The mother of a 2-day-old infant newly diagnosed with sepsis asks why she could not detect the symptoms. What should the nurse reply to this mother?
1. "Your mothering skills will improve with time. You should take the newborn class."
2. "Newborns have immature immune function at birth, and illness is very hard to detect."
3. "Your baby did not get enough active acquired immunity from you during the pregnancy."
4. "The immunity your baby gets in utero does not start to function until 4 to 8 weeks of age."
2
Explanation:
1. This response does not address the physiology of neonatal infection and is not therapeutic because it is blaming.
2. The immune system of a newborn lacks response to pyrogens and presents a limited inflammatory response; thus, the signs and symptoms of infection are often subtle and nonspecific in the newborn.
3. The mother develops active acquired immunity, which is passed to the newborn transplacentally as passive acquired immunity. This immunity is to the illnesses and infections she has had or been immunized against.
4. The passive acquired immunity a newborn receives from its mother is effective at birth and lasts from 4 weeks to 8 months, depending on the specific antibody.
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