The transition from life in the womb to the outside world is an amazing process.  As part of Duke Children’s Primary Care Services, it is our goal to provide high quality, personalized medical care for babies that are at or near term as they make this transition and adapt to their new surroundings.

The newborn nursery at Duke Children’s Hospital provides a safe, secure environment where physicians and nurses can assess the health of your new baby, check vital signs, and provide attentive care when mom needs to rest.

In most cases, babies stay with their mothers for the first hour following birth. After that, baby goes to the newborn nursery for additional assessments, to have footprints taken, and to get their first bath. Once these essentials are completed, babies return to their mothers for feeding.

Our maternity and newborn nursery nurses work as a team to care for mother and infant, but each baby has a newborn nurse who provides special attention to the new baby. In addition, all breast-feeding mothers are offered lactation counseling during their stay.

We have regularly scheduled visiting hours for family and friends who wish to share in the joy of your child’s birth. Our staff will also limit your visitors or phone calls upon request. To safeguard the health of your infant, all visitors should be illness free.

Safety and security in the newborn nursery is one of our top priorities. Duke Children’s uses a security system that limits nursery access to those people (typically the mother and father/support person) with appropriate authentication.

Newborn Tests
Immediately after birth, your baby will be evaluated through an Apgar score to determine his or her state of health. This routine test measures a baby's responsiveness and vital signs. Five factors are checked: heart rate, breathing, color, activity and muscle tone, and grimace reflex response.

The baby is given a score of 0-2 in each category, and the five numerical results are added together. This total is called the Apgar score. The evaluation is done again at 1 minute and again at 5 minutes. This quick and easy test is given mainly to see if the baby needs help breathing. A score of 7-10 is generally considered normal, and if your baby receives this score, no special actions usually need to be taken at that time. A lower score means some extra measures, such as giving the baby oxygen, may be needed initially.

Your newborn will go through a few other quick procedures, which may include:

• clearing the nasal passages with a suction bulb
• weight, head circumference, and length measured
• eye ointment or drops given to prevent infection

The medical staff will then dry your baby and place a blanket around him or her.  After a first breastfeeding attempt, there will be a few more procedures, usually after about 10-30 minutes.

While the mother rests in either the birthing or recovery room, the baby is taken to the nursery to receive a thorough bath. Usually the father is allowed to come along. Your baby will be given vitamin K, by injection, to help the blood clot properly. Your baby may also receive a dose of hepatitis vaccine.

Your newborn may also be given blood test to check blood sugar and bilirubin levels. If the level is too low or other problems are discovered, the baby may require immediate medical attention.

A newborn screening blood test will be drawn before the baby leaves the hospital to look for PKU (phenylketonuria), congenital hypothyroidism, and other diseases that need to be diagnosed early in infancy to ensure successful treatment. It is recommended that all babies have a hearing screen before leaving the hospital so possible problems can be picked up early on.

With a vaginal birth, the average newborn stay is about 48 hours. With a cesarean delivery, it is about 96 hours.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby!