Premature Babies Development
I have a preemie and am worried about how she will develop, can you tell me more about what experts say about premature babies development?
A premature baby is generally one that is born at 37 weeks or before, as a full term baby is usually carried for 40 weeks until birth.
Depending on how early a baby is born, she may need to remain in the hospital in a controlled environment until she has fully developed.
Premature Baby Development
The development of a premature baby will usually be slower than a baby that was carried full term. Premature babies may have trouble feeding due to the inability to both suck and swallow their food, leading to growth problems. Without the proper nutrition, a baby will struggle to thrive.
There may also be problems with his heart and lungs, and premature babies are at a higher risk for neurological or brain disorders, than a full term baby. This unfortunately may lead to learning disabilities and eyesight or hearing problems,
How Are Premature Babies Treated In A Hospital?
Depending on the problems your baby has, she may be kept in an incubator to stay warm, be fed with a feeding tube and connected to a ventilator to help her breathe.
Seeing your preemie being treated in a hospital like this can understandably be quite unnerving for many parents. However, it is always best to keep in mind that with advances in modern medicine the techniques used in hospitals has greatly increased the survival rates of premature babies and the likelihood they will develop into healthy and happy babies.
Premature Babies And Milestones
To determine when your baby is reaching her important milestones, you should use what is known as the “adjusted age” for babies. This requires simple math and can easily be calculated by subtracting your babies actual age minus how early she was born from her due date.
So if your baby is now 10 weeks old and was born 4 weeks early, her adjusted age would be 10-4 = 6. So your premature baby’s adjusted age in this instance would be 6 weeks.
Adjusted age is a good measuring stick for when your premature baby will reach motor milestones such as walking and crawling and not as accurate for measuring cognitive milestones such as uttering her first words.
Also keep in mind that whether a baby was born premature or not, she will reach many of her milestones on her own schedule. Some babies are early bloomers and some are late bloomers. However, one key thing to note is that premature babies typically catch up to their peers development wise by the time they are 2-3 years of age.
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