How to Test for Your Baby's Well-Being

Your midwife will use a universally recognized tool known as the Apgar Score to assess your baby's condition one minute after birth and then again five minutes afterwards. Both these scores will be documented in your notes.

Weighing and measuring your baby

After the Apgar Score, the first assessment is usually to find out what your baby weighs, and this is often one of the questions you will be asked when you tell your friends and family that your baby has been born. A healthy term baby will weigh on average around 3.5kg (7%lb); although a birth weight between 2.5kg (5 1/2lb) and 4.5kg (101b) is generally considered within normal limits. If you and your partner are particularly rail and well built, or short and petite, the size of your baby may reflect this, although this is not automatically the case.

The length of your baby may also be measured at this time, using a tape measure. The average length of a newborn is around 50cm (20in). In some hospitals her head circumference will be recorded as well.


"Midwife's check"

Your midwife will perform a physical check of your baby at the same time as she weighs her. This is a gentle external examination and causes no discomfort to your baby. Your midwife will talk you through what she is looking at and can answer any questions that you may have, but she is primarily checking to exclude any immediate signs that your baby has been born with a congenital abnormality. You may notice, for example, that she explores your baby's head for any unusual swellings and inside her mouth to exclude a cleft palate or tongue-tie. She will also count your baby's fingers and toes, checking for webbed digits, and examine your baby's spine for any dimples or other signs of possible spinal defects. The midwife's check also includes an overall assessment of your baby's general well-being, including her temperature and whether she has passed any urine or stools.

Your baby will be examined again during the next few days, when her eyes, ears, heart, hips, and reflexes will be tested and her internal organs checked. This assessment is often referred to as the "first day check", but is usually performed any time during the first few days, just before you go home from hospital. Increasingly, midwives or advanced neonatal nurse practitioners (ANNPs) may perform this check, as well as pediatricians.

If you have had a home birth, your baby's "first day check” will usually be performed by your GP at around three days. If your GP has not supported your home birth and your care has been backed up by your supervisor of midwives. It is more likely that you will need to take your baby into your local maternity unit or hospital to be checked over by a pediatrician.