How to judge the baby's cervical spine injury

For babies, the bones in their bodies are relatively soft. If parents do not take proper care of them at this time, it will cause great harm to the children, especially the cervical spine of the children. If it is injured, it may even cause paralysis in the baby. Especially when holding the baby, you must learn the correct way to hold the baby, so as to avoid adverse effects on the baby's health.

How to hold a baby

1. Hand support method: Use your left hand to support the baby's back, neck, and head, and your right hand to support his little butt and waist. This method is often used to pick up and put down the baby from the bed.

2. Wrist holding method: Place the baby's head in the crook of your left arm, protect the baby's head with your elbow, protect the back and waist with your left wrist and left hand, extend your right forearm over the baby to protect the baby's legs, and support the baby's buttocks and waist with your right hand. This method is a more commonly used posture.

3. Don’t hold your baby vertically: a newborn’s head accounts for 1/4 of its total length. When holding the baby upright, the weight of the baby's head is entirely on the cervical spine. When the baby is 1-2 months old, the neck muscles are not fully developed and are weak. This incorrect holding posture should be used to prevent damage to the baby's spine. These injuries are not easy to detect at the time, but may affect the child's future growth and development. Therefore, it is not advisable to hold the baby in a straight vertical position.

4. Don’t hold the child for too long: People’s love for their children has reached an unparalleled level. They don’t kiss or love their children enough, so they start holding the child just a few days after the child is born. Little do people know that this practice violates the natural laws of infant growth and development and is harmful rather than beneficial to the child.

(1) Newborn babies need 20 hours of sleep a day; babies around 6 months old need about 16 hours of sleep. Therefore, except for special circumstances such as feeding and changing diapers, do not hold the baby too much.

(2) Due to physiological characteristics, the stomach and cardia muscles of infants are relatively relaxed, but the pyloric muscles are very tight. In this case, if the infant is held in the arms and played with after breastfeeding or feeding, food can easily overflow from the cardia and cause vomiting.

(3) Babies’ bones grow very quickly. If they are held in the arms for a long time, it will be extremely detrimental to the normal growth of their bones. It is necessary to take your baby out to bask in the sun from time to time to enhance his immunity, but the time should not be too long.

5. Mother-child communication style: When holding the baby in this way, the mother and baby are face to face, which is most conducive to communication and dialogue between parents and children. The mother can also gently swing the baby in front of her to make the baby more relaxed and happier.

Tips for holding a newborn

Step 1: Place your hands under your newborn's head

Place one hand gently under the newborn's head and wrap your palm around the entire head, making sure to support the newborn's neck and support his head.

Step 2: Use your other hand to hold your buttocks

After stabilizing the head, reach your other hand under the newborn's buttocks, wrapping the newborn's entire buttocks, concentrating the strength on both wrists.

Step 3: Slowly support the newborn's head

At this time, you can slowly support the newborn's head. Note that you must support the newborn's neck, otherwise his head will tilt back, which will be uncomfortable. The mother needs to use the strength of her waist and hands to support the newborn.