Health Promotion and Prevention for Infants

Health promotion focuses on improving health and wellbeing; whereas illness prevention involves reducing risk factors for illness, disease, or trauma.

As the nurse caring for infants, you’ll collaborate with the registered nurse, or RN, to provide guidance for caregivers on health promotion and illness prevention.

One aspect of health promotion is encouraging bonding, or the emotional ties directed from the caregiver to the infant, that are built by meeting their infant’s needs and through activities like skin-to-skin contact and eye contact.

You can assist caregivers to develop a strong bond with their infant by helping them recognize cues when their infant is cold, hungry, tired, or needs a clean diaper; reviewing ways to respond to their infant using calming techniques like rocking, swaddling, or feeding; offering nonnutritive sucking; or reducing environmental stimuli, like noise or bright lights.

If their infant has colic, which is where their otherwise healthy infant has unexplained irritability and is difficult to soothe, remember to offer empathy and encourage them to use strategies to help soothe their infant, like carrying them face down while supporting their head and abdomen and providing a gentle rocking motion.

You can also suggest taking turns with another trusted person to care for their infant to prevent caregiver fatigue, and discussing other options with their health care provider, like trying a modified formula to reduce gastric upset.

Next, reinforce teaching about the role of nutrition in providing sufficient calories and nutrients to promote their infant's rapid growth and development.

Be sure to talk about how to recognize their infant’s hunger cues, such as crying; clenched fists; rooting, or moving their head and mouth in search of the nipple; and fullness cues, like falling asleep, relaxing their body, and ejecting the nipple.

Provide them with support to breastfeed or bottle feed, as needed, and help them identify signs of adequate nutrition, like having at least six wet diapers a day, sleeping peacefully, and gaining about four to seven ounces or 115 to 200 grams per week for the first six months.

Remind them that up until six months of age, all of the nutrients their infant needs are found in breast milk supplemented with vitamin D or iron-fortified formula.

After six months, their infant will start to show signs of being ready for solids, like when they’re no longer pushing food out of their mouth as they protrude their tongue, known as the extrusion reflex; being able to sit with good head control; and showing an interest in eating solids by watching others eat or reaching for food.

At this point caregivers can add a variety of soft, easy-to-swallow foods such as cereals, pureed fruit and vegetables, followed by meat or other proteins.

To decrease choking risk, advise them to monitor their infant during meals and to cut round foods like hot dogs, grapes, and string cheese, lengthwise into smaller pieces.

Lastly, collaborate with the RN to monitor your patient’s nutrition status by checking their weight, length, and head circumference at each visit.

Next, explain how their infant’s sleep patterns will vary as they grow and develop. For instance, remind them that newborns typically sleep in two to four hour intervals, and that they eventually learn to synchronize their circadian rhythm to the family routine.

Explain the benefits of sleeping in the same room, known as room sharing, for the first six months; but emphasize the importance of never sleeping with their baby in the same bed.

Stress the importance of placing their infant to sleep on their back on a firm, flat mattress without loose bedding, blankets, pillows, or toys nearby to decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

Then, review the importance of illness prevention by staying on schedule with their infant’s wellness visits to check their infant’s growth and development; receive support, reassurance, and education; and to address any concerns with the health care provider at specified intervals during their infant’s first year.

Also, emphasize the importance of immunizing their infant to decrease the risk of preventable illnesses, like measles or pertussis and clarify any misconceptions they have.

Also be sure to review common side effects that can follow vaccination, like soreness at the injection site. Reassure them that side effects are typically mild and self-limiting, and they can manage them at home by providing supportive measures like ice packs and using a pain reliever, like acetaminophen.

Alright, as a quick recap...Health promotion focuses on improving health and wellbeing; whereas illness prevention involves reducing risk factors for illness, disease, or trauma.

As the nurse caring for infants, you’ll collaborate with the registered nurse to support proper growth and development by providing guidance for caregivers on health promotion and illness