Neonatal Medicine

The Newborn Baby Check

Explaining the baby check

Key Points

  • The check is ideally performed at 6-24 hours to allow a period of physiological transition
  • Family/pregnancy history is important
  • It is a head to toe examination

           - Does the baby look normal?

           - Assess the external appearance

           - Review by system: CNS, CVS, Resp, GI, Abdo, Genitourinary, Hips

           - Plot the child's measurements


Over the next few slides some of the common 'normal' findings are illustrated


Press PLAY to hear a possible explanation of the baby check. You may not wish to be so thorough and it is often simplest to concentrate on the most important elements.