring for the newborn. Both parents need to be aware of the young infant’s developmental needs, including physical, psychological and emotional needs. This helps them to bond with their child. Bonding is a close physical bond between the infant and caregiver. Rooming in is one way to create a closer bond. Rooming in is the alternative parents take to have the newborn stay in the hospital room with them rather than the nursery to encourage closer bonding (Crain, 2011; Santrock, 2013).
Cross Cultural Childbirth Practices Around the World
The following are cross-cultural childbirth practices around the world. As you read about these practices, please consider the following questions:
- Were you familiar with any of the following birth practices?
- How do they differ from typical birth practices in the United States?
- Which did you find most interesting and why?
- Would you consider giving birth in the United States a natural occurrence or a medical occurrence?
West Africa: Women are expected to give birth without making any sounds; girls who cry out are called cowards and are expected to have longer labor.
Latin American peasants: Massaging to direct the baby down and using long pieces of cloth bound across the upper abdomen are used in the belief that babies might otherwise travel upward instead of descending into the vagina.
East Africa: Women experiencing long labor have their vaginas packed with cow dung to encourage the baby to want to be born (i.e., the baby will believe it is being born into a wealthy family).
Cuna Indians of Panama: The shaman sings the baby out of the woman’s body.
Zuñi Indians: Birth takes place on a hot sand bed 20 inches across and 5 inches high covered by a sheepskin. The sand bed is symbolic of Mother Earth.
The Zia of New Mexico: The father dips eagle feathers in ashes and throws the ashes in the four directions. Then he draws the ashy feather down the pregnant woman’s sides and center of the body while praying. The father’s sister places an ear of corn near the pregnant woman’s head and blows on it during the next contraction to aid the father’s prayer.
India: A budded flower is placed near the pregnant woman, and her cervix is encouraged to dilate as the flower’s petals open.
Manus of New Guinea: The parents confess any hidden anger toward each other so that the childbirth process can go ahead normally. A hot coconut soup is used to comfort the mother.
Dominican Republic: Parents put a small bracelet of beads on the child’s ankle or wrist to ward off evil and to bring prosperity.
Puerto Rico: Puerto Ricans give their new babies a mano negra de azabache, like the tradition in Israel. It looks like a red-knotted bracelet to wear and ward off evil spirits.
(Gross-Loh, 2017; Montgomery, 2013).
