Synopsis
Organise coordinated maternal and newborn review after birth, identify departures from expected recovery early and ensure screening, feeding assessment and follow-up remain connected across services.
- Review the mother's recovery and the baby's condition as two linked clinical assessments, allowing enough time for each person's needs.
- Ask about bleeding, pain, wounds, bladder and bowel function, infection, thrombotic symptoms, headache, emotional wellbeing and practical support.
- Assess feeding directly when possible, combining the observed feed with weight trajectory, urine and stool output, and the baby's general condition.
- The initial community midwife visit should occur within thirty-six hours of transfer from the birth setting or after a home birth.
- Offer newborn physical screening by seventy-two hours and again at six to eight weeks, with appropriate referral for abnormal findings.
- Arrange the routine newborn blood spot on day five, counting the day of birth as day zero, and verify results and any repeat requests.
- Provide a separate maternal GP assessment at six to eight weeks and explain which symptoms require help before that appointment.
Key red flags
A mother with chest pain, severe breathlessness, fainting, rapidly increasing bleeding or neurological symptoms needs urgent medical assessment even after an apparently uncomplicated birth.
Poor feeding with lethargy, cyanosis, grunting, marked recession, bilious vomiting or temperature of at least 38°C or below 36°C in a young baby requires prompt acute paediatric assessment.
Investigation priorities
Identify recovery problems and urgent conditions during each postnatal contact.
Management branches
Mother and baby are being considered for transfer from the birth setting.
- Review maternal recovery, mobility, urinary function, analgesia and ongoing treatment, and confirm the baby's feeding and clinical stability.
- Record completed and outstanding newborn screening, relevant birth complications and any condition requiring an early follow-up appointment.
- Give accessible written contact details, explain urgent warning symptoms and verify that the receiving midwifery service knows where and when to visit.