Baby Observation

A 35-year-old mother and her husband delivered a baby boy on March 7, 2016. This paper documents key interactions of the mother and family with the infant during student clinical rotations on March 8, 2016. When the baby was first brought to the family the mother’s posture relaxed and the father smiled at the newborn. The infant was placed in the mother’s arms, when he was firmly held by the mother he stopped crying and grew calm. While holding the baby the mother would slowly rock back and forth to soothe the child.
Several times during the day, the mother had the newborn in the en face position and was talking to the infant, there were encouraging words such as “you’ll be a big boy, I know it” by the mother. (Davidson, 2016) When asked what the baby’s name was

the mother smiled and gave “his name is Oscar” as the response. While the nursing staff was assessing the mother and she was unable to hold the infant the mother would watch the cradle and try and soothe the infant by laying a hand down into the cradle for the infant to grasp.
The parents described the infant, as “the smallest addition to the family, and the last one to go through diapers” with this statement there was a tone of gratitude.

This had been a planned pregnancy from the beginning and was the last pregnancy both parents had planned for with the mother receiving a tubal ligation.
Both parents held the child close and would engulf the infant with the whole hand and arms. When the mother was resting the father would lay the child on his chest while lying down. Both parents took turns caring for the child with the father helping more while the mother performed activities of daily living. When the baby was fussing the parents were watchful but did not intervene immediately, if the fussing progressed to crying the parents would then intercede and correct what was causing discomfort.
The age of the parents and the fact that this was their second child helped them with discerning behavior cues given by the infant. These cues included grasping a finger, breastfeeding eagerly and he was easy to console. (Davidson, 2016) This allowed the parents to anticipate what the infant needed faster and with greater ease allowing them to rest for longer periods of time in

between.
Overall, every observed interaction between the mother and family with the infant was a positive encounter for both groups and is examples of healthy parenting. The parents were quick to respond to the needs of the child and the child responded well after being taken care of. The parents held the infant close and would comfort the child and he would become calmer the longer he was held.