Tips for premature baby parents

That a baby is premature adds restlessness to the parents to the hospital discharge. These are babies who have been born before the end, that is, before 37 weeks of gestation, and that have remained a few days or weeks admitted to the neonatal intensive care units-or UCIN-until the necessary maturity is achieved.

“A child born before 37 weeks of gestation is considered premature, and is characterized by his organs and systems are immature; This immaturity will be the greater the fewer weeks of gestation, that is, the shorter the pregnancy has been. This immaturity, often, makes the child need to enter the UCIN to receive the help to survive outside the maternal uterus, ”explains Dr. Mireia Beltran, coordinator of the Neonatal Pathology Unit and Intensive Care Unit and Intensive Care Unit Pediatric of General University Hospital of Catalonia.

He says that it is also possible that a nazca child (between 37 and 40 weeks of gestation), but with a much lower weight for this gestational age, at the same time that he remembers that they are ‘extreme premature ones’ those children born before The 28 weeks of gestation, and ‘very premature’ below 32 weeks.

“Children born between 35 and 37, although they are also premature newborns, we try, whenever possible, that they can remain in the maternity plant along with their families to be able to guarantee the link and favor the beginning of breastfeeding ”, Apostille. In this regard, this specialist emphasizes that premature children are fragile patients, and are “extremely sensitive” to any stimulus or manipulation, so it is important to help and accompany families so that they can learn and be the main responsible for The care of their children.

The most anticipated moment

Most premature babies are
goes home on a date close to the
initially planned for birth

After the mandatory days of hospital admission, Dr. Beltran recalls that most of the premature people can go home on a date close to that planned for her birth; So a 24 -week gestation child, for example, can be admitted three to four months at the UCIN.

“The time that remains admitted to the hospital will depend on its gestational development and the complications it has. Some of the requirements to be able to discharge are, for example, that the patient breathes and eats without help, and that it has a weight that is around 2 – 2.2 kilos, ”he adds.

In this sense, the specialist of the General University Hospital of Cataloniathat march home is a “special” moment and in which feelings of joy and anxiety are mixed. “Until that moment the parents have felt accompanied at all times by the staff of the unit, but now they will be the caregivers of their son. For this reason, in many neonatal units a joint hospitalization is offered the days or weeks prior to discharge, to facilitate this transition and empower families as caregivers. ”

Care when leaving the hospital

For the most premature an outpatient monitoring program

With all this, it maintains that the care of these babies will depend on the complications and diseases that the child has passed or is traveling, as well as the weight with which he leaves at the time of leaving the hospital.

For the most premature, a multidisciplinary outpatient monitoring program is established in neonatal monitoring, neuropediatrry, ophthalmology, pneumology, etc. to be able to control the development and growth of babies.

Although, in the face of families, he says that, in general, these children only need a little more surveillance, patience, and some preventive measure such as those detailing:

1. You have to make sure to correctly understand the medical indications, review the medical appointments and solve all the doubts that may arise before discharge, that there are no doubt without asking.

2. If the baby feeds with breastfeeding, it is advisable to contact some support group.

3. Low weight newborns, whether premature or not, are usually young children during their early childhood and sometimes they are children who quickly sat In families. If the growth is progressive and the controls with the neonatologist or the neonatologist are correct it is important to respect their times of hunger, follow balanced and complete diets, such as those offered ”To avoid the appearance of obesity and metabolic syndrome in adulthood.

4. You have to take some preventive measures to reduce infections and respiratory problems, at least during the first two years of life:

• Frequent hand washing.

• Avoid environments with smoke and agglomerations.

• Avoid contact with sick people.

• Delay, if possible, the entry into the children’s school, or even in newborns before 32 weeks of gestation or with a weight less than 1,500 grams it is recommended to avoid it the first two years of life.

5. Follow the measures to avoid sudden death of the infant:

• Avoid smoking at home. Maternity is a great time to quit smoking if it has not been done during pregnancy.

• Lying the baby on his back (upside down) changing his head on his side, on a rigid mattress and no pillow, avoiding overheating.

• Share room with the baby, at least the first 6 months of life.

• Promote breastfeeding and use resources to accompany it in case there are difficulties if it is the mother’s desire.

• The use of pacifier during sleep can be valued if the baby uses it.

6. When traveling by car always use the child retention systems approved and appropriate to the child’s weight.

7. Sometimes rare, children may require supplementary oxygen, home monitoring or nutrition through a nasogastric probe to feed. In these cases, a specific monitoring by its reference hospital is carried out.

8. Postpartum is a moment of great change and mix of emotions. When your child is born premature and needs to enter a neonatal unit it is common for feelings of sadness, guilt, anxiety or sensation of overflow. It is advisable to perform psychological monitoring of both parents during admission, but also after discharge. You can also find accompaniment in the associations of premature families (Petits Grans Herois, the Association of Parents of Premature Newborns of our Hospital, or Som Prematurs, the Association of Premature of Catalonia, are some of them).