Apgar Score of 8, 9, or 10: What this Means

One minute and five minutes after your baby's birth, your obstetrician or midwife will calculate his APGAR score. To do this, the practitioner observes his Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance and Respiration. This is the first medical test that your child will receive, and its results are key indicators of his overall health.

An APGAR score of 8, 9 or 10 indicates that your baby looks well and does not need medical attention. This is an ideal score, and generally signifies that the birth was successful and uncomplicated, and that the baby is healthy.

An APGAR score of 10, the highest possible score, means that:

The baby's "Activity" score was 2, meaning that he moved actively after birth.

Your child's "Pulse" score was 2, meaning that his heart was beating at over 100 beats per minute.

Your newborn's "Grimace" was active. He sneezed, coughed, or pulled away.

The baby's "Appearance," or skin color, was normal all over his body.

Your newborn's "Respiration" score was 2. He cried or vocalized at birth.

An APGAR score of 8 or 9 indicates that:

Your newborn's "Activity" level was good. His arms and legs were flexed, and he probably moved normally.

The baby's "Pulse" was detectable, almost certainly over 100 beats per minute.

Your child "Grimaced," or displayed reflex irritability. He made a face or turned away when stimulated.

Your baby's "Appearance" was good. His skin color was normal everywhere, or possibly a bit bluish at his extremities. Bluish extremities are the most common reason that babies get APGAR scores of 8 or 9 instead of 10.

The newborn's "Respiration" was good. He either breathed well or cried lustfully shortly after birth.

An APGAR score of 8, 9 or 10 is ideal because it shows that the newborn baby is in overall good health. APGAR scores of 8 and 9 are significantly more common than APGAR scores of 10, because the vast majority of infants lose one point because of slightly blue-tinted hands and feet.

Lower scores between 4 and 7 indicate that your baby may need additional support from health care providers, although most babies in this condition will be fine with some degree of medical attention. One-minute scores below 4 indicate mean that the baby needs immediate medical attention. In this situation, your practitioner will need to perform life-saving measures to protect your baby's health.

Note that practitioners perform the APGAR score twice. If your baby has a low score one minute after birth, but an APGAR score of 8, 9 or 10 five minutes after birth, he is almost certainly in good health.