Newborn assessment is performed one minute and five minutes after birth and looks at five important elements: breathing, skin color, heartbeat, reflexes and muscle tone. Each receives a grade of 0, 1 or 2, thus the maximum score obtained is 10. An Apgar score of 7 and above is considered normal, the one between 4 and 6 indicates the child’s need for oxygen to be helped to breathing, and babies scoring between 0 and 3 require intensive resuscitation. Here are the criteria for evaluating the newborn!
Skin color
Pink – 2 Pink body and bluish extremities-1 Pale, blue-0
Heartbeats
Over 100/minute -2
Under 100/minute – 1
Absent-0
breath
Normal, crying-2
Weak, irregular-1
Absent-0
Muscle tone
Lively movements-2
Movements of the extremities only-1
Absent-0
The reflexes
Cough, sneeze-2
Grimace- 1
No answer-0
Good to know!
– most babies get grade 9 due to the fact that, in the first minute after birth, the extremities are purple, not pink
– the Apgar score can be influenced by some antenatal sufferings, such as decreased blood flow to the fetus; this flow can also be affected by a more difficult labor
– children who get a score lower than 6 may develop some neurological disorders, so it is good to be monitored by a doctor
