Stimulating newborns to cry

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 29, 2004

10 minutes? Bad idea. if a baby is screaming and pink, why stimulate at all? There is no need. They are doing fine. When a baby is initially born, the doctor delivers him/her to mom's abdomen. We dry with warm towels on the moms tummy and then observe for signs the baby is breathing ok. You can see within the first minute whether more stimulation is needed or not. Most of the time, just gentle stimulating by rubbing the baby with dry, warm blankets or towels is plenty to get them going. IF they are "wet" a bulb syringe and stim to cry is usually enough to clear it up. Babies are going to cough up mucus and fluids; this is normal. Now if they appear REALLY wet, a quick de lee may be needed, but this is the exception, not the rule where I work. Most work it up just fine on their own. I think the stimulation you are talking about there is excessive and unnecessary. All they need to do is observe color, tone and breathing of the baby to see if tactile stim is needed at all. (apgar scoring in other words). Usually if an apgar is less than 8 where I work, supplemental oxygen is initiated. More stim won't solve the problem if it's that bad. HTH.

bam_bam · Jul 30, 2004

ditto what she said

Beth

Jolie, BSN · Jul 30, 2004

Are your nurses trained in NRP? If so, maybe a refresher from your instructor would be helpful. They have pretty clear-cut guidelines as to what constitutes appropriate stimulation in the immediate newborn period.

Mermaid4 · Sep 9, 2004

10 minutes ? EVERY baby? That seems extreme. I am with everyone else here. Are these "bad babies"? Even so, if they have to be stimulated that vigorously, I would hope someone would have thought of the ambu. I have the same question. What about NRP?

PerdiemNurse · Sep 9, 2004

Even NRP guidelines state that if tactile stimulation isn't effective after 30 seconds, it never will be, and to move on the the next step (positive pressure).

10 minutes is excessive to say the least. Either bag them or give them to their mammas!

BucklandRN · Sep 21, 2004

I find that very disturbing. :nono:

I am looking for information regarding stimulating newborns to cry after birth. Some nurses I work with continue to flick the feet or vigorously rub the back of a screaming baby for up to 10 mintues after birth, even though the baby is fine (spontaneous adequate respirations, good heart beat, good tone, pink etc). One nurse I questioned said "to make sure the fluid is cleared out of the lungs".

BETSRN · Sep 24, 2004

Very excessive overkill! I think those nurses need to take a step back. Sometimes babies have to recover form excessive stimulation. I've seen that happen.