Hi ,

I delivered a baby boy 2 months ago , it was a normal delivery and i took local anestheshia .. My baby dint cry when he were born , he cried 5 min later , my husband telling he was sleeping during the delivery .. Is this normal , do this happen during the delivery time .. Pls advice , im not sure where to post this , somebody pls help me ... Hetal replied. Although the Apgar score was developed in 1952 by an anesthesiologist named Virginia Apgar, you may have also heard it referred to as an acronym for: Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance, and Respiration (apgar)
The Apgar test is usually given to your baby twice: once at 1 minute after birth, and again at 5 minutes after birth. Rarely, if there are serious problems with the baby's condition and the first two scores are low, the test may be scored for a third time at 10 minutes after birth.
Five factors are used to evaluate the baby's condition and each factor is scored on a scale of 0 to 2:
heart rate (pulse)
breathing (rate and effort)
activity and muscle tone
grimace response (medically known as \";reflex irritability\";)
appearance (skin coloration).
A baby who scores a 7 or above on the test at 1 minute after birth is generally considered in good health. However, a lower score doesn't necessarily mean that your baby is unhealthy or abnormal. For example, a score between 4 and 6 at 1 minute indicates that your baby simply needs some special immediate care, such as suctioning of the airways or oxygen to help him or her breathe, after which your baby may improve.
At 5 minutes after birth, the Apgar score is recalculated, and if your baby's score hasn't improved to 7 or greater, the doctors and nurses may continue any necessary medical care and will closely monitor your baby.

Some babies are born with heart or lung conditions or other problems that require extra medical care; others just take a little longer than usual to adjust to life outside the womb. Most newborns with initial Apgar scores of less than 7 will eventually do just fine.
The test was designed to help health care providers assess a newborn's overall physical condition so that they could quickly determine whether the baby needed immediate medical care.

It was not designed to predict a baby's long-term health, behavior, intellectual status, or outcome or future health !
Few babies score a perfect 10, and perfectly healthy babies sometimes have a lower-than-usual score, especially in the first few minutes after birth.

Keep in mind that a slightly low Apgar score (especially at 1 minute) is normal for some newborns, especially those born after a high-risk pregnancy, cesarean section, or a complicated labor and delivery.

Lower Apgar scores are also seen in healthy premature babies, who usually have less muscle tone than full-term newborns and who, in many cases, will require extra monitoring and breathing assistance because of their immature lungs.

if your doctor is concerned about your baby's score, he or she will let you know and will explain how your baby is doing, what might be causing problems, if any, and what care is being given. and you are intructed properly, which means if by now,your baby had problem with it, your dr must have already told to you about it !!!! if not,no worries.

For the most part, though, most babies do very well, so relax and enjoy the moment with your baby..

Good Luck
Regards

usha replied. Hi,
apgar scores are rated on various criteria and not only crying. Your ped wld have suggested if there was anything wrong with the baby. they also have apgar test done 10 mins after the baby is born, pls check
Usha