A premature baby, also known as preemie, is born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Premature birth occurs 1 in 8 babies.
Most mothers don’t know in advance that their baby is going to be born prematurely, so when it happens, it comes as a great shock, it’s not unusual some babies will always be born prematurely, Thanks to recent developments in technology and medical advances though, alot more premature babies are now able to survive and grow into healthy children.
There are several reasons why a woman might go into premature labour before her baby is sufficiently mature to cope with life outside the womb but sometimes there may not actually be a reason why a woman has gone into premature labour, These include:
- Infections
- Smoking or poor diet
- twins, triplets etc (multiple birth)
- Cervical incompetence
- Life-threatening conditions such as pre-eclampsia
If you have had a previous premature birth, or if there is a possibility that you may have a premature baby, your hospital will probably want to scan you more frequently, perhaps every two weeks, to check the growth of your baby.
Because they are born too early, preemies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop. Preemies need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. They stay there until their organ systems can work on their own.