Why are some babies born prematurely and what are the risks?

Premature birth is birth that occurs after the 28th and up to the 39th week of pregnancy, and a fetus born with a weight of more than one kilogram and a height of more than 35 cm, which is viable, is considered premature. The closer to the end of pregnancy the premature birth occurs, the more viable the premature baby is. The causes of premature birth can be infantilism, intoxication suffered by the woman, incompatibility of the mother's blood and the fetus by the Rh factor or other blood group factors. Dysfunction of the endocrine glands and the nervous system of the pregnant woman are important. Quite often, premature birth occurs during multiple pregnancies, abnormal fetal position. Some other reasons are also important. Provoking factors include injuries and negative emotions, which, in the presence of the above reasons, contribute to the onset of premature birth.

Premature births have a number of features. Thus, they are more often characterized by weakness of labor; premature rupture of membranes occurs more often; they last longer than normal births; they are more often complicated by bleeding in the postpartum period. Asphyxia and fetal trauma are more common in premature births.

Recently, cases of premature births have become more frequent. This is associated, on the one hand, with the worsening environmental situation, on the other - with the deterioration of women's health. But if earlier the birth of a premature baby was tantamount to a death sentence, now pediatricians know how to nurse such children. And although this is a very complex and painstaking matter, requiring considerable effort and resources, sometimes it is possible to nurse children born weighing less than one kilogram. Of course, the outcome of such a pregnancy and birth largely depends on the ability of the premature baby to adapt to the external environment: the ability to suck; the ability to maintain body temperature; the ability to breathe independently. This ability should be discussed in more detail. The fact is that a special substance is formed in the lungs - surfactant, which prevents them from collapsing. If its amount is insufficient, then the child develops respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), due to which premature babies most often die. Therefore, immediately after birth, premature babies are given this substance to prevent the development of SDS.

A premature baby has some features that distinguish it from other children. Firstly, it has not reached the level of maturity that normal children have. Because of this, its muscle tone is not the same as that of full-term newborns (their flexor tone predominates, while in premature babies the flexor and extensor tone is inconstant). Such babies swing their arms and legs too much, which is especially difficult for them during the period of falling asleep. Therefore, despite the recommendations for free swaddling of newborns, premature babies should be swaddled in such a way as to give them the "embryo" pose, that is, a bent position with arms and legs drawn to the body.

Secondly, the body of a premature baby lacks some microelements (magnesium, phosphorus). Therefore, such a child should be examined more carefully and more often by a specialist. It may be necessary to prescribe drugs to speed up the restoration of muscle tone and normalize the activity of the nervous system.

Premature babies have softer bones (due to a lack of calcium and phosphorus), so you need to make sure that the baby, while lying in the crib, is not constantly in the same position. Otherwise, he may develop skull deformations. In this case, you need to turn his head first to one side, then to the other. And if you need to give the head a middle position, you can roll the diapers into a roll and place it in a ring under the baby's head.

With proper care and treatment, if necessary, premature babies quickly catch up with their peers in development and are no different from them in physical or intellectual terms. For example, Mozart was born premature, but this did not affect him in any way (except for his genius).