Premature babies .... 

Caution ! Fragile !

by Géraldine (Feb 28, 2005)

Every year 44,000 babies are born too early in this world. When they are born before 8 months of pregnancy, we say that they are premature babies and we call them " big premature babies" if the chilbirth occurs before 7 months. The bigger the pregnancy, the higher the death risks.
Once the birth shock is over, how can their parents speak about love with their little babies ?!

A premature baby is a baby born too early. So his development in his mother's womb is not totally completed. That's why they need a lot of attention and affection. They live in incubators during their stay in the hospital. For that, the hospital staff and more particularly nurses are very affectionate with them. They don't hesitate to speak with them and explain what they do to babies even if they are too young to understand what they say. Even if the nurses have to be very affectionate with premature babies, they have to be careful not to appropriate babies who aren't theirs. That's why the nurses work with the parents who are almost omnipresent in the service.
Nurses teach parents how to take care of babies, the daily-life gestures. But the role of nurses and doctors doesn't stop there. With psychologists, they reassure parents because sometimes mothers can feel guilty about premature babies. 

A guilty feeling can be present when a premature baby dies, but the hospital staff do all they can for the parents. Because the first week is the hardest week for a premature baby, when death is really present. So it's also the hardest week for parents.

Being a premature baby is not hereditary. That is to say, it is not because you are a premature baby that you will have a premature baby. But when a premature baby grows up later we can notice some differences or some after-effects like a "loss of taste". A premature birth often leaves traces in the psychological and intellectual development of a child: between one third and one half of large premature babies born after only 25 weeks of gestation keep a handicap such as a speech difficulty, a visual deficiency, a turbid walk...

So being a premature baby doesn't mean death and problems for a future life.
At the beginning parents face difficulties with the situation of their child, but with the support of hospital staff, they live this situation better whatever the end ( life or death).

So how will you react if you hear that your baby is a premature baby struggling between life and death?!

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