U1 examination

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The U1 examination is the first of twelve preventive medical examinations for children. It is carried out immediately after the birth, i.e. still in the delivery room. The doctor examines the newborn for its ability to adapt to the new environment. Read everything about the U1 examination, how it works and why it is so important.

What is the U1 examination?

The U1 exam is a short but important exam. It is carried out in the delivery room immediately after delivery and primarily checks whether the child can adapt to life outside the womb. Overall, the U1 examination does not take more than ten minutes.

What do you do during the U1 examination?

Immediately after delivery, the doctor will check the baby's general health. He makes sure by palpation and movement that the child did not suffer any injuries when it was born and that there are no malformations. It also ensures that no fluid has accumulated in the tissue (edema).

The doctor will also assess the newborn's breathing, heartbeat, reflexes, muscle tension, and skin color. From this, he calculates the so-called APGAR score, which reflects the child's ability to adapt to the new environment. If it is too low, it often indicates a lack of oxygen, which must be treated immediately.

After five and ten minutes, the doctor determines the APGAR score again. To safely rule out a lack of oxygen, the doctor takes a blood sample from the umbilical cord and measures its oxygen content. Amniotic fluid that the baby may have swallowed during childbirth is sucked off by the doctor with a thin catheter and checks that the nose and esophagus are clear.

Finally, the doctor gives the child drops containing vitamin K. After the midwife has weighed the child and measured its length and head circumference, the U1 is over.

Vitamin K prophylaxis

Vitamin K is necessary for the formation of various blood clotting factors. If there is a lack of vitamin K and consequently of coagulation factors, there is a risk of dangerous bleeding, for example in the gastrointestinal tract. Newborns usually have a vitamin K deficiency because, among other things, they can only produce and store the vitamin in insufficient quantities and breast milk contains only a small amount of vitamin K.

You will therefore routinely receive two milligrams of vitamin K during the U1 examination. To do this, the doctor instills vitamin K drops in their mouths. As part of the U2 and U3, babies are also given the coagulation-promoting vitamin again. Later they get enough of it through their food.

The doctor injects vitamin K into the muscles of very light premature babies and sick babies. While this is more uncomfortable for the child, it is also more effective.

There have been fears in the past that vitamin K increases the risk of leukemia and other childhood tumors. However, current studies on this topic give no indication of this.

What is the significance of the U1 examination?

The birth is very stressful not only for the mother, but also for the baby. As soon as it has left the birth canal, the baby has to adapt to the new environment: it has to breathe independently and is no longer supplied by the maternal circulation. During the U1 examination, the doctor checks whether the baby is able to cope with this new situation or whether there is an adjustment disorder - if so, this must be treated as soon as possible.

Tags:  Menstruation sleep womenshealth