Practice Question
A nurse is caring for a newborn who is 5 days old in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
Swaddle the newborn with flexed extremities.
Rationale:
🎇 Swaddling a newborn with flexed extremities supports neurological regulation in babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).
❄These infants often experience tremors, irritability, hypertonia, and exaggerated reflexes.
❄Swaddling creates a calming proprioceptive input and helps minimize unnecessary movement that exacerbates symptoms.
❄This non-pharmacologic intervention is part of first-line comfort measures.
🎇 A low-stimulation environment—with dim lights, minimal noise, and limited handling—is essential because NAS infants are easily overstimulated, which can worsen seizure risk, crying episodes, and feeding difficulties.
❄This setting supports autonomic stability, reduces stress responses, and helps regulate sleep-wake cycles, all of which are disrupted in NAS.
🎇 Daily weight checks are vital because NAS infants typically have increased caloric demands from constant movement, vomiting, and loose stools.
❄These babies are also at risk of failure to thrive and dehydration.
❄Weight monitoring helps evaluate nutritional adequacy and whether supportive or pharmacologic therapy is effective.
🎇 Naloxone is contraindicated in opioid-exposed newborns because it can abruptly reverse opioid effects and precipitate acute withdrawal, which may lead to seizures or cardiovascular collapse.
🎇 Breastfeeding is often encouraged, particularly if the mother is in a methadone treatment program, as breast milk may contain small opioid levels that soothe withdrawal symptoms and promote maternal-infant bonding.
🎇 Telling parents to avoid eye contact is not supportive and interferes with infant-parent attachment.
❄ Eye contact can actually provide comfort and facilitate bonding in a calm, low-stimulation manner.
Want to practice more questions like this?
This question is from RN ATI Maternal &Newborn Care Retake~2023 which contains 46 questions.
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Question Details
- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: ATI Exam(s)
- Domain: RN ATI Maternal & Newborn Care
- Answer Choices: 7