Question

A primipara tells the nurse that her baby is breathing very rapidly and that the breaths are irregular. she expresses fear that her baby may be sick and will have to remain in the hospital. what is the nurse's initial action?

Answer 1

The nurse would first assess the baby's respiratory rate and pattern. The assessment supposedly is done when the baby is resting and ensure that there are about 30 - 60 breaths per minute. Baby's breathing is the synchronous rising of the abdomen, diaphragm, and chest.
The nurse would also reassure the mother that its common for the baby to have irregular inter spaced breathing with brief 10 - 15 seconds of apnea.

Answer 2

For a nurse it is quite normal because she knows the pattern of breathing of a small baby but for a primipara ( a lady who is giving birth for the first time ) it might not be  acceptable to understand the fact that a newly born baby has an irregular breathing  pattern switching in between fast and slow .

As she is a new mother she might not be aware of the fact that a baby breathes very fastly to compensate the amount of energy required to maintain the homeostasis of the baby.As the baby is in growing stage the amount of energy required is much more as compared to that of adults.

Hence , the nurse will not take any medical action as the baby is not sick but yes she will definitely tell the mother that it is normal in baby