The nurse is attending a delivery of a full-term infant with meconium noted in the amniotic fluid.The nurse should understand that what action should be performed in the delivery room?

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Meconium aspiration syndrome can occur when a fetus is subjected to intrauterine stress that causes relaxation of the anal sphincter and passage of meconium into the amniotic fluid,and the meconium-stained fluid is aspirated with the first breath.To prevent meconium aspiration,the infant's mouth,nose,and posterior pharynx should be suctioned just after delivery of the head while the chest is still compressed in the birth canal.A DeLee trap is no longer used in the delivery room.The infant's mouth should be suctioned before the nose and during the delivery,not at the completion of delivery.The infant should not take its first breath without suctioning first and may or may not require tracheal suctioning.

The Nurse Is Attending a Delivery of a Full-Term Infant