Are You Prepared For A Pre-term Baby?

Are You Prepared For A Pre-term Baby?

By:


When you have a pre-term baby, or if you baby is born with a low birth weight, there may be problems with development that may not be noticed in the early days after birth. These problems will usually be discovered within the first couple of years of your childs life. In many instances, Kangaroo Mother Care has been shown to reduce and completely eliminate developmental problems.
Children Playing Catch-up
This is a phenomenon seen in children born pre-term. Catch-up is used to refer to the situation where a former pre-term baby experiences growth that is faster than normal for children in the same age group. This happens to compensate for the initial slow growth. It can happen with head growth just after term age, height increase in the pre school years and sometimes a rapid height and weight gain may be noticed in the adolescent years. Catch-up growth is influenced to a large extent by genetic makeup, size at birth, nutrition and trauma to the brain during birth. It is not possible to predict with accuracy a childs future growth, but there is lots of evidence indicating that premature babies given Kangaroo Mother Care tend to catch-up much better than those who receive alternative care.
Tracking a Pre-term Childs Progress
As your pre-term baby grows older, you will be keen to track their speech development and progress. Some six year old children have been found to have the speech abilities of a three year old, yet KMC really helps to eliminate this happening to your preemie. Some premature babies are born with good birth weight, within the percentiles for their gestational age. Such babies often catch-up much better and have fewer speech development problems. Infants, who are premature at birth, including those that are not born so small, between 1.5 and 2 kilos, must be monitored carefully so as to recognize any developmental problems as early as possible. Know that by providing KMC to your preemie baby will have amazing benefits in the prevention of these occurring.
If you happen to have a preemie baby they should be screened regularly for corrected age developmental milestones. You can have your baby screened periodically for:
Sensory impairment
Delayed milestones such as sitting up, basic motor skills, walking and so on
Any other conditions that you and your health professional may deem appropriate
Ultimately, the follow-up should involve close monitoring of all factors over and beyond normal development. It is also important to keep in mind that children are not similar. Each child is unique in their own way as far as growth and development is concerned. Ongoing communication with your medical provider is the best way to ensure that you child receives any intervention needed at the earliest possible time. Did you know that preemie babies who are given KMC often reach all of their developmental milestones?
Finally, if you are pregnant or know someone who is pregnant, you never know whether your baby could turn out pre-term. You should learn about Kangaroo Mother Care as it works wonders for pre-term babies and in the care of full term babies also. It increases the chances of survival and reduces many of the problems that arise as the child grows older.

About the Author:
For more information on pre-term babies and the benefits of kangaroo mother care, please visit http://themiracleofkangaroomothercare.com your online resource for natural parenting and newborn care. http://themiracleofkangaroomothercare.com is one of the internets foremost resources on the education and application of Kangaroo Mother Care.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: , , , ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Babies-Toddler Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.