Australia's mothers and babies

Gestational age is the duration of pregnancy in completed weeks

The first weight of the baby taken within an hour of birth

Allows for differentiation in a baby’s growth status and maturity to be taken into account

Numerical score taken 5 minutes after birth to indicate the baby’s condition

Active measures taken shortly after birth to assist the baby’s ventilation and heartbeat or to treat depressed respiratory effort or correct metabolic disturbances

Length of a baby’s stay in hospital after birth in days

Admission to special care nursery or neonatal intensive care unit occurs if babies require more specialised medical care and treatment than is available on the postnatal ward

Perinatal deaths include both stillbirth and neonatal deaths. The data presented in this section are from the National Perinatal Data Collection, and are preliminary data only