Unlike the little ones of other animals, infants of human beings are highly vulnerable. They completely depend on their parents for their survival. Often, it is an overwhelming experience for the parents, especially if you are a new parent. Shouldering full responsibility for the health of your infant can be too much. It can cause a tremendous amount of stress, especially when you know that every small decision you are making will affect your child‘s future. Hence, it is extremely important to seek the help of someone, like a child health nursing worker, during those initial days after labour.
Child Health Nursing: All you need to know
Are you wondering why consulting a pediatric nurse is recommended or necessary for your child’s well-being? Let me explain. You, as parents, will be extremely overwhelmed with the whole process of childbirth. The process of adapting to the fact that you have one more member in your family, and of course, dealing with the monetary side of the whole process, will be stressful. Amid all this rush, providing the immediate care required for the baby will be challenging.
Don’t be mistaken; child health nursing doesn’t end with the stage of infancy. Children are attended to and nursed by a child health nursing worker until their teens. A child’s development period can be differentiated into infancy, early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. In this article, we are solely concentrating on a child’s neonate and infancy stages. Even when all the other periods of a child’s development are equally important, these two periods determine your child’s life trajectory.
Importance of Child Health Nursing in the neonatal period
The first four weeks of an infant’s life are known as the neonatal period. This is known as the riskiest period in the life of a child. Anything, which affects your child during this period, can have a significant impact on their health. Hence, it is always advised to seek child health nursing or the help and guidance of your pediatric nurse during this period. This is extremely important in the case of newborn parents.
Not only your child but you are undergoing a huge change. Hence, having someone experienced to care for your infant will be like a blessing. It will relieve your stress and, up to a level, comfort you, as you’ll have an experienced shoulder to lean on.
What kind of Child health nursing happens after childbirth?
Do you know why most health professionals advise you to do a hospital delivery? Then we’ll be able to assess your baby’s health condition as soon as possible. This will help them to address any abnormalities as quickly as possible. This time is crucial as even a delay of a few minutes can compromise your kid’s health. Let’s look at the steps of child health nursing immediately after birth.
Examines their airway
A healthy first cry is the first step toward a healthy baby. So, as the placenta stops functioning after delivery, the nurses clean the children’s airway. They first wipe away any mucus or secretions near the airway. They further proceed to suction out secretions from both mouth and nose of the infant. Then stimulate the baby to cry by rubbing on the sole of their feet.
Skin
Cleans the baby of the blood, mucus and other secretions covering them. Looks out for unusual colour changes or rashes, which can act as an indicator of any underlying conditions. Moreover, ensure that babies aren’t receiving any baths and their skin is not contracting any infections.
Takes care of the umbilical cord
One end of the severed umbilical cord, 2 to 3 cm long, remains on the infant’s body. This is like an open wound which will get infected if not properly cared for. These child health nursing workers ensure that the cord is not infected; they also observe whether it shrinks and falls within 5 to 10 days of birth.
Eye care
The eyes of children are prone to infection. Hence, it is important to clean their eyes daily. A nurse cleans children’s eyes with a cotton swab each eye every day. They keep an eye out for any kind of redness, rashes or secretions.
Administer vaccines
Numerous vaccines are administered to children to prepare their immune systems to fight any oncoming diseases. There are vaccines that should be administered immediately, within days, within months and within years after childbirth. The nurses take care of these vaccinations, ensuring your child’s immunity is not compromised.
Aids in breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can be difficult, especially for a new mother. To maintain the baby’s nutrition and hydration, it must be fed every 2-3 hours. This can be exhausting and challenging. The nurses will help the mother find a comfortable position for breastfeeding, guide and remind them about feeding the baby.
Protection from bacteria and viruses
The extremely hygienic environment of the hospital, when combined with the careful care provided by child health nursing, provides your child with an extremely safe environment. This will help in the child’s proper development without being affected by any diseases.
But, child health nursing usually only extends till you leave the hospital with your infant. In normal deliveries, the baby is discharged from the hospital within one week. Will you be able to provide the safety of a hygienic, microbe-free environment for your baby at home? Do you know how important indoor air quality and a germ-free atmosphere are for a child’s development?
Problems caused by the polluted or unhygienic environment in infants
Infants are one of the weakest and most independent sections of our society. Most of the time, we will need proper child health nursing to decipher everything correctly with our children. They can only express their troubles and discomforts through crying, which parents often overlook. So usually, one will only be able to identify a health concern with children if it is too late. This applies to diseases caused by a polluted environment or poor indoor air quality.
Diseases caused by indoor air pollution in infants
First, let’s look at the problems polluted indoor air can cause to the fetus, even before birth. Even if the mother inhales polluted indoor air, it can affect the organ development of her infant. Further, it can risk the fetus’s heart, brain and lung development. It will also affect the baby’s size, even resulting in the premature birth of the fetus.
Now, it can pose problems for the health of infants too. Infants exposed to indoor air pollutants show a significant decline in neurodevelopment and cognitive abilities. Further, exposure to polluted air in the long term can reduce infant lung growth. This will ultimately lead to increased chances of contracting asthma and pneumonia in children.
Last but not least, exposure to polluted indoor air will increase the chances of your children developing several chronic diseases. Some of them are;
- Ischemic heart disease
- Stroke
- Lower respiratory infection
- Lung Cancer
- Chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease
So what can we do to maintain the health of our children after Child Health Nursing?
As new parents, you must ensure your child has a safe and hygienic environment suitable for an infant’s growth. Installing an air purifier is an easy and effective way to ensure a clean and sterile living environment.
Air Purifier
Yes, installing an air purifier can be an investment. It is costly and will require heavy maintenance for smooth functioning. Moreover, unlike other electronic devices, air purifiers don’t only produce high electricity cost but also makes us spend a lot on changing the device’s filters. But can you trust any air purifier will do the job?
No. Even after investing so much, most of the air purifiers available on the market would neither remove odours nor improve air quality. Moreover, they may produce ozone and add to the pollution of your indoor air.
So are you wondering, which air purifier can you trust with your child’s health and future? I have a product that will help you.
SHARP- QNET SmartAir
SHARP-QNET SmartAir is the product that will help your kids in having a better and healthy future. This purifier, patented with plasma cluster technology and efficacy certified by 33 global labs, is safe, efficient, and trustworthy.
Apart from the obvious long life and cost-effectiveness of the purifier, SHARP-QNET SmartAir is built with Wi-Fi enabled IoT function. This, combined with the seven sensors, will help you monitor your room’s air quality status whenever and wherever you want. IoT not only helps you to manage the function of your air purifier as you desire; but also helps you to keep track of your filter’s life span.
Unlike other purifiers, the combination of the Charged HEPA filter, Pandaa filter and washable pre-filter improves the filter life of the purifier by up to 10 years. Moreover, this air purifier can efficiently remove PM2.5, odour, pet dander and house dust. It can also control the temperature and humidity of the air. As a result, this product can single-handedly ensure a safe and secure environment for your child’s development.
Ensure a safe environment with SHARP QNET SmartAir
Finally, say yes to your saviour, ensuring your children develop in a safe and sterile environment. This intelligent product will act like a child health nursing service. You can entrust the health and safety of your infant into the hands of SHARP QNET SmartAir, just like that of child health nursing workers.
Remember, by inviting SHARP QNET SmartAir into your house, you are paving the way for developing a generation of healthy and smart children. So, all the new parents in town ensure your child’s well-being and development. Bring your own SHARP QNET SmartAir to your home!
