Clinical practice commands the application of knowledge, skills and values in diverse combinations. For a newborn infant physical examination (NIPE) practitioner, communication is a key facet of the skills that assure that the NIPE is being effectively completed; it can encompass communication with the infant, the parents and the wider multidisciplinary team, as well as recording the examination. Successful communication in the NIPE requires the practitioner to attend to the parents’ needs for information and emotional care, while completing and recording a complex and through examination of the child that is enhanced by the information obtained from the parents. Models of communication can be used in healthcare to interpret behaviour and to indicate good practice. Over the past 70 years they have evolved from linear to interactive and transactional models. Information about the NIPE should be provided to parents antenatally and before the infant examination, and parents must be informed of the findings of each examination.