I hear people talking about the Apgar score that their baby got. What does it mean?

Your baby will be tested immediately at birth and then 5 minutes later. Simply by noting the baby’s breathing, reflexes, muscle tone, skin colour and heart rate gives a comprehensive rating of the baby’s condition. Generally a baby with a low initial score will get a good score on the second test five minutes later, after the baby has had a chance to adjust to having being born!

	Test	0	1	2
	Heart rate	absent	below 100 beats per min	above 100 beats per min
	Breathing	absent	slow/irregular	regular
	Skin colour	blue	body pink, extremities blue	pink all over
	Muscle tone	limp	some movements	active movements
	Reflex	absent	grimace	cry

The majority of babies score 8 or 9 out of 10 on the initial scoring. This is because it is common to see some blueness in the limbs initially. A baby who has not experienced any oxygen supply problems during the labour and birth will score over 8/10. A score of below 7 may imply some intervention is required, like oxygen for a short time. Below 3 indicates a sever lack of oxygen and swift action is called for.

	A -	Skin colour
	P -	Heart rate
	G -	Reflex irritability
	A -	Muscle tone
	R -	Breathing

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