When we talk about newborn care, we always have doubts and concerns, because of our ignorance and also because of the amount of contradictory advice or statements, even among health professionals. Therefore the guide "Care from birth" I think it is a necessary, accurate and very interesting document.
This guide has just been published in book and pdf format. with the full title of “Care from birth. Recommendations based on tests and good practices ”, in which, through more than one hundred pages, we find many questions that concern parents and medical professionals, from birth to the first week of the baby's life.
For the preparation of the document, whose reading I recommend, the collaboration of nursing professionals, pediatric neonatologists and primary care pediatricians has been provided.
The Guide has been edited by the Ministry of Health and Social Policy, as part of the National Health System Quality Plan, and aims to help professionals identify what is considered good practice and what evidence is there to recommend certain actions in relation to care and attention to the newborn .
The importance of the document justifies that, apart from being available on-line from the Ministry's website, it can be found on the website of Previnfad, work group of the AEPap (Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics) dedicated to prevention in childhood and adolescence, which share the authorship of the Guide with the Group NIDCAP of the Neonatology Service of the Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid).
Contents of the guide "Care from birth"
In the Introduction we find the summary of the working method and the contents of the Guide:
It has worked from two different perspectives, on the one hand the aspects related to the healthy newborn and their care from the moment of birth to the first week of life have been addressed. On the other hand, certain practices that are now integrated into the so-called development-centered care provided to sick or very premature newborns have been evaluated. Development-centered care brings together all those practices that aim to favor the neurological and emotional development of the sick newborn and also reduce the stress and burden of suffering that comes with admission for admitted newborns and their families.
As we see, a global perspective of birth, which combines the physical and emotional health of the baby and their families, and collects the premises of respected births, the rights of birth and parenting with attachment. The document is divided into two main sections:
The first part of the Guide is dedicated to "Care centered on development", with topics as interesting as the family's participation in neonatal care, the kangaroo mother / father method, the environmental conditions of the care units ...
The second part, "From birth to the second week of life", dedicates chapters to fundamental topics that we often talk about in the blog, such as skin-to-skin contact, unnecessary maneuvering to the newborn, prophylaxis of neonatal ophthalmia, macho tail, heel puncture, hospital discharge…
Each chapter is followed by the bibliographical references that convert this Guide into a well-documented text based on scientific evidence, about which we will surely return.
Definitely, the Guide "Care from birth" It is a comprehensive approach to prevention in pediatrics and can serve not only professionals, but many parents, to learn more about how the baby's first hours of life should pass.
