Premature Child Birth
Premature babies appear thin, fragile, with deep red skin and wrinkled appearance. They lack muscle tone making them appear limp and flexible. However, they enjoy firm gentle touch. Most premies can see shapes and objects. Their eye sight is like all babies and may improve with time. Extremely premie babies may have problems called “Retinopathy of Prematurely” where back of the eye is damaged. Early and regular eye checkups are advocated for early detection and treatment.
Babies with respiratory distress may develop fast breathing within minutes or hours of birth. Babies with mild respiratory distress may only require extra oxygen through head box whereas babies with severe respiratory distress may get tired of breathing and are placed on ventilators. It is common for the brain of the premie to “forget to tell” the lungs to breathe. This may result in the absence of breathing for 15 seconds or more that is called “Apnoea” or “Anoxia” that may be associated with fall in the heart rate (brady cardia). Breathing can be stimulated by gentle touch or resuscitation. A premie with recurrent apnoeas may necessitate placing the baby on ventilator to assist breathing. Another thing is that the blood vessels of the premie are more fragile and may rapture leading to future handicap to the baby. This can be diagnosed by ultrasound or CT-scan of the brain.
Premature babies are more prone to fall in hemoglobin and require repeated blood transfusions. All parents should take their babies for “Hepatitis-B” immunization schedule as prescribed. Besides, when “Sepsis” (infection in blood) is found owing to low resistance, it is cured by antibiotics to which the child is not resistant. If such babies are not energetic enough to suck or take spoon feed, they are fed intravenously by fluids containing nutrients that are directly put into the blood stream.
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