Special Care Baby
About one in 10 of all newborn babies needs to spend some time, even if only a very short time, in a special care baby unit. Most have been born too soon or have not grown as much as they should have before birth. A small number may be ill. The aim of the special baby care unit is to protect your baby from any risks to his health and to nurture him until he has outgrown them.
Low Birth weight Babies
In general, any baby weighing less than 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) at birth is probably smaller than he should be and may need special care. About four to eight percent of all babies have low birthweights. Of these, two-thirds are preterm-born before their due date-and one-third small-for-dates.
Preterm babies The pace of an unborn baby’s development is geared to his being born at full term (40 weeks from your LMP). If for any reason he is born a few weeks or more before full term, he may not yet be ready for life in the outside world. A baby born before week 35 is said to be preterm or premature. Depending on how premature he is, he’ll need the help of a special care baby unit or a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Small-for-dates babies A baby is “small-for-dates” if he weight less than expected for the number of weeks that have passed since he was conceived. A small-for-dates baby is usually a full-term baby who’s very small at birth. A small-for-dates baby may present different problems of care after the birth from a premature baby. Babies who are only three or four weeks premature and low birth weight full-term babies(Newborn Baby Care - How to Take Care of Newborn Baby), who are otherwise healthy and taking feedings, can usually stay in the postnatal ward with their mothers, or in a special care area where their progress will be more closely monitored than normal.
Health risks A premature baby born before 35 weeks faces a number of health risks that don’t usually affect a full-term infant, as well as more common ones such as jaundice. If his internal organs are underdeveloped, for example, he may have difficulty breathing, regulating his body temperature, and feeding; he’ll also be very vulnerable to infection. He may also have a low blood sugar level (hypoglycemia), which can cause brain damage if untreated, and he may need iron or calcium supplements if he lacks these essential minerals.
Caring For Babies With Special Needs
Today, a baby who’s born preterm or small-for-dates, or with an illness or disability, has a far better chance than he would have had 20 or even 10 years ago. This is because so much more is known about how to care for newborn babies and this knowledge is applied in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
If a baby is simply too weak or young to be able to suck, and needs tube feeding, or has jaundice and needs phototherapy treatment, he’ll be taken care of in the NICU. If he’s very premature or sick, he’ll also need the specialized, high-tech care that’s available in a neonatal intensive care unit.
A neonatal intensive care unit is dedicated to caring for babies who need highly specialized nursing attention. In modern NICUs, the tiniest premature babies-even ones born at only 24 or 25 weeks’ gestation and weighing barely 1 Ib (450 g)-can be helped to thrive while they catch up on their growing. Neonatal intensive care units tend to be in major regional hospitals rather than community hospitals.
If you go into labor very prematurely, you may be taken to a hospital with an NICU, even if it’s not the hospital with which you were registered, or your baby may be taken there by ambulance in a special incubator immediately after the birth. This can be upsetting for parents if the new hospital is some distance from home, but the NICU will be designed to be as welcoming and friendly as possible. If this should happen to you, ask the staff in charge to explain all about your baby’s particular needs and how you can help.
Most NICUs encourage parents to play an active part in their baby’s everyday care by helping with tasks such as feeding, washing, and diaper-changing. Many provide facilities so parents can stay at the hospital with their babies as much as possible. Parents are encouraged to cuddle their babies skin to skin, since this helps them develop more quickly. But with a very premature baby, it may be some time before he’s strong enough to be handled outside the incubator, and parents may have to steel themselves for an anxious wait until their baby’s condition has improved.
November 08 2008 06:48 am | Health