Maternal and Child Health: Antenatal Care, Labour, and Newborn Care
What this domain tests
Antenatal care, danger signs, labour stages, newborn care, breastfeeding, immunisation, and growth monitoring.
Core rules and concepts
- Naegele's rule: EDD = first day of last menstrual period + 7 days − 3 months + 1 year.
- Antenatal visits: at least four; check BP, weight, haemoglobin, urine protein, and fetal heart rate.
- Danger signs: bleeding, severe headache, blurred vision, epigastric pain, reduced fetal movement, fever, convulsions.
- First stage of labour: onset to full cervical dilatation (about 10 cm). Second stage: full dilatation to birth. Third stage: birth to delivery of placenta.
- Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months; colostrum is the first milk and should not be discarded.
- Newborn: keep warm, dry, skin-to-skin, initiate breastfeeding within one hour, give vitamin K as per protocol.
Worked example
A woman's LMP began on 1 April 2024. Add 7 days → 8 April; subtract 3 months → 8 January; add 1 year → 8 January 2025. Reasoning: use the first day of bleeding, not the last. If cycles are irregular, ultrasound dating is more reliable.
Traps that cost marks
- Counting from the last day of menstruation.
- Giving water or honey to a newborn.
- Missing that the third stage is placental delivery.
- Calling 5 cm dilatation full dilatation.