Abstract

The understanding of the neonatal disorders seems to have lagged behind until recently among the branches in the field of paediatrics. Birth injuries contribute as the third major cause of the neonatal mortality in most of developing countries much more so in our country. Very little work has been done in our country on birth injuries and its relation to various factors such as abnormal presentation, parity, etc. The study consists of 100 cases of birth trauma noticed among 850 consecutives viable birth during the study period of 1 ½ years. Proforma contains details of the health status of the mother, antenatal, intranatal and postnatal particulars including the age, sex, weight, mode of delivery, type of presentation and nature of the birth injury in different modes of delivery and type of presentation of the baby. Each new born baby was examined thoroughly according to the Proforma and also previous obstetric history, details of delivery, antenatal check-up etc., were obtained. Asphyxia forms the major group which were noted in 45 of total 100 injured babies. Cephalohematoma was the next common injury being noted in 32 cases. 18 babies had soft tissue injuries and 4 babies have neurological injuries. As seen from the study proper antenatal check-up, good obstetric care and management of toxaemia would go a long way in bringing down incidence of birth injuries which is malady in the life of the growing child resulting in both physical and mental handicaps.