The APGAR score is calculated one minute after birth, and then again at five minutes after birth. It is common for infants to be born with depressed respiration, cyanosis, and other physical signs of struggle that are quickly resolved within five minutes after birth. If signs of respiratory or cardiovascular distress do not improve by this time, however, emergency intervention may be required. 

The APGAR scale goes from 0-10. A score of 0-3 would indicate severe depression of function, 4-6 would indicate moderate depression, and 7-10 would be a normal, healthy score. In the case of moderate depression, the newborn should be monitored closely. Immediate emergency intervention may not be required, as healthy neonates can have moderately low APGAR score indicators that improve in the first few hours of life.  

A newborn's heart rate is significantly higher than that of an adult. Normal heart rate for a newborn two hours postpartum is 110-160 beats per minute. Heart rate decreases in the first year of life to 80-140 beats per minute.

It is normal for infants to lose 5-10% of their birth weight in the first seven days of their lives. In a healthy baby, this weight will be regained by the end of their second week. Infants who are born ill or premature may take longer to regain this weight. If an infant has passed the second week of life and it has not returned to or surpassed it's birthweight, the family may need to seek lactation counseling or bring the infant in for further evaluation.

An examiner can look for hip dysplasia in an infant using the Ortolani test. This is performed by placing the child supine, then flexing the hip and knee to 90 degrees. They would then gently abduct the leg while placing downward pressure on the greater trochanter. In a healthy joint, the hip will move freely. In hip dysplasia, there will be a feeling of a "clunk" as the femoral head is relocated into the acetabulum. The Ober test, Thomas test, and Faber test all check for hip stability and injury in adult populations, rather than pediatric.

Fine, downy hair, called lanugo, generally appears on the fetus around five months of gestation. It is often shed before birth, but some infants are born with this hair still intact. The hair is normally shed within the first 1-3 weeks of life. In most cases it is entirely normal and not a sign of hormone or metabolic disorder.

As long as the carrying mother has had varicella, she will be able to pass the antibodies to the virus through the placenta to the unborn child. This will confer passive immunity to the fetus. This immunity lasts for the first few months after birth, so newborns delivered by mothers with immunity to varicella will remain immune for some time even after delivery. Increased immunity to this and other pathogens is conferred by breast milk, which contains maternal antibodies (mostly IgA).

An infant would be expected to double it's birth weight by five months. Some infants may double their birth weight by three to four months. An infant that has surpassed five months without approaching twice their birth weight may need to be evaluated for feeding difficulties or failure to thrive.

Molding, or the elongation of the infants head during labor and delivery, is a normal adaptation allowing the relatively large skull to traverse the narrow space of the birth canal. It generally resolves in 1-5 days.

Meconium is a sticky, dark-green to black stool that is the first stool passed by neonates after birth. It is composed of the content of the infant's digestive tract before it has begun drinking milk - primarily water, mucus, bile, lanugo, and intestinal epithelial cells. A newborn that has begun to feed on breastmilk or formula should pass a normal stool (yellow to mustard-green and creamy rather than sticky) within 24 hours.