Care of the Newborns on the Waves of Time or View to the History of the Neonatology

Summary

The birth of a child marks one of the great events of life in any culture. The care of the newborns was almost entirely in hands of midwives in the past. Before the late 19th century physicians largely ignored the infants, especially the newborns. The newborn infant was for a long time in a „noman’s land“ between obstetrics and pediatrics. The early 1900’s saw pediatricians beginning to contribute to the science of newborn medicine. The medical speciality of taking care of newborn, sick and premature babies is today known as neonatology.

This article dwells on the most important parts of the newborn medicine history. In brief the writer enters on the development of the prenatal and obstetrician care in times and describes in great detail the history facts of the neonatal feeding, the employment of incubators for the purpose of saving the lives of the prematurely born or weak infants, the first descriptions and treatment for the diseases of the newborn babies and also about the history of the breathing support and resuscitation techniques for the sick babies.

Key words:
neonatology, obstetrician care, newborn feeding, thermo management, diseases of newborns, resuscitation, breathing support