Question 1

Which facilitates parent-infant attachment?

Accepted Answer

Discussing infant behavioural characteristics with the parents facilitates the development of an affective,enduring relationship between infant and parent,promoting attachment.Preparing parents for expected role change facilitates growth of the family.Instruction on infant feeding cues assists in the establishment and maintenance of successful feeding.Teaching the parent skills to care for the newborn is facilitating nurturing and physical care.

Question 2

When dealing with parents who have some form of sensory impairment,nurses should realize that which of the following statements is not true?

Accepted Answer

Other sensory output can be provided by the parent,other people can participate,and other coping devices can be used.The skepticism,open or hidden,of health care providers places an additional and unneeded burden on the parents.After the parents' capabilities have been assessed (including some the nurse may not have expected),the nurse can help find ways to assist the parents that play to their strengths.The Internet affords an extra teaching tool for the deaf,as do videos with subtitles or nurses signing.A number of electronic devices can turn sound into light flashes to help pick up a child's cry.Sign language is acquired readily by young children.

Question 3

After birth a crying infant may be soothed by being held in a position in which the newborn can hear the mother's heartbeat.What is this phenomenon known as?

Accepted Answer

The newborn is in rhythm with the mother.The infant develops a personal biorhythm with the parents' help over time.Entrainment is the movement of newborns in time to the structure of adult speech.Reciprocity is body movement or behaviour that gives cues to the person's desires.These take several weeks to develop with a new baby.Synchrony is the fit between the infant's behavioural cues and the parent's responses.

Question 4

The nurse observes several interactions between a postpartum woman and her new son.What behaviour,if exhibited by this woman,would the nurse identify as a possible maladaptive behaviour regarding parent-infant attachment?

Accepted Answer

The woman should be encouraged to hold her infant in the en face position and make eye contact with the infant.Normal infant-parent interactions include talking and cooing to her son,cuddling her son close to her,and telling visitors how well her son is feeding.

Question 5

Which statement is accurate?

Accepted Answer

Infants know the sound of their mother's voice early.Infants respond positively to high-pitched voices.Each infant has a unique odour.Infants quickly learn to distinguish the odour of their mother's breast milk.

Question 6

In follow-up appointments or visits with parents and their new baby,it may be useful if the nurse can identify parental behaviours that can either facilitate or inhibit attachment.What is a facilitating behaviour?

Accepted Answer

Hovering over the infant and obviously paying attention to the baby are facilitating behaviours.Inhibiting behaviours include difficulty naming the infant,making no effort to interpret the actions or needs of the infant,and not moving from fingertip touch to palmar contact and holding.

Question 7

Many first-time parents do not plan on their parents' help immediately after the newborn arrives.What is most important when counselling new parents about the involvement of grandparents?

Accepted Answer

Grandparents can help new families with parenting skills and also help preserve family traditions.While intergenerational help may be perceived as interference,a statement of this sort is not therapeutic to the adaptation of the family.That grandparent involvement can be very disruptive to the family is not true.Regardless of age,grandparents can help with parenting skills and preserve family traditions.Talking about the age of the grandparents is not an appropriate statement,and it does not demonstrate sensitivity on the part of the nurse.The nurse cannot assume that the grandparents are old.

Question 8

Which should the nurse ensure while providing routine mother-baby care with regard to the management of the environment?

Accepted Answer

An environment that fosters privacy should be maintained at all times.Once the baby has demonstrated adjustment to extrauterine life (either in the mother's room or the transitional nursery),all care should be provided in one location.This important principle of family-centred maternity care fosters attachment by giving parents the opportunity to learn about their infant 24 hours a day.One nurse should provide care to both mother and baby in this couplet care or rooming-in model.It is not necessary for the baby to return to the nursery at night.In fact,the mother will sleep better with the infant close by.Care should be individualized to meet the parents' needs,not the routines of the staff.Teaching goals should be developed in collaboration with the parents.The partner should be permitted to sleep in the room with the mother.The maternity unit should develop policies that allow for the presence of significant others as much as the new mother desires.

Question 9

The nurse hears a primiparous woman talking to her son and telling him that his chin is just like his dad's chin.What does this woman's statement reflect?

Accepted Answer

Claiming refers to the process by which the child is identified in terms of likeness to other family members.Mutuality occurs when the infant's behaviours and characteristics call forth a corresponding set of maternal behaviours and characteristics.Synchrony refers to the "fit" between the infant's cues and the parent's responses.Reciprocity is a type of body movement or behaviour that provides the observer with cues.

Question 10

What should the nurse be aware of with regard to the adaptation of other family members,mainly siblings and grandparents,to the newborn?

Accepted Answer

Preparing older siblings and grandparents helps everyone to adapt.Sibling rivalry should be expected initially,but the negative behaviours associated with it have been overemphasized and stop in a comparatively short time.In Canada,in contrast to other cultures,paternal grandparents frequently consider themselves secondary to maternal grandparents.The number of grandparents providing permanent child care has been rising.

Question 11

During a phone follow-up conversation with a woman who is 4 days postpartum,the woman tells the nurse,"Everyone loves my baby! I have a routine that I am settling into and I feel physically well." Which phase would the nurse assess that this woman is experiencing?

Accepted Answer

The taking-hold phase starts the second or third day and lasts 10 days to several weeks.During this phase the mothers' focus is on the baby and competent mothering.Indicating acceptance of the baby by others,a routine,and feeling physical well are all characteristics of the taking-hold phase.The taking-in phase is the period after birth when the mother focuses on her own psychological needs.Typically,this period lasts 24 hours.PP depression is an intense,pervasive sadness marked by severe,labile mood swings;it is more serious and persistent than the PP blues.The letting-go phase has a focus on forward movement of the family as a unit with interacting members.

Question 12

What should nurses be aware of with regard to parents' early and extended contact with their infant?

Accepted Answer

Nurses should encourage any activity that optimizes family extended contact.Immediate contact facilitates the attachment process but is not essential;otherwise,adopted infants would not establish the affectionate ties they do.The mode of infant-mother contact does not appear to have any important effect.Mothers and their partners are considered equally important.

Question 13

Which concern about parenthood is often expressed by visually impaired mothers?

Accepted Answer

Concerns expressed by visually impaired mothers include infant safety,extra time needed for parenting activities,transportation,handling other people's reactions,providing proper discipline,and missing out visually.Blind people sense reluctance on the part of others to acknowledge that they have a right to be parents.However,blind parents are fully capable of caring for their infants.

Question 14

The nurse notes that a Vietnamese woman does not cuddle or interact with her newborn other than to feed him,change his diapers or soiled clothes,and put him to bed.Which does he nurse understand with regard to evaluating the woman's behaviour with her infant?

Accepted Answer

With a Vietnamese mother,the nurse may observe her giving minimal care to her infant and refusing to cuddle or interact with her infant.The apparent lack of interest in the newborn is this cultural group's attempt to ward off evil spirits and actually reflects an intense love and concern for the infant.It is important to educate the woman in infant care,but it is equally important to acknowledge her cultural beliefs and practices.

Question 15

Which can the nurse do to help a father in his transition to parenthood?

Accepted Answer

Infants respond to the sound of voices.Because attachment involves a reciprocal interchange,observing the interaction between parent and infant is very important.Separation of the parent and infant does not encourage parent-infant attachment.Educating the parent in infant care techniques is important,but the manner in which a diaper is taped is not relevant and does not enhance parent-infant interactions.Parent-infant attachment involves touching,holding,and cuddling.It is appropriate for a father to want to hold the infant as the baby sleeps.

Question 16

New parents express concern that,because of the mother's emergency Caesarean birth under general anaesthesia,they did not have the opportunity to hold and bond with their daughter immediately after her birth.What should the nurse's response convey to the parents?

Accepted Answer

Attachment is a process that occurs over time and does not require early contact.The formerly accepted definition of bonding held that the period immediately after birth was a critical time for bonding to occur.Research since has indicated that parent-infant attachment occurs over time.A delay does not inhibit the process.Parent-infant attachment involves activities such as touching,holding,and gazing;it is not exclusively eye contact.A response that conveys that the parents should just be happy that the infant is healthy is inappropriate because it is derogatory and belittling.

Question 17

Of the many factors that influence parental responses,nurses should be aware that which statements regarding age are true? Select all that apply.Express answer in small letters followed by a comma,and a space-e.g. ,a,b,c

Accepted Answer

Adolescent mothers are more inclined to have a number of parenting difficulties that benefit from counselling,but a higher incidence of child abuse is not one of them.Midlife mothers have many competencies but are more likely to have to deal with career and sexual issues than are younger mothers.Adolescent mothers are at decreased risk of postpartum depression.Adolescent mothers have a low tolerance for frustration that is typical of adolescence.

Question 18

The nurse observes that a 15-year-old mother seems to ignore her newborn.What is a strategy that the nurse can use to facilitate mother-infant attachment in this mother?

Accepted Answer

Pointing out the responsiveness of the infant is a positive strategy for facilitating parent-infant attachment.Telling the mother that she must pay attention to her infant may be perceived as derogatory and is not appropriate.Educating the young mother in infant care is important,but pointing out the responsiveness of her baby is a better tool for facilitating mother-infant attachment.Videos are an educational tool that can demonstrate parent-infant attachment,but encouraging the mother to recognize the infant's responsiveness is more appropriate.

Question 19

What is the term used when the infant's behaviours and characteristics call forth a corresponding set of maternal behaviours and characteristics?

Accepted Answer

Mutuality extends the concept of attachment to include this shared set of behaviours.Bonding is the process over time of parents forming an emotional attachment to their infant;mutuality involves a shared set of behaviours that is a part of the bonding process.Claiming is the process by which parents identify their new baby in terms of likeness to other family members and their differences and uniqueness.Like mutuality,acquaintance is part of attachment;it describes how parents get to know their baby during the immediate postpartum period through eye contact,touching,and talking.

Question 20

The en face position is preferred immediately after birth.Which would facilitate this process? Select all that apply.Express answer in small letters followed by a comma,and a space,e.g.-a,b,c.

Accepted Answer

Washing the infant's and mother's face does not facilitate the en face position.To facilitate the position in which the parent's and infant's faces are approximately 20 cm apart on the same plane,allowing them to make eye contact,the nurse can place the infant at the proper height on the mother's body,dim the lights so that the infant's eyes open,and delay putting ointment in the infant's eyes.Breastfeeding positions that enable the mothers and infants faces to be in the same plane are to be encouraged,i.e. ,side-lying,football hold.

Quiz 23: Transition to Parenthood