adequate nutrition for newborn

Y
ou are the reg
istered nurse performing a health assessment on a
newborn infant. Fr
om the functional health pattern portion of the assessment, you
learn the mother is reluctant to breastfeed her baby
. ow do you respond! “#plain
the approach you will ta$e to ensure ade%uate nutrition for the newborn, with or
without breastfeeding. &ro’ide rationale for your answer
.
 (f 
( was a 
post)partum nurse and found out that my patient 
was reluctant 
to
breastfeed, ( belie’e ( would start by getting more information. (s mother fearful, is
it religious beliefs, does she not ha’e enough information, or is it painful! (t is
important to assess all the information before you begin any education, including
their willingness and ability to learn. *fter understanding the why, then ( would
begin to educate t
he mother about the bene+ts of br
eastfeeding. abies can digest
breast mil$ more easily than formula and breast mil$ contains all the nutrients that
a baby needs to grow
. (t also contains antibodies that will help baby +ght o- ‘iruses
and bacteria later in life and tend to be sic$ less often. reastfeeding has also been
pro’en to decrease the ris$ of ha’ing asthma and allergies /
eb0D, 213.
4During infancy, a period of rapid growth, nutrient re%uirements per pound of
body weight are proportiona
lly higher than at any other time in the life
cycle5Department of 
*griculture, 26, p. 173./hether mom decides to breastfeed
or bottle feed it is important to $now if the baby is getting enough nutrients. (f mom
decides to breastfeed many times they are worried if the baby is getting enough
mil$ since there is no way actually to measure the amount of mil$ coming from the
breast. 8nfortunately, this may deter mothers from wanting to breastfeed. (t is
important to reassure mom that it9s not as important how much baby is drin$ing,
but there are so many other ways to ensure baby is getting the nutrients they need.
 These would include thi
ngs li$e the baby is gaining weight at each ‘isit, or baby is
soa$ing not damp3  diapers in a 2;)hour period. *lso, after the baby is done
feeding that he or she seems satis+ed and not fussy (nternational reastfeed
ing
urses
need to be at the bedside encouraging the patient and answering any %uestions
they may ha’e. /hat a great role to ha’e in such an ama?ing miracle in life.
 
@eferences:
Department of *griculture . 263.

 A Guide for U
se in the WIC and CSF Program

.
/a
shington, D.C,

@etrie’ed 
from
http:AAwww.nal.usda.go’Awicwor$sATopicsAFBAutritional>eeds.pdf
(nternational reastfeeding