Why was the baby born blue? Assessment of the state of the newborn on the Apgar scale

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Every mother-to-be looks forward to the perfect moment when her baby is born. In the movies, all babies are born very cute and have a nice pink skin color, but in real life it's not quite like that. Some babies are born blue, which causes great bewilderment or even fear in their mothers. In this article we will try to figure out what skin color a newborn should have normally and why the baby was born blue.

What does a newborn baby look like

Almost every baby comes out of their mother's birth canal with pale blue skin. He takes his first breath lightly, begins to breathe, and his body turns pink. Although the mother in the first minutes will not be able to see the color of her baby's skin, because he is all covered with white grease, which protected him while in the womb. He alth workers rinse the baby, examine it and evaluate its condition on the Apgar scale. After sometime after childbirth, the legs and arms of the crumbs can be blue, and there are situations when all the skin has a bluish or even purple tint for several more days. Experts believe that this may be a consequence of oxygen starvation. A newborn with a cyanotic skin color immediately falls under the special control of doctors until the color of his skin returns to normal.

Child's first examination

The first medical examination of the baby is carried out by the doctor immediately after the baby is born. The pediatrician not only checks whether everything is in order with the newborn, but also performs the necessary procedures: clears the airways of accumulated mucus, clamps and cuts the umbilical cord, processes it, injects eye drops to prevent harmful bacteria from entering. In addition, the doctor measures the baby's height and head circumference, weighs him, counts the fingers on the legs and arms, evaluates the appearance of all parts of the body.

Apgar score

The physical condition of the child is assessed on the Apgar scale. This is a mandatory test that checks the development of each newborn. The scale owes its name to the anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar, who proposed the use of this system.

To assess the state of the newborn on the Apgar scale, the following parameters are checked: pulse, muscle tone, respiration, reflexes, skin color. There are 5 indicators in total. Each of them is estimated by 0-2 points. Thus, the maximum child can score 10 points, this will be the ideal result.

However, mosthe althy babies get between 7 and 9 Apgar scores. And this is absolutely normal. By the way, this system does not assess the mental abilities of the child, but only the physical condition, so there is no need to attach great importance to the fact that the baby did not score the most points.

Perfect Apgar Baby

How should a child be born in order to get the maximum number of points on the Apgar table:

1. His heart rate should be over 100 beats per minute.
2. He immediately screamed and is breathing well regularly.
3. Baby actively moves arms and legs.
4. When reacting to an irritant (catheter in the nose), he sneezes and coughs.
5. The baby's skin color is normal and even.

Why a baby's skin may have a blue tint

Many mothers wonder why the baby was born blue. According to experts, in most cases, the bluish color of the skin is not a pathology. Often, as soon as the baby begins to breathe on his own, the skin takes on a normal pinkish tint.

If the blueness does not go away for a long time, then this indicates oxygen starvation, which the baby experienced while in the mother's womb. The cause of the bluish hue of the face may be entanglement with the umbilical cord, anemia, birth trauma and other pathologies.

Modern diagnostic methods make it possible to identify all possible deviations in the first hours of a baby's life, after which doctors begin to take measures to help the baby as soon as possible. Not worth itit is premature to panic if the baby is born blue. The causes and consequences can be very different, but according to statistics, most often the cyanosis disappears after a few days.

Umbilical cord wrapping

The entanglement of the fetus with the umbilical cord is quite common in medical practice. According to statistics, it occurs in 20 - 25% of women. The main cause of entanglement is excessive fetal activity, which can be caused by hypoxia or a large production of adrenaline in the mother's blood (which is often associated with stress).

The entanglement can be seen by an ultrasound specialist during a routine examination. However, do not panic ahead of time. The fetus is in constant motion, because of which it can wrap itself around the umbilical cord and independently exit it several times a day. The most dangerous is the double entanglement of the umbilical cord around the neck, the consequence of which may be asphyxia. Choking can have terrible consequences, including even the mental and physical retardation of the child. Experts believe that the entanglement is practically not dangerous if the umbilical cord is long. But if it's short, that's cause for concern.

It is worth noting that often the entanglement is false. That is, an ultrasound specialist during the examination can make a mistake and make a diagnosis of “umbilical cord entanglement” even when it actually does not exist.

Newborn jaundice

Surely, all mothers want to know why the baby was born blue. However, the bluish color of the skin can pass without a trace on the first day. Considerableanxiety in parents causes a yellowish tint of the skin of the baby. This is due to such a concept as infantile jaundice, which occurs due to the increased content of bile pigment crumbs in the body.

Experts note that the yellow tint is noticeable not only on the skin of the baby, even the whites of the eyes turn yellow. The cause of jaundice is elevated bilirubin. The small organism tries to get rid of the excess of this component as soon as possible: it enters the liver, mixes with the enzyme and is excreted in the urine. However, sometimes the liver does not have time to cope with the heavy load placed on it, which is why the jaundice intensifies. Normally, the yellow skin tone should disappear within 2 weeks after the baby is born.

If jaundice is severe or only gets worse with time, medications and various procedures are prescribed. Phototherapy is very effective. In some cases, jaundice is pathogenic. It is important to correctly determine the cause of its occurrence as soon as possible, which will avoid sad consequences.

Bilirubin norm by day in newborns

A newborn baby's blood is taken for analysis. This is necessary in order to keep under control all the most important indicators. The doctor pays special attention to the content of bilirubin in the blood.

Bilirubin levels in babies:

• days from birth - up to 85 µmol/l;
• 2 days from birth - up to 180 µmol/L;
• 3-5 days - maximum value 256 µmol/l;
• 6 - 7 days - maximumvalue 145 µmol/L;
• 8 - 9 days - maximum value 110 µmol/l;
• 10 - 11 days - maximum value 80 µmol/l;
• 12 - 13 days - maximum value 45 µmol/l;

The older the baby, the lower the levels of bilirubin in the blood become. At 2 weeks of age and older, the maximum value may be 20.5 µmol/L.

Conclusion

In this article, we examined why the baby was born blue, and also determined the cause of the baby's yellow skin tone. In addition, information is provided on the Apgar score, which evaluates the condition of each newborn.

Don't worry too much if your baby was born with an imperfect skin color. Now you know that almost all children are born with a pale blue or bluish tint of the skin, but after a while everything returns to normal. However, you should immediately consult a doctor if the baby has completely or partially turned blue after being discharged from the hospital. The reasons for this may be the most serious.