For mother
Welcome to motherhood! At this point of your journey, it is important to care for yourself so that you will be at your best to care for your newborn. In this visit, we will check in on you and provide you with the necessary postpartum support.
- Initiate and establish breastfeeding
- Provide post-delivery wound care
- Provide guidance on physical recovery from birth, includes discharge advice about lochia, pain relief, constipation, urinary incontinence, and urinary retention
- Rebuild physical health through postnatal exercises and pelvic floor exercises
- Provide necessary supplements
- Perform blood collection
- Collect placenta
For baby
- Measure weight, length and head circumference
- Perform cord blood tests for G6PD, TSH and blood group
- Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD): Detects the levels of G6PD, an important protein enzyme in the blood, to help red blood cells function normally
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH): Detects abnormal thyroid function
- Perform newborn blood test for IEM (inborn errors of metabolism)
National Expanded Newborn Screening: This is a heel prick blood test to screen for IEM .
- Perform newborn physical screening examination, hearing screen and SpO2 screening
- Universal Newborn Hearing Screen: Before hospital discharge, your baby will undergo a hearing test called Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) test. Early detection of hearing loss allows for timely intervention and treatment which are crucial for speech development.
- Pulse Oximetry (SpO2) Screening: A pulse oximetry device (a soft plastic sticky tape probe) is used to read the oxygen level in your baby’s blood. This is to exclude heart or lung conditions that some babies may have. The reading will be performed by the nurses when baby is 22 – 36 hours old over the right hand and one foot (right or left), and will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete.
- Provide necessary supplements (vitamin D drops)
- Give Vitamin K injection and vaccinations (BCG and HepB vaccines)
- Vitamin K will be administered via an intramuscular injection to your baby within the first few hours of life. This helps to prevent neonatal haemorrhagic disease (a bleeding disorder which can be caused by Vitamin K deficiency).
- Hepatitis B virus can potentially cause severe liver damage.
- Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a vaccine given to protect against Tuberculosis (TB) infection, which is still common in Asia. It reduces the risk of developing all forms of TB by 50% and deadly forms of TB by up to 80%.
- Collect stool
- Collect cord blood
