Re:What does “pinking up“ mean?
When a baby is born, it is often born slightly bluish in color. This is because it likely didn’t get enough oxygen in the very late portion of the pregnancy. When the umbilical cord is cut, the baby must breathe on its own. Sometimes, it doesn’t do that right away so that the doctor or nurses have to stimulate the baby by rubbing its back or flicking its feet or even using a mask and ventilator bag to get it to breathe on its own. The baby is said to be “pinking up” when it starts to cry and breathe on its own. Generally, its head will turn pink and the pinkness will travel down to the trunk and finally down to the hands and feet.
Pinking up is a good thing because it means the nerve-wracking period when the baby is blue is over and the baby is breathing on its own. Often in the early stages, it needs continual stimulation to keep the cry going so it can pink up on a permanent basis. Interestingly, when a baby pinks up, it can pink up just in the upper part of its body, leaving a line across its chest or belly, below which the baby is blue. This is not dangerous and eventually it pinks up all over the body. The hands or feet may remain blue for several hours until it finally passes as well.
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