Glossary
B
Blood Sugar
The amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
Blood Test
When a sample of your baby’s blood is sent to a lab to be analyzed. Blood is collected using a needle from their heel, arm/wrist, or scalp.
C
Circumcision
Newborn male circumcision is a non-routine surgical procedure to remove the foreskin that covers the head of the penis. This procedure is not recommended for every newborn boy, so be sure to consult with your healthcare provider. Learn more about this procedure from AboutKidsHealth: https://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article?contentid=461&language=English
Cue
How your baby communicates with you using facial expressions, body movements, or physiologic changes.
E
Exclusive Breastfeeding
Feeding a baby only breast milk directly from a mother’s breast, and providing no other nutrition or supplement.
F
Facilitated Tucking
The act of providing a baby in the NICU with comfort when they can not be held. It involves holding the infant’s arms and legs in flexed positions close to the middle of their body.
Family-Centered Care
A partnership between healthcare providers and families to care for their loved one and make health care decisions together.
Flexion
A movement that brings two parts of the body closer together; bending.
G
Glucose
An important simple sugar needed as an energy source for the brain and red blood cells. Glucose is stored in the body as glycogen.
I
Immunization
The process of becoming resistant (less likely to become infected) or immune (have protection against) a disease or infection, by receiving a vaccine.
There are a number of vaccines that children receive early in life. Check out the schedule through Health PEI: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/health-and-wellness/childhood-immunizations
N
Newborn Metabolic Screening
A routine test where a sample of your baby’s blood will be collected, sent to the lab, and screened for rare disorders, including several metabolic, blood, endocrine, and immune disorders.
Non-nutritive Sucking (NNS)
The process of providing a baby something (ex. dummy, soother, pacifier, or finger) to help provide pain management.
O
Oxytocin
A hormone released in the brain by the pituitary gland that causes increased contraction of the uterus during and after labor and stimulates milk production. It is often called “the love hormone”.
P
Pharmacist
A health care provider with specialized education to prepare, dispense, and manage medications. Pharmacists educate patients about medication and can provide some treatments in the community like vaccinations.
R
Registered Nurse
Health care provider professionally educated and licensed in nursing. They have completed an approved nursing education program, passed the national license exam, and are registered within the province or territory in which they practice. Registered nurses educate, advocate, and care for people of all ages.
Routine Bilirubin Screening
All babies will their have blood tested to measure the amount of bilirubin. When red blood cells break down, bilirubin is leftover but the liver processes it from the blood stream. Newborns often have high bilirubin in their blood because it can take a little while for their liver to start working fully. We screen all babies after they are born to see if they need extra help getting rid of the bilirubin while in hospital!
S
Scented Cloth
A cloth that has absorbed your familiar scent. Your baby remembers your smell from inside the womb. It is important that the scent absorbed on the cloth smells of your natural body. This means you should avoid perfume, scented lotion, or any unnatural odors like cigarette or cannabis smoke.
Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC)
The act of holding a baby upright, wearing only a diaper, against your bare chest.
Sucrose
A sweet tasting water based solution that is used to control mild pain in infants less than 1 year of age.
Swaddle
When you wrap your baby snug into a blanket. Find out how to swaddle your baby here from Caring for Kids.
Sweet Tasting Solution
A liquid solution given orally to babies to provide pain relief (mild analgesic) during minor procedures. This solution, stimulates the receptors in the brain where the pain management system is located. A common solution is oral sucrose.
V
V
Vaccine
A medication that is the safe form of a certain disease which stimulates the body’s immune system to recognize and fight that same infection or disease.
Vitamin K Injection
All newborns are at risk for vitamin K deficiency bleeding because there isn't enough in breast milk to meet their needs. An intramuscular injection of vitamin K is given shortly after birth.
