Many young parents have encountered the expression "Apgar score" in their lives. Immediately after birth, the doctor should report to the woman the points that he awarded the baby according to this scale. Just like height and weight, they are entered on the exchange card. These parameters are most needed by doctors, and not by the woman herself.
What is the Apgar score for?
This system was developed by American anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar in 1952. The purpose of the scale is to enable obstetricians to assess the he alth status of a newborn baby immediately after his arrival in this world. In this way, the need for resuscitation can be quickly determined.
A newborn is assessed on the Apgar scale twice - during the first and fifth minutes of life. In rare cases, more such evaluations are required. Initially, nurses performed the reflex testing of newborns. But nowadays it is the responsibility of the neonatologist.
10-point newborn assessment scale
For gradingchild uses a ten-point system. This takes into account the indicators of his pulse, respiration, muscle tone, skin and congenital reflexes. Each of them is evaluated separately, awarding from 0 to 2 points. Their sum is the result of the survey.
A newborn baby is weighed, the value of his height, head and chest circumference is measured. If your baby was given a score of more than 7-8 points on the Apgar scale, the child is absolutely he althy. In this case, it is with the mother until discharge. If the overall score is below 7 points, the child needs resuscitation.
Apgar score of 8/8 is good enough as less than 15% of newborns get 10 in the first minute.
Are viable and he althy the same
There is no need to panic or be upset if the doctor gave the child a 7/8 Apgar score. If the baby was immediately placed on his mother's stomach, he was given a breast and after that he was taken for examination, he is viable. But the state of his he alth can only be judged on the basis of the results of certain tests and examinations. A score of 8/9 and even 8/8 on the Apgar scale is considered quite high.
The he alth of the child is checked, regardless of the wishes of his mother. Parents may be required to consent to a vaccination, but no one will ask permission to conduct a survey.
During this examination, the doctor must draw blood from the big toe in order toexclude the presence of five common mutations. If they are detected in a timely manner, with proper therapy, the likelihood of their cure increases significantly. The baby in this case will be full and he althy.
Scheme for determining the total score
Analyze the state of the baby on the Apgar scale during the first five minutes of his life. Immediately after the birth, they look at when and how the baby cried, examine the condition of his skin, evaluate it in the bright light of a flashlight, determine muscle tone and heartbeat.
If a baby has a natural skin color and screamed loudly without assistance immediately after birth, the baby gets the highest Apgar score. In addition, he must resist when the neonatologist performs flexion or extension of his limbs. In bright light, such a newborn frowns, and the heart rate according to the prescribed norms is about 100 beats per minute.
Also, the neonatologist checks for the presence or absence of unconditioned reflexes. If the child is put on the back and the emphasis is placed on his legs, he should push off. This is called the crawl reflex. When the child takes the armpits and puts his legs on the table, while tilting slightly forward, he must rearrange the legs, imitating walking. This is an automatic gait reflex.
Low Apgar score
But not every baby manages to show excellent results after passing through the birth canal and experienced as a result of this bigstress. Therefore, if the crumbs were given a score slightly lower than 8/8 points on the Apgar scale, do not be upset, as this is the norm. In addition, one should not forget about the temperament of a newborn man. After all, mothers are also very calm. So why should a child be active?
As already mentioned, the vital signs of the child are assessed during the first and fifth minutes of his life. Quite common is the case when the first score is 1 point lower than the second. For example, an Apgar score of 8/8 indicates that the scores did not change significantly at 5 minutes.
But quite often you can see slightly different values in the exchange card. For example, 7/8 and 6/8 points on the Apgar scale indicate that after five minutes the baby has settled into a completely unfamiliar world for him. Therefore, the figures have become much higher. In most cases, in this short period of time, the body is saturated with oxygen, which affects the improvement of the cardiovascular system. This contributes to the addition of one or two points.
Newborn Vital Criteria Evaluation Chart
For a better understanding of what grades and for what doctors give a newborn baby, you can use the table below.
| 2 points | 1 point | 0 points | |
| Muscle tone condition | Baby moving | Observedinsufficient activity of the baby | No movement of any kind |
| Features of breathing | Baby self screamed loudly immediately after birth | Weak, irregular cry | No screaming and breathing |
| Heart rate | > 100 | < 100 | Missing |
| Features of skin color | Pale pink | The skin of the arms and legs is blue, the rest of the body is natural color | All baby's skin is blue |
| Unconditioned reflexes | There is a great response to major stimuli | Reaction to stimuli is poorly expressed, mobility is practically absent | There is absolutely no reaction to external stimuli |
But using this table, you can only judge the physical he alth of the baby. Apgar scores cannot be used for other predictions. For example, it is not used to determine the intelligence of a child.
How to get a high score?
Of course, every mother wants her child to be he althy. 8 points on the Apgar scale is one of the most desirable indicators for her. But this result depends primarily on her.
Immediately after a woman finds out about the onset of pregnancy, she should analyze and adjust her diet, daily routine. It is also necessary to strictly comply with absolutely all prescriptions of the doctor. Only in suchIn this case, after 9 months, a strong and he althy baby will be born, who will receive at least 8 points on the Apgar scale.
Behavior during childbirth
Don't be too frivolous about the words of doctors during childbirth. After all, the way the child will be born depends on the favorable outcome of this process. 8/9 points on the Apgar scale will be received by the baby whose mother behaved correctly and followed all the doctor's recommendations. Otherwise, the baby may have a bruise instead of a head. Nothing terrible and deadly in this, of course, no. During the first month, the blue color of the skin will change to natural pink. But the Apgar scores will drop by 1 or 2 points.
Don't worry if some reading was a little below normal. This does not indicate a disability or the presence of pathological he alth problems. The Apgar score is a fairly important indicator that in no way affects the future of the child. It is taken into account only at birth, like height and weight.
