Many intensive care units allow parents to do skin-to-skin care for their babies once the infants don't require major support to their organ systems.
You can also feed her as soon as your doctor says it's OK. The nurses will instruct you on either breast-or bottle-feeding techniques, whichever is appropriate for the baby's needs and your desires. Some premature babies may initially require fluids given intravenously or through a feeding tube that passes through the mouth or nose into the stomach.
But your breast milk is the best possible nutrition, and provides antibodies and other substances which enhance her immune response and help her resist infection. In some cases, if it's too difficult for your premature baby to nurse at the breast, you can pump breast milk for feeding through a tube or bottle.
Once you are able to start breastfeeding directly, your baby should nurse frequently to increase your milk supply. Even so, mothers of premature babies sometimes find it necessary to continue using a breast pump in addition to feeding frequently to maintain a good milk supply. You may be ready to return home before your newborn is, which can be very difficult, but remember that your baby is in good hands, and you can visit her as often as you'd like. You can use your time away from the hospital to get some needed rest and prepare your home and family for your baby's homecoming, and read a book for parents on caring for preterm babies.
Even after you've returned home, if you participate in your infant's recovery and have plenty of contact with her during this time, the better you'll feel about the situation and the easier it will be for you to care for her when she leaves the special care nursery.
As soon as your doctor says it's OK, gently touch, hold, and cradle your newborn. Your own pediatrician may participate in, or at least will be informed about, your infant's immediate care. Because of this, he will be able to answer most of your questions.
Your baby will be ready to come home once she's breathing on her own, able to maintain her body temperature, able to be fed by breast or bottle, and gaining weight steadily. Preemie Milestones. Health Issues of Premature Babies. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server.
Please enable scripts and reload this page. Turn on more accessible mode. Turn off more accessible mode. Skip Ribbon Commands. Skip to main content. Turn off Animations. The weight of your baby will be recorded in Kilograms Kg. There are conversion charts in the neonatal unit to convert Kilograms to pounds lbs and ounces oz , if you so wish.
Weight progresses by roughly 0. These values are rough guidelines and there is a wide variation of normality. As your baby grows towards term age, the breast tissue plumps out and becomes more visible 3. Please be aware that every baby has a different pace of progression. There is a wide range of normality. Try not to compare your baby to a sibling or another infant being cared for alongside your baby.
Should you have any concerns, please speak to your doctor or nurse. Higher versus lower humidity in the prevention of mortality and morbidity of premature infants in incubators. Cochrane database of systematic reviews.
Gallery Books; New York, Pediatrics , 65 1 Neuroophthalmology , 39 4 Early Hum Dev , 12 1 What Preterm Babies Look Like. Features you will notice: Skin Depending on how early your baby arrived, their skin may be fragile, wrinkled, shiny, and almost translucent.
Nails As your baby grows, their finger and toenails may progress from being just about visible to reaching the tips of their fingers and toes, with a normal appearance. Weight The weight of your baby will be recorded in Kilograms Kg. Definitions of Prematurity. Accessed Oct. Boyle AK, et al. Preterm birth: Inflammation, fetal injury and treatment strategies. Journal of Reproductive Immunology.
Robinson JN, et al. Preterm birth: Risk factors, interventions for risk reduction, and maternal prognosis. Accessed Feb. Kliegman RM, et al.
The high-risk infant. In: Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. Elsevier; Fenton TR, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis to revise the Fenton growth chart for preterm infants. BMC Pediatrics. Landon MB, et al. Patent ductus arteriosus PDA. Merck Manual Professional Version. Hay WW, et al.
The newborn infant. McGraw Hill; Hughes HK, et al. In: The Harriet Lane Handbook. Premature infant. Pertussis: Summary of vaccine recommendations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed Nov. Stewart J. Care of the neonatal intensive care unit graduate. Butler Tobah YS expert opinion. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
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