ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to set the scene for a comprehensive and sensitive examination of the newborn infant. Each woman’s experience of becoming a mother is different and unique to her individual circumstances. The practitioner who examines her baby will be able to provide a woman-centred approach to this important examination if she does so with an appreciation of the factors that may influence the experience of motherhood. Such an understanding will also enable the practitioner to place in context any questions that may be raised by parents. Failure to consider the unique circumstances of individual women and their immediate families could potentially lead to care that is ritualistic. Parents should feel that the practitioner who examines their baby is focused specifically on them. There are a multitude of variables that will impact on individual women
and their experiences that we can only glimpse at in this context. This chapter provides a taster to help you reflect on how each journey into parenthood will be different and that this uniqueness must be reflected in the care that each woman receives. It aims, therefore, to encourage the practitioner to consider:
• factors that may influence a woman’s decision to have a baby; • the implications of premature and mature motherhood; • the experience of women who have become pregnant through assisted
conception; • questions that new parents may raise.
