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Preemie Baby By definition, preemie babies are those born before 27 weeks. We are got used to planning our life. We are so successful in doing that, that we even expect a child to be brought by a stork by the expected date. We define the date plus-minus several days. Quite often our expectations are justified and a baby enters a new life precisely at the appointed day. However, there are cases when the universe makes it wrong, meddling in mothers life with a premature birth.
The diagnosis premature sounds like a curse. Yet, is it a curse or a blessing? The concept of premature birth is often examined by the scientists. Numerous researches and clinical studies assert that in spite of the potential difficulties in preemie babies development, premature birth is not so dangerous.
Good care, nursing and appropriate attention, - all these efforts are repaid. Preemie babies successfully develop and catch up their peers by psychical and physical development. Just remember that the founder of the modern physics Isaac Newton also was a preemie child. According to the legend, he was so small that his parents were putting him in a sheepskin mitten on the bench instead of a child crib. The famous Napoleon Bonaparte also was a preemie child.
They say, he was so small that his parents made a special bathtub that looked like a big wooden mug. The famous Winston Churchill was born before 7 months. All these genius people were born prematurely; however, it didnt bother them becoming famous. So, Im here today to persuade you about the preemie babies.
The average pregnancy lasts for 38 - 42 weeks. Children born during that period are considered born at full term (Evans, 21), and the childbirth is natural or urgent. Premature birth is the birth, when a child is born before 37 weeks. It is a common knowledge that the most rapid growth and development occur during the first year after the childs birth. However, the baby is very vulnerable and his immune system is very weak. It especially relates to the preemie babies.
There are several risk factors for premature birth, such as social and demographic (low social status, too young age of a woman in childbirth, etc), medical (previous abortions, multiple birth, hemolytic disease due to Rhesus conflict, as well as chronic and acute mothers diseases), hazardous work conditions, pernicious habits, physical and psychical traumas during pregnancy, etc. What are the symptoms of the preemie baby? Generally, the preemie baby is the baby born before 37 weeks, with weight > 500 g (Lotas M, & Walden M. , 25). The main criterion is a birth weight.
For example, if a childs birth weight is < 1 kg, he is called the premature child with extreme birth weight. If a childs birth weight is 1 - 1. 5 kg, he is called the premature child with low birth weight. The child with a birth weight > 1. 5 kg is considered the premature child. The premature child significantly differs from a child born in time. His subcutaneous fat index is very low or absent (depending on the term of prematurity). His skin is very thin, dark-red, wrinkled, covered with lanugo (it is a layer of fine hairs covering of the human fetus before birth) (Field, 184).
The navel is located at the lower part of the belly, while the navel of children born in time is located in the centre of the belly. The head is relatively big compared to the size of body, the junctures between the scull bones and posterior fontanel are opened (there are places between the scull bones and the area of posterior fontanel, which are not covered by bone tissue) (Tribotti, 18), the ear coaches are very soft. The nails are thin and do not cover the borders of nail bones. Actually, all organs and systems of the preemie baby are underdeveloped. There are cases when the preemie babies are born with underdeveloped bones, joints and articulations. Skeletal dysplasia is a risk factor for future subluxation's, bone displacements, and even serious skeletal traumas.
Due to possible health risks all preemie babies require special care. So, what is a special care required by the preemie children? The prognosis basically depends on state of the preemie babys health and the degree of his prematurity. In case the child was born after 33 weeks of pregnancy and has no complications or aftereffects, he can be discharged from the hospital 7 - 10 days after the birth. In case the gestational age and the babys weight is low, such children are placed for the second stage of the management with due respect to both medical treatment and general care to special infant hospitals to prevent from possible medical complications. As far as the period of the intrauterine or prenatal development of the preemie children is shorter, such children require special nutrition, warmth and protection from the mothers side.
Some preemie children do not accept breast feeding and physicians are forced to feed the child by a special probe or intravenously. Besides, the preemie children are reported to have lower glucose level due to liver impairment (Murdoch, 960). The preemie children often have a thinner layer of adipose hypodermic tissue and often feel cold. Their immune system is also weak; however, placed in a special infant incubator they are protected from extrinsic infections and receive necessary warmth.
Sometimes the preemie babies need artificial ventilation because their lungs are short of surface-active substances that facilitate the process of natural breathing. All these facts sound too deplorable, as far as premature babies are at risk of a number of complications. However, the fact that a child was born prematurely doesnt mean that the child will be underdeveloped. It means only that the development of the preemie baby has started from a different starting point. The time cures and all physical differences elucidate with the course of time.
Bibliography Evans, J. C. "Incidence of Hypoxemia Associated with Caregiving in Premature Infants. " Neonatal Network 10. 2 (1991): 17 - 23. Field, T. " Interventions for Premature Infants. " The Journal of Pediatrics 109. 1 (1986): 183 - 191. Lotas M, & Walden M. "Individualized Developmental Care for Very Low Birth Weight Infants: A Critical Review. " JOGNN 25 (1996): 681 - 687.
Murdoch, D. R. "Handling During Neonatal Intensive Care. " Archives of Disease in Childhood 59 (1984): 957 - 961. Tribotti, S. "Admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Reducing the Risks. " Neonatal Network 8. 4 (1990): 17 - 22.
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