It is common in some European countries such as the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, but in Spain and in most countries it is not yet well known nor is the home care service after childbirth barely applied, on those days when the Baby is more fragile and mothers need more help and have more doubts. Definitely, Home visits by health professionals after childbirth are a great idea but not very widespread.
Because, who better than a gynecologist, a midwife, a pediatrician, to help you with any questions you may have? Who better to check the health status of your baby, to solve the doubts about breastfeeding, make sure that we are healing the belly button ...?
And not only for the first days, a subsequent follow-up with periodic visits, during the first year or up to two years as in some countries as a rule, would be fabulous. Although maybe it's asking too much ... We'd settle for they could come home the first few weeks of the newborn.
Maybe you remember those moments, after leaving the hospital, calling the gynecologist for this or that, to the hospital, to the midwife ... and maybe going to the pediatrician for the first time. But it is not always easy to first leave home after giving birth, sometimes recovery is slow and having to leave to go to a consultation can be done very uphill.
WHO recommends home visits by health workers to reduce neonatal mortality in developing countries, because these are the most critical moments for the survival of newborns. But surely these visits can work for any woman who has just given birth.
During home visits, qualified health professionals should carry out varied activities, to some of which we do have access when giving birth in a hospital. But what happens when you leave the hospital and go home with the baby for the first time? Don't you often have a feeling of abandonment, of insecurity?
For home births in developing countries, these visits mean that not many babies and mothers die and serve to:
Encourage and support early breastfeeding (in the first hour after birth) and feeding the baby exclusively with breast milk.
Help keep the newborn warm (encouraging direct contact of the infant with the skin of his mother).
Promote hygiene of the umbilical cord and skin.
Examine the baby to see if there are signs of serious health problems, and advise families to seek immediate health care if necessary.
Encourage the child's birth registration and timely vaccination following the national vaccination program.
Detect and care for newborns who need additional care (for example, those who are underweight at birth, are sick or are children of a woman infected with HIV).
If possible, provide home treatment of local infections and some feeding problems.
Newborns at higher risk, such as children with low birth weight, the sick or children of mothers with HIV need specific attention.
In our environment, after delivery in the hospital or at home, the home visit of health professionals would also be useful, both to control the emotional and physical state of the mother after childbirth, as well as the state of the baby and her family situation. But it is not extended even in the context in which we move it seems to be implemented in the short term. Sometimes, women have to go to paid help.
