Neonatal Development

From Embryology

Introduction

A newborn infant (perinatal period)

The neonatal period (birth to 1 month) is a time of extensive and ongoing system transition from uterine environment to external world, this includes the initial period after birth which is referred to as the perinatal period. Fir information on parturition see Birth.

It would seem obvious to say that development does not stop at birth. In fact many systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, homeostasis) undergo significant changes at birth, and many others (neural) have not yet completed their development. Note this current project focuses on prenatal development, so postnatal content is not as detailed.

Postnatal Links: birth | neonatal | neonatal diagnosis | milk | Nutrition | growth charts | Disease School Exclusion | vaccination | puberty | genital

| original page

Birth Links: birth | Lecture - Birth | caesarean | preterm birth | birth weight | macrosomia | Birth Statistics | Australian Birth Data | Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHAD) | Neonatal Diagnosis | Apgar test | Guthrie test | neonatal | stillbirth and perinatal death | ICD-10 Perinatal Period | Category:Birth
Historic Birth links  
1921 USA Birth Mortality

Neonatal - Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW)

VLBW neonates are between 401 to 1500 grams. The table below shows USA (NICHD) data for VLBW infants who survived beyond 3 days and had one or more episodes of blood culture-proven sepsis, the common cause of infection by gram-positive organisms, and the percentage of these resulting from coagulase-negative staphylococci.[1] [2]


Years Blood culture-proven sepsis Gram-positive organisms Staphylococci
1991 - 1993 25% 73% 55%
1998 - 2000 21% 70% 48%

Postnatal Neural

The links below are to a set of postnatal Neural Exam Movies by Paul D. Larsen, M.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Newborn normal

Neural Exam Movies: normal behaviour | cranial nerves | Newborn Tone - resting posture | upper extremity‎ | arm traction | arm recoil | scarf sign | hand position | lower extremity | leg traction‎ | leg recoil‎‎ | popliteal angle‎ | heel to ear | neck tone | head lag‎ | head control | Newborn Positions - prone | ventral suspension | vertical suspension | Newborn Reflexes - deep tendon reflexes | plantar reflex‎ | suck, root | Moro | Galant | stepping‎ | grasp | Newborn Head - head shape and sutures‎ | head circumference‎ | Neonatal Diagnosis
Newborn-normal-behaviour.jpg Newborn n 03.jpg Newborn n 17.jpg Newborn n 20.jpg Newborn n 27.jpg
behaviour tone positions reflexes head

Newborn abnormal

Newborn Abnormal Links: behaviour | cranial nerves | Newborn Tone - resting posture | upper extremity‎ | arm traction | arm recoil | scarf sign | hand position | lower extremity | leg traction‎ | leg recoil‎‎ | popliteal angle‎ | heel to ear | neck tone | head lag‎ | head control | Newborn Positions - prone | ventral suspension | vertical suspension | Newborn Reflexes - deep tendon reflexes | plantar reflex‎ | suck, root | Moro | Galant | stepping‎ | grasp | Newborn Head - head shape and sutures‎ | head circumference‎

Newborn ab 01.jpg Newborn ab 03.jpg Newborn ab 17.jpg Newborn ab 20.jpg Newborn ab 27.jpg
behaviour tone positions reflexes head
Links: Neural Exam Movies

References

  1. <pubmed>8757564</pubmed>
  2. <pubmed>12165580</pubmed>

NCBI Bookshelf

The NCBI Bookshelf contains a number of complete online publications that relate to neonatal development. Of particular interest, is the new resource "Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries", which talks to important neonatal health issues in these countries.

Health Services/Technology Assessment Text (HSTAT) Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), 2003 Oct.

Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (2nd ed.) Dean T. Jamison, Joel G. Breman, Anthony R. Measham, George Alleyne, Mariam Claeson, David B. Evans, Prabhat Jha, Anne Mills, Philip Musgrove, editors Washington (DC): IBRD/The World Bank and Oxford University Press; 2006

  • Newborn Survival
  • Maternal and Perinatal Conditions
  • Vaccine-preventable Diseases
    • "Vaccines that prevent measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, Hib, and Neisseria meningitis prevent respiratory diseases.
    • Vaccines against measles and pertussis, prevent diseases that cause or contribute to malnutrition.
    • New vaccines, Streptococcus pneumoniae, influenza, typhoid fever, and rotavirus.
    • Vaccines to prevent mumps and varicella that are routinely used in some developed countries are not included in most vaccination programs in developing countries.
    • Clean umbilical cord care to reduce the incidence of neonatal tetanus, vitamin A therapy to reduce the case-fatality rate (CFR) from measles."

Basic Neurochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Medical Aspects (6th ed.) Siegal, George J.; Agranoff, Bernard W.; Albers, R. Wayne; Fisher, Stephen K.; Uhler, Michael D., editors. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; c1999.

"Hypothyroidism increases synaptic density, at least transiently. Interesting parallels with synapse formation are reported for learning behavior in rats; neonatal hypothyroidism impairs learning ability, whereas hyperthyroidism accelerates learning initially, followed by a decline later in life"

Type II glutaric aciduria

"The outlook is almost uniformly fatal, and the few babies who survive have severely compromised development and a cardiomyopathy that usually proves fatal. In rare cases, a patient stays asymptomatic until after the neonatal period, when hepatomegaly, vomiting, metabolic acidosis, hypoglycemia and a proximal myopathy become evident."

brain utilizes ketones in states of ketosis

"Significant utilization of ketone bodies by the brain is, however, normal in the neonatal period. The newborn infant tends to be hypoglycemic but becomes ketotic when it begins to nurse because of the high fat content of the mother's milk. When weaned onto the normal, relatively high-carbohydrate diet, the ketosis and cerebral ketone utilization disappear."

Reviews

Articles

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April 2010

  • neonatal development - All (63838) Review (9418) Free Full Text (10937)

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Childhood Disease

There are many different diseases that can impact on postnatal development, the most serious of which result in death. Some postnatal diseases may also have different outcomes dependent upon availability of medical support, though even in developed countries other factors can also impact on outcomes.

For example, a recent British Medical Journal (BMJ 25 June 2005) article "Outcome of meningococcal disease in children" identified in this UK study (of 498 children) three independent factors associated with an increased risk of death: not being cared for by a paediatrician, junior staff working with not enough supervision, and failure of staff to administer adequate inotropes.

Meningococcal disease, also called "meningitis", is a viral or bacterial infection of cerebrospinal fluid of the spinal cord and brain. Treatment and outcomes differ for either viral (less severe, resolves without specific treatment) or bacterial (severe, may result in brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disability) infections. For bacterial meningitis, determining the type of bacteria is important because antibiotics can prevent some types from spreading and infecting other people. Before the 1990s, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis, but new vaccines being given to all children as part of their routine immunizations have reduced the occurrence of invasive disease due to H. influenzae. Today, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis are the leading causes of bacterial meningitis. (text modifed from CDC information - More? CDC - meningococcal disease | technical information)

Australian Information

NHMRC- Publications Relating to Child Health

[page3a.htm NHMRC Infectious Diseases School Exclusion recommendations]

Institute for Child Health Research (WA), internet required

http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/about/intro.html

meningitis centre

NSW Information

The following are links to PDF documents prepared by NSW Health designed for clinical care (not patient information). Clinical Practice Guidelines for Paediatric Care

Acute Management of Infants and Children with: Bacterial Meningitis | Otitis Media | Fever | Asthma | Croup |

American Information

American Academy of Family Physicians The Newborn Examination: Part I. Emergencies and Common Abnormalities Involving the Skin, Head, Neck, Chest, and Respiratory and Cardiovascular Systems | Part II. Emergencies and Common Abnormalities Involving the Abdomen, Pelvis, Extremities, Genitalia, and Spine | Common Issues in the Care of Sick Neonates

American Medical Association "Kids Health" (these are easy to read general public pages American not Australian Information )

Baby Development by Age

Baby Development by Topic Childhood Infections

Childhood Immunizations


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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, March 28) Embryology Neonatal Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Neonatal_Development

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G