Pregnancy usually lasts 38-40 weeks. During this time, the baby in the mother's stomach goes through the entire cycle of intrauterine development. But it happens that a child is born before the appointed term. If she was born before 37 weeks, it means that the baby has not yet fully matured and needs additional conditions to grow and develop.
A premature baby differs from a healthy one, born on time, with thinner, dark red skin, its subcutaneous fat tissue is weakly expressed or absent at all. Thin skin is easily injured, so all procedures and manipulations for such a child require special care.
Due to the anatomical and physiological features of premature babies, their care at home is somewhat different from the generally accepted norms. For you – recommendations of pediatrician MM "Dobrobut" Yulia Duzhaya.
Temperature mode
First of all, it is important to create an optimal temperature regime, which provides for an air temperature in the room of 22-250C and a humidity of 40-70%. The room requires ventilation every three hours for 15-20 minutes. Since the child's thermoregulation system is not yet sufficiently formed, it is important to ensure that the body temperature remains within 36.5-37.5°C. Therefore, you should measure the baby's body temperature in the morning and in the evening. It is important to abandon electric heaters and blankets. To warm the baby, rubber warmers wrapped in a diaper or special bags, which should be placed at palm distance from the child, will be optimal. The newborn's face must remain open. By the end of the first month, the child's thermoregulation will be established, and there will be no need for artificial heating.
Feeding
The best nutrition for a premature baby is breast milk. You need to breastfeed the baby on demand, but not less often than once every 2-2.5 hours during the first month of life. Mother's milk contains all the vitamins for the development of a premature baby, but in the autumn and winter period, due to the deficiency of vitamin D, special attention must be paid to the rational nutrition of a nursing mother. On the 10-14th day of a child's life, it is recommended to prescribe vitamin D. If breastfeeding is not possible for some reason, artificial mixtures adapted to the needs of premature babies are used.
Due to the immaturity of the digestive system of premature babies, they often burp. Therefore, it is necessary:
- feed the baby, holding at an angle of 45 degrees;
- hold "column" after feeding for at least 20 minutes;
- put on the tummy between feedings.
Premature babies gain weight differently than full-term babies. Only a pediatrician can assess weight gain, who will take into account the individual characteristics of the baby and draw the correct conclusions.
Bathing
You can start bathing a premature baby in the first days after discharge (you should not bathe the baby on the first day after BCG vaccination). A baby with a lower weight has a greater risk of hypothermia, so the air temperature in the bathing room should be higher than standard (approximately 25-26°C). Water for bathing should be used only boiled, without the addition of herbs and fees for the bath, the temperature – 37°C. It is possible to use children's foam for bathing. Immediately after the bath, the baby should be wiped with a towel and wrapped in a dry diaper or towel. To prevent the baby from hypothermia, all other hygienic procedures (treatment of the umbilical wound, skin and mucous membranes) can be continued in 5-10 minutes.
Walks
If the doctor allows, you can walk with a premature baby only in warm weather, not earlier than he turns two weeks old. A baby born in the summer should be taken out for a walk only when the outside temperature is not lower than 24°C and in windless weather. If the child was born in autumn or spring, walks are allowed only 1.5 months after birth, if the body weight is 2.5 kg or more. At the same time, the air temperature should not be lower than 10°C. In winter, you should not go outside with your child, as it will be difficult for him to tolerate such a sharp temperature drop.
Massage
Premature babies have a weak muscular system, so they are shown a course of massage. Massage techniques are quite simple for parents, but first you need to consult a doctor.
Vaccination
Premature children are vaccinated only according to an individual calendar. The vaccination schedule will be the same as for full-term children, only if the baby was born with a weight of more than 2000 g and is healthy. If the child was born with a body weight of less than 2,000 g, BCG vaccination is not carried out in the maternity hospital, but it is given only after reaching a body weight of 2,500 g. Children whose birth weight is less than 1,500 g are vaccinated only at the end of the first year of life, taking into account the state of health.
As a rule, if all the necessary rules of care are observed and parents and doctors pay proper attention, premature babies develop well and catch up with their peers already after the first year of life. Among the notable people who were born prematurely, – Charles Darwin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander Suvorov, Isaac Newton, Wilhelm Schiller, Voltaire, Johann Goethe, Winston Churchill.
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