When a baby is first born doctors assess how healthy they are to see if they need any help. They do this by giving them an APGAR score.

APGAR is an acronym for Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance and Respiration. Each of these is assessed immediately after your baby is born. The test was invented in 1952 by anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar.

Scores are given between 0 and 2 with the healthiest babies getting a total of 10 (5 x 2).

The scoring is as follows;

Activity: This is testing the movement and muscle tone with a 0 being floppy with no movement, 1 being little movement and 2 being spontaneous and vigerous movement.

Pulse: A 0 will be no pulse, a 1 will be a pulse below 100 beats per minute and a 2 will be a pulse above 100 beats per minute

Grimace: This means the baby’s response to stimulation. A 0 will have no response, a 1 will have just facial movements and a 2 will pull away or make some other response such as a cough.

Appearance: This is an assessment of how baby looks. A 0 will be very pale or bluish grey, a 1 will be a healthy colour but with bluish hands and feet and a 2 will be a healthy colour all over.

Respiration: This is the breathing test. A 0 means there is an absence of breathing, a 0 means that the breathing is weak or irregular and the cry is weak and a 2 means that there is a strong cry and strong regular breathing.

The test is done around one minute then five minutes after birth. The ideal score is between 7 and 10. Slightly less may just mean that your baby needs a little help to get going such as some oxygen. If the baby has a score below 7 at the first test the aim is that he or she will have a higher score by the second test.