Did you know that babies born in birthing facilities from 2009 up to present are the babies who got to experience the Unang Yakap? In 2009, the Department of Health instituted the Unang Yakap - a local implementation of the World Health Organization’s Essential Intrapartum and Newborn Care (EINC) which is an evidence-based program for safe and adequate quality care for newborns and mothers. It has four time-bound interventions that skilled health professionals must perform right after you deliver your baby:
1. Immediate and thorough drying. The newborn is immediately dried with a clean piece of cloth to prevent hypothermia or very low body temperature which is important to their survival.
2. Early skin-to-skin contact. The newborn is placed on the mother’s abdomen or chest and allowed to crawl up to the mother’s breast even if the umbilical cord is still attached. Skin to skin contact also keeps the newborn warm and prevents very low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and bacterial infection (sepsis). Healthy skin bacteria from the mother are also transferred onto the newborn’s skin which serves as their skin’s first line of defense against infection. It also improves breastfeeding initiation.
3. Properly-timed clamping. The umbilical cord is only clamped and cut when the pulsation within the cord has stopped. This allows the baby to receive more blood from the mother after delivery. Studies have shown that delayed cord clamping has decreased anemia in one out of every seven term babies and one out of every three preterm babies.
4. Non-separation of the newborn from the mother for early breastfeeding initiation and rooming in. The newborn is placed on the mother’s abdomen or chest and allowed to crawl up to the mother’s breast. During this time the infant’s rooting reflex or the natural instinct to move the lips toward the nipple and sucking reflex or the natural instinct to suck is already intact. This crucial moment allows the newborn to get the colostrum or the mother’s “first milk” which contains antibodies that serves as the newborn’s initial immune defense while their immune system is still immature.
When the four steps are accomplished, other newborn care interventions such as Vitamin K injection, antibiotic eye drops, first dose of BCG and Hepatitis B vaccines, and Newborn Screening can be conducted within the first 24 hours. These are evidence-based interventions that mothers can avail when they give birth with the help of health care professionals in public and private birthing facilities.
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References:
Department of Health (n.d.). Unang Yakap (Essential Newborn Care: Protocol for New Life). GOVPH. Retrieved from https://doh.gov.ph/unang-yakap
Department of Health (n.d.). Essential Newborn Care (ENC). Retrieved from https://doh.gov.ph/book/export/html/1125
Ramirez, A.K.S. & Manahan, M.R.P. (2016). A prospective cross-sectional analysis on the adherence to the four time-bound interventions of the essential intrapartum and newborn care program (EINC) in a private tertiary hospital in Metro Manila. Philippine Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 40(4), 13-22.
