A brief explanation about Antenatal , Intranatal and postnatal care

Becoming a mother makes the feeling joyful, elated empowered and invincible.

Being a mother is the most rewarding experience. The motherboard is a unique time in her life.

Being a new mom can come with emotional inadequacy because there is learning warm involved.

Mother is like an angel for her child, who always love her child and support him/ her.

For every child, his mother has a special place in his heart because she is the first person the child sees after her birth.

Now, I am briefly explaining about the stages of child birth and mother stages.

1) Antenatal or prenatal care

It is the case of women during pregnancy. The primary aim of antenatal care is to achieve at the end of a pregnancy, a healthy mother and a healthy baby. Ideally, this care should begin soon after conception and continue throughout the pregnancy.

Objectives of antenatal care :

1) To promote, protect and maintain the health of the mother during pregnancy.

2) To detect high-risk cases and give them special attention.

3) To remove anxiety and fear associated with delivery.

4) To reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.

5) To teach the mother elements of childcare, nutrition, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.

6) To foresee complications and prevent them.

The above objectives are achieved by the following programme of the health care services:

1) Antenatatal visit

Ideally, the mother should attend the antenatal clinic once a month during the first 7 months and thereafter once a week if everything is normal.

Preventive services of mothers

First visit: a) Health history

b) physical examination

c) Laboratory examination

d) complete urine and stool examination

e) complete blood count including Hb estimation

f) serological examination

g) blood grouping and Rh determination

h) chest x-ray if needed

I) pap test

j ) gonorrhoea test, if needed

Prenatal advice

The mother is more receptive to advice concerning herself and her baby at this than at other times.

These are:

1) Diet

2) personal hygiene – rest and sleep, personal cleanliness, exercise, avoiding smoking alcohol consumption and restricting sexual intercourse during last semester.

3) Drugs

4) Radiation

5) warning signs like swelling of the feet, headache, blurring of the vision, bleeding discharge of the vagina

2) Child care

Now, there is some specific health protection needed:

Anaemia, other nutritional deficiencies, toxaemia of pregnancy, tetanus, syphilis, HIV infection and Rh status.

Intranatal care

Childbirth is a normal physiological process, but the complication may arise. Septicemia may result from unskilled and septic manipulations and tetanus neonatorum from the use of unsterilised instruments. The need for effective intranatal care is therefore indispensable, even if the delivery is going to be a normal one. The emphasis is on cleanliness which includes clean hands and fingers, nails, a clean surface for delivery, clean cutting and care of the cord by avoiding harm to Mother and baby.

The aims of good Intranatal care are:

1) Thorough asepsis

2) Delivery with minimum injury to the infant and mother.

3) Readiness to deal with the complication such as prolonged labour, antepartum haemorrhage, malpresentation, prolapse of the cord etc.

4) Care of the baby at delivery, resuscitation, care of the cord, care of the eyes.

Postnatal care

Care of the mother and the newborn baby after the delivery is known as postnatal care.

Care of the mother

The objectives are:

1) To prevent complications of the postpartum period.

2) To provide care of the rapid restoration of the mother to the optimum health.

3) To check the adequacy of breast feeding

4) To provide family planning services period.

5) To provide basic health education to the mother/ baby.

Complications of the postpartum period

1) puerperal sepsis

2) Thrombophlebitis

3) Secondary haemorrhage

4) others: urinary tract infections and mastitis

Restoration of mother to optimum health

The broad area of these cases are:

1) physical

a) postnatal examination

b) Routine haemoglobin examination

c) Nutrition — well-balanced diet

d) postnatal exercise

Psychological

Social

It is important to bring up the child in a wholesome family atmosphere.

Breastfeeding

Postnatal care offers an excellent opportunity to find out how the mother is getting along with her baby, particularly about the feeding.

For many children breastfeeding offers the main source of nourishment in the first year of life.

At the age of 4 to 5 months, breastfeeding should be supplemented with additional food rich in protein and other nutrients( animal milk, soft cooked mashed vegetables etc). This should be introduced very gradually in small amounts.