Many babies are born before their mother’s pregnancy has reached full-term. This can lead to health problems - although most go on to lead active and fulfilling lives. BBC News Online examines the risks associated with a premature birth.

How is prematurity defined?

Most babies are fully developed and ready for within one or two weeks of their estimated due date, so a full term pregnancy is defined as anything between 38-42 weeks of gestation. Babies born before 38 weeks gestation – about 10% of the total – are considered premature.

Are premature babies likely to survive?

Yes. The outlook for premature infants has improved dramatically in recent years. Even babies born as early as 25 weeks now have a good chance of surviving. More than 90% of premature babies who weigh 800 grams (a little less than two pounds) or more survive. Those who weigh more than 500 grams (a little more than 1 pound) have a 40% to 50% chance of survival.

Are premature babies at risk?

Premature babies have less time to fully develop and build strength in the womb. As a result they’re often at increased risk of medical and developmental problems. But the risks largely depend on just how early a baby is born.

Many babies born between 35 and 38 weeks gestation may be able to eat well and maintain their body temperature well on their own. However, they are more likely than full-term babies to have problems with feeding and, because they lack the necessary body fat, temperature control.

They are also at higher risk of developing difficulties with their breathing because their lungs are underdeveloped. In addition, they may be less able to cope with infections or other illnesses. They are also prone to anaemia and low blood pressure. Jaundice is a common condition in premature babies, caused by the build up of a compound called bilirubin. This causes a yellow discoloration of the skin and the whites of the eyes, and is usually mild, and easily treatable. However, high levels of bilirubin can cause brain damage.

The shorter the time of gestation, the higher the risk of complications following birth. A baby born at 25 weeks almost always has breathing and temperature control problems.

How are premature babies treated?

Extremely premature babies are likely to be on a ventilator to aid their breathing artificially – sometimes for months. Most premature babies will be placed in an incubator on a special neo-natal unit. Incubators are made of transparent plastic, and they completely surround an infant to keep him warm, decrease the chance of infection, and limit water loss.

Breast milk is an excellent source of nutrition, but premature infants are too immature to feed directly from the breast or bottle until at least 32 weeks after conception. Most premature infants have to be fed slowly because of the risk of developing an intestinal infection called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Breast milk can be pumped by the mother and fed to the premature baby through a tube that goes from the baby’s nose or mouth into the stomach. Special fortifiers may be added to the milk that a premature baby receives, because they often have higher vitamin needs than full-term infants.

What is the long-term outlook?

About half of babies born at 25 weeks will have learning difficulties, and/or problems with their eyesight and hearing.

The eyes of premature infants are especially vulnerable to injury after birth. They are at heightened risk of a complication called retinopathy of prematurity , which is caused by abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye. Extremely premature babies may also have problems growing. They also seem to be more likely to develop asthma. Children born at a later stage of pregnancy are much less likely to develop long-term problems.

What causes a premature birth?

In most cases the cause of premature labour is unknown. However, it can be linked to medical complications developed by the mother. Other factors may include maternal stress, and infection.

Lifestyle factors such as smoking, drug use, drinking alcohol and a poor diet have all been linked to an increased risk of pre-term birth.

Three groups of women are known to be at risk of giving birth prematurely:

# Women who are pregnant with twins, triplets or more
# Women who have had a previous preterm birth
# Women with certain uterine or cervical abnormalities

Article & photo from BBC News

10th Nov 2007

Article from: The Sunday Times
Braden Quartermaine
October 13, 2007 05:00pm

Test cricket star Mike Hussey has told how he feared losing both his wife and premature daughter earlier this year.

Hussey spent yesterday bonding with five-month-old Molly, who is doing well after being born at 28 weeks and spending her first nine weeks in hospital.

Hussey, 32, of Subiaco, described his three-week “world of darkness” immediately after helping the Aussies win the World Cup in the West Indies in May.

Just two days after his triumphant return, his wife Amy was taken to hospital when her pregnancy hit serious complications at the 25-week mark.

While Mrs Hussey spent three weeks in hospital before giving birth to Molly, Australia’s middle-order batting star played superdad, visiting her every day while looking after Jasmin, 3, and William, 18 months, at home by himself.

Molly Mae was born on May 19 and weighed 1080g, but then lost weight. A healthy full-term baby generally weighs about 3.5kg.

Hussey said Molly’s battle had given him a new perspective on life.

“It makes you realise it can all change just like that, so you should really appreciate every day that you get to play cricket for Australia and just go out and enjoy it,” he said.

“As hard as I had to work just to get a game, and how much I appreciate playing for Australia, you would definitely give it all back to make sure everyone’s all healthy and happy in your family.”

Molly was one of 138 babies born in WA last year at 28 weeks’ gestation or less.

“It was pretty serious there for a while,” Hussey said. “It was a huge shock. I forgot about the World Cup win very quickly.

“Amy was in hospital trying to hang on for as long as she could and I was looking after the other two.

“I’d get to 7.30pm, have them both in bed, then I would just die on the couch. I was exhausted.”

Having already been through so much in the weeks before the birth, and despite being shocked at her appearance, Hussey said he was convinced she would make it.

“She was just tiny,” he said. “Her head was about the size of a tennis ball and she didn’t have any body fat — her arms and her legs looked like pencils.

“She was almost see-through, her skin was quite transparent, you could see all her veins and almost through to her bones.

“But everything inside was doing well, and that was the main thing.”

Hussey said he had thought about the possibility of both his wife and child dying.

“Thankfully it didn’t work out that way and the family’s intact,” he said.

Hussey said his teammates had provided great support.

“The Gilchrists are pretty close by, so they tried to help out wherever they could,” he said.

“The guys on the eastern seaboard couldn’t do a hell of a lot, but they certainly lent their support with messages and phone calls.”

Mrs Hussey said her husband had been amazing throughout their ordeal. “Emotionally, mentally, and physically with the kids, I couldn’t have done it without him,” she said.

And she said staff at King Edward Memorial Hospital had been fantastic.

“They put a big sticker on our humidicrib saying, `Hip, hip hooray, Molly’s one kilo today’, and when you go in and see that it just makes your day,” she said.

IN SAFE HANDS: Mike Hussey relaxes with his three children, including five-month-old Molly, who was born premature and weighing less than 1000g. Picture: Jody d’Arcy

Health authorities hope a new machine known as the Pea Pod will help premature babies get a better start in life.

The Australian-first machine, launched at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) on Wednesday, measures the body composition of premature and young babies, helping to identify potential long-term illness.

RBWH researcher Professor Paul Colditz said babies would be measured by the Pea Pod at birth, six weeks and three months, which up until now had been done by length, weight and circumference measurements.

He said much better information could now be gathered on babies’ growth and nutrition requirements to give them a better start to life.

“The Pea Pod’s non-invasive, seven-minute scans allow accurate assessments of the babies’ body fat and fat-free mass through air displacement plethysmography (ADP),” Prof Colditz said.

The hospital’s perinatal research centre will also use the Pea Pod in its study of how a mother’s obesity – a factor in one-in-three Australian births – affects the health of baby and mother.

And it will be used in a twin study which compares how genes and environment affect growth.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser, who unveiled the machine on Wednesday, said it was funded through a $200,000 Golden Casket Foundation grant.

“The new equipment and research now underway at RBWH has the potential to help thousands of families across Queensland,” Fraser said.

Article from MedicalSearch

Article from:

A MELBOURNE miracle has been billed Australia’s tiniest tot.

Little Elora was the length of a pen and weighed less than a juicy orange when she was born, almost five months prematurely, at the Royal Women’s Hospital.

Today, the tot is thriving on Mum’s milk, fed through a nasal tube.

From a 319g red, scrawny scrap of near-life she has thrived to develop into a chunkier cherub.

Now, at 8 1/2 months, she is 4.7kg — still half the average weight of four-week-olds who join her at weekly mothers’ group meetings.

Elora is believed to be the smallest baby ever born to survive her desperate start in life.

Mum Adele De Bondi, a nurse, had known the likely outcome when major problems were diagnosed just over four months into her first pregnancy.

“She was too small, too premature, to be viable, and I expected the worst,” Ms De Bondi said.

“But at the same time, my gut instinct was that this child would be a fighter and if she was allowed to be born, she would take it from there.”

Delivery was by caesarean section and she did not see her daughter until the next day when she was pushed in a wheelchair to gaze at the tiny tot struggling for life in a humidicrib.

“Her head was the same size as my thumbnail, but I bonded with her the split-second I saw her fighting for life,” she said.

“I was amazed and ecstatic and overawed she had survived the night, and I knew instantly and instinctively that she would survive.

“She was too critically ill for them to measure her, but my mother photographed her alongside a pen and they were roughly the same length.”

Elora has spent months in the Royal Women’s Hospital, overcoming multiple problems including collapsed lungs and multiple bleeds.

Today, at home in Balwyn, the battler bub is showing her true colours.

“She sleeps soundly by night and is alert and inquisitive by day. She eats to make up for what she has missed out on and is going ahead in leaps and bounds,” Adele said.

She spoke of Elora’s battle in the hope of attracting donations to the hospital’s neonatal and intensive care unit.

The RWH Foundation can be contacted on 9344 2006.