The Importance Of Premature Babies

There are more than 70% of premature babies that are born between 34 and 36 weeks gestation a year. When a baby is born early, or born with birth defects, the Neonatal Intensive Care unit is its first home. The nurse’s in the NICU have the difficult job of preparing baby’s and parents for a health life together. A baby who has been put into the NICU will stay there until it is healthy enough to go home.

Babies born earlier, such as 25 weeks will need medical support in order to survive and are usually placed in incubator – designed to keep baby worm and free from infection. Premature babies are at a higher risk of developing, sight problems or learning difficulties.

A premature birth is a birth that takes place more than three weeks before the baby is due. A normal pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks. The importance of growth and development of the baby happens through pregnancy. Premature birth gives the baby less time to develop in the mother’s womb. A late preterm is when a baby is born between 34-36 weeks of pregnancy. Moderately preterm are born between 32-34 weeks. Very preterm is born less than 32 weeks of pregnancy and extremely preterm is born before 25 weeks. “Each year nearly 500,000 babies are premature or preemies. That is about 1 out of every 8 infants born in the U.S.”

The most severe premature babies, who are born before 26 weeks and have a birth weight less than a pound are called Micro preemie (Bird, 2014). The Micro preemies are more likely to have respiratory distress syndrome, severe feeding problems, retinopathy, and serious hemorrhages (Bird, 2014).

How has technology improved the chances of healthier premature infants? The youngest known survivor or prematures was born at 21 months and 5 weeks in 1987. Technology has changed lives for premature babies, there is so many new ways to help premature babies. The nicu is where it all started and with the way technology is going, I don’t see it slowing down or stopping. Technology for premature infants has changed so much over the years this is gonna show how the new technology that has been improved the chances of healthier premature infants. Technology has improved baby care through the nicu/peapod, The respiratory assistance/feeding methods, and other equipment/ methods. Up to 450,000

Preterm birth can be a devastating experience not only for the mother, but also for the child. This issue has plagued the United States and other countries for many years, and no concrete evidence have been found to tell us why preterm birth occurs. One in eight babies in the United States is born premature each year. The impact of social support on the psychological well-being, attitudes, and behavior of parents is rapidly becoming a major issue. It is becoming more and more difficult for mothers to cope with the long-term and short-term effects of premature birth. These parents’ attitude and behavior can have both a direct and indirect effect on the child's

Preterm birth refers when a baby is born before or within 37weeks, meaning anytime between 20 to 37 weeks. Each week marks a development stage, it is significantly important for a baby to reach the maximum weeks necessary for a high percentage of survival and well-being. Per Makena (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection used to lower the risk of preterm birth), a baby born at 25 weeks has a better rate of survival than the 22 or 23 weeks old. In U.S.A the ratio is 1:10 born prematurely, meaning 400,000 babies born too soon.

     Years ago, premature birth almost always meant death for the baby. Today, however, we have the technology to nurture these infants’ development, and many of them survive to lead normal, healthy lives. Although, very premature infants (that is, those born before about the fifth month) are still not likely to survive, many born at five months and older will thrive. Some preterm babies, however, do have many obstacles to overcome. There are a variety of medical problems that affect some of them, they may have impaired mental or physical conditions, and they may be looked upon by others in their environment as slow, or they might be treated differently because they were

Until recently, relatively little research had been carried out in the realm of children’s right to be heard within the healthcare setting. However, in addition to a growing interest in how babies participate in their social and learning relationships, the idea that children are rights bearers rather than objects of concern has been extremely influential . In their paper entitled, ‘The Participation Rights of Premature Babies’, Priscilla Alderson, Joanna Hawthorn and Margaret Killen (Alderson et al. 2005) challenge orthodox opinion that babies are not even persons, let alone bearers of rights (Singer and Kuhse 1985). They explore the perimeters of citizenship and children’s rights by questioning just how far premature babies are recognised

While I found all the exhibits interesting by far my favorite was the Fetal Development. While it was quite shocking to see these premature babies, it bestowed upon me plenty of knowledge. Seeing how babies mature was very interesting and I got to see and learn things I never knew, such as fetal cells may remain within the mother decades after giving birth, helping her to fight diseases and stay healthy, also I was informed that by the eleventh week, all major organs are formed, plus I got to witness this thanks to the displays.

Having a baby in the NICU is scary and the days can seem endless. But thankfully for many babies, there’s a happy ending, and after days, weeks, or months it’s time to go home! As a preemie parent, time to go home is both exciting and terrifying!

Helfrich, et al. (2015) stated in this article that the environment was controlled and included only normal term infants and late pre term infants that were under 24 months old. It excluded all patients who had any health risk factors. The study also included a diverse population from different parts of the country. There was a total of almost 600,000 patients who were diagnosed with RSV. Amongst these patients, 7,600 were admitted needing additional care and 643 were classified as late pre term. The study was conducted from October 2005 to April 2011.

For those who are unsure of what qualifies a baby as premature, a premature baby is any baby that is born before 37 weeks’ gestation. Any baby born at 37 weeks or higher is considered full term. “Late

Premature babies have many problems when they first come into this world and have to work harder to be healthy.“The majority of preterm births occur without any obvious cause or known risk factors (“What causes premature birth?” 2).” “If the placental blood supply is impaired or there is evidence of growth retardation, then this can lead to premature birth (2).” “Infection is another potential trigger of premature labour.Vaginal infections such as gonorrhoea, chlamydia, trichomonas, bacteria, vaginosis and group B streptococci have all been linked to preterm labour (“What causes premature birth?” 3).” There are some circumstances where premature delivery is initiated by medical staff, but it only happens if the mother or baby is at risk for

Preterm Birth is one of the most important and interesting topics to any prospective parent. One of the reasons is because it happens so often and unexpectedly. Preterm Birth has become a personal interest in research simply because it has made a tremendous impact in my life. Having a Preterm Birth has taught me lots of things, such as, to grow as a person and as a mother, to see things from a different perspective, to get up, continue with my life, and perhaps to learn how to say “good bye” to a little one without even saying “hello.” For all the reasons above, there are some questions I would like to address: Why do preterm births happen and how can it be prevented? What kind of help is offered to parents and family members who go through the process of having a preterm birth? How effective and relevant is that help?