Infant

In medical contexts, newborn or neonate (from Latin, neonatus, newborn) refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth; the term applies to premature, full term, and postmature infants; before birth, the term "fetus" is used.

Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks' gestational age, as opposed to the usual about 40 weeks.

Over the first 5–7 days following birth, the body weight of a term neonate decreases by 3–7%, and is largely a result of the resorption and urination of the fluid that initially fills the lungs, in addition to a delay of often a few days before breastfeeding becomes effective.

Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the feeding of babies and young children with milk from a woman's breast.

In developed countries, the average birth weight of a full-term newborn is approximately 3.4 kg, and is typically in the range of 2.7 –.

Birth weight is the body weight of a baby at its birth.

During labour and birth, the infant's skull changes shape to fit through the birth canal, sometimes causing the child to be born with a misshapen or elongated head.

Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies leaves a woman's uterus by passing through the vagina or by Caesarean section.

At birth, many regions of the newborn's skull have not yet been converted to bone, leaving "soft spots" known as fontanels.

A fontanelle (or fontanel) (colloquially, soft spot) is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising any of the soft membranous gaps (sutures) between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant.

Some newborns have a fine, downy body hair called lanugo.

Lanugo is very thin, soft, usually unpigmented, downy hair that is sometimes found on the body of a fetal or new-born human.

In medical contexts, newborn or neonate (from Latin, neonatus, newborn) refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth; the term applies to premature, full term, and postmature infants; before birth, the term "fetus" is used.

When such premature babies are born, the main causes of mortality are that the respiratory system and the central nervous system are not completely differentiated.

In medical contexts, newborn or neonate (from Latin, neonatus, newborn) refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth; the term applies to premature, full term, and postmature infants; before birth, the term "fetus" is used.

They recommend that neonates be allowed to bond with the mother during their first two hours after birth, the period that they tend to be more alert than in the following hours of early life.

If breastfeeding is not possible or desired, bottle feeding is done with expressed breast-milk or with infant formula.

Infant formula, baby formula or just formula (American English) or baby milk, infant milk or first milk (British English), is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder (mixed with water) or liquid (with or without additional water).

Infants cry as a form of basic instinctive communication.

Essentially, newborns are transitioning from life in the womb to the external environment.

Females (and even males) may actually discharge milk from their nipples (sometimes called witch's milk), or a bloody or milky-like substance from the vagina.

Witch's milk or neonatal milk is milk secreted from the breasts of some newborn human infants of either sex.

Infants are born with a sucking reflex allowing them to extract the milk from the nipples of the breasts or the nipple of the baby bottle, as well as an instinctive behavior known as rooting with which they seek out the nipple.

It is typically used by infants and young children, or if someone cannot (without difficulty) drink from a cup, for feeding oneself or being fed. It can also be used to feed non-human mammals.

The umbilical cord of a newborn is bluish-white in color.

The umbilical cord in a full term neonate is usually about 50 centimeters (20 in) long and about 2 centimeters (0.75 in) in diameter.

Whole cow's milk can be used at one year, but lower-fat milk is not recommended until the child is 2 to 3 years old.

It is the primary source of nutrition for infant mammals (including humans who are breastfed) before they are able to digest other types of food.

Many parents choose commercial, ready-made baby foods to supplement breast milk or formula for the child, while others adapt their usual meals for the dietary needs of their child.

Baby food is any soft, easily consumed food other than breastmilk or infant formula that is made specifically for human babies between four and six months and two years old.

The newborn may also have Mongolian spots, various other birthmarks, or peeling skin, particularly on the wrists, hands, ankles, and feet.

Congenital melanocytic nevus is a type of melanocytic nevus, the medical term for what is colloquially called a "mole", found in infants at birth.

Infantile respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS), also called respiratory distress syndrome of newborn, or increasingly surfactant deficiency disorder (SDD), and previously called hyaline membrane disease (HMD), is a syndrome in premature infants caused by developmental insufficiency of pulmonary surfactant production and structural immaturity in the lungs.

Until they are toilet-trained, infants in industrialized countries wear diapers.

Diapers are primarily worn by infants, toddlers who are not yet potty trained, and by children who experience bedwetting.

Newborn infants have no prior exposure to microbes and are particularly vulnerable to infection.

Neonatal sepsis is a type of neonatal infection and specifically refers to the presence in a newborn baby of a bacterial blood stream infection (BSI) (such as meningitis, pneumonia, pyelonephritis, or gastroenteritis) in the setting of fever.

A newborn's head is very large in proportion to the body, and the cranium is enormous relative to his or her face.

The skull in the neonate is large in proportion to other parts of the body.

Neonatal bowel obstruction (NBO) or neonatal intestinal obstruction is the most common surgical emergency in the neonatal period.

Upon its entry to the air-breathing world, the newborn must begin to adjust to life outside the uterus.

Most industrialized countries have laws requiring child safety seats for babies in motor vehicles.

For young infants, the seat used is an infant carrier with typical weight recommendations of 5-20 lb.

Infants are born with a sucking reflex allowing them to extract the milk from the nipples of the breasts or the nipple of the baby bottle, as well as an instinctive behavior known as rooting with which they seek out the nipple.

During breastfeeding, nipple stimulation by an infant will simulate the release of oxytocin from the hypothalamus.