Nursing Assessment for Mother and Child

Discuss about the Nursing Assessment for Mother and Child.

Introduction

The report is a response to Metcalf's (2016) post on the benefits of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) for mother and child. The educational post brought to the forefront the physiology associated with SSC and also introduced the problem of interrupted SSC during caesarean section with support from current journal articles. This report will respond to the post and critically analyze the relevance of the post for the nursing profession. It will evaluate Metcalf's finding and further contribute to the information to enhance nurse’s role as facilitators of SSC.

Response to post

Metcalf’s (2016) post has accurately introduced the term SSC and has also highlighted that the concept of SSC is now well recognized by World Health Organization too. Early SSC takes place at the time of birth when the naked baby is placed on the mother’s bare chest. The author has explained that it enables the bonding between mother and child due to the release of oxytocin hormone which stimulates milk ejection during lactation. The author has rightly reported the physiology associated with SSC as Moore et al., (2012) also states that intimate contact during SSC evokes neuro-behavior that leads to the fulfillment of biological needs. The physiological benefits as explained by Metcalf (2016) are increased bonding, breastfeeding rate, respiratory stability and overall well-being of parent and child. There is good evidence regarding the fact that SSC immediately after birth lead to improved stability of vital signs like respiration, temperature and glucose level as well as less crying in the baby. It decreases stress in new lactating mothers and stimulates increased maternal behavior in mothers (Phillips, 2013). A study on babies who had contact with mother after caesarean birth showed that the baby had stable respiration rate and optimal body temperature (Zwedberg et al., 2015).

Besides this, Metcalf (2016) also brought into focus the problem of interrupted SSC following a caesarean birth. Although Metcalf (2016) has stated about the various reasons that lead to interrupted SSC such as oxidative distress in mother and babies, new born requiring resuscitation and lack of awareness of about SSC among health professional or parents, but he has not expanded on how collaboration and communication between midwives and health professionals facilitate the SSC process. It is necessary that nurses and health professionals become aware of the benefits of SSC for the well-being of the child. Health professionals can modify their protocols to support uninterrupted SSC immediately after birth not only after vaginal birth but after cesarean birth too. It will involve writing protocols that educate relevant staff members and members about providing SSC immediately in the operation theater (Aghdas et al., 2014).

Conclusion

The response to Metcalf's has identified the strength of the discussion and also contributed to the finding by stating about additional benefits of SSC. Thus, one can conclude that proper action by health care staff to immediately provide SSC will increase breastfeeding initiation, decrease time to the first lactation, reduce the use of supplementary milk products and increase maternal bonding and reduce stress associated with the complication.

Reference

Aghdas, K., Talat, K., & Sepideh, B. (2014). Effect of immediate and continuous mother–infant skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding self-efficacy of primiparous women: A randomised control trial. Women and Birth, 27(1), 37-40.

Moore, E. R., Anderson, G. C., Bergman, N., & Dowswell, T. (2012). Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 5(3).

Phillips, R. (2013). The sacred hour: uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews, 13(2), 67-72.

Zwedberg, S., Blomquist, J., & Sigerstad, E. (2015). Midwives? experiences with mother–infant skin-to-skin contact after a caesarean section:‘Fighting an uphill battle’. Midwifery, 31(1), 215-220.

 

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