According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every eight babies each year in the United States is born premature. This affects approximately 500,000 babies yearly. Premature babies are defined as babies born more than three weeks before the baby’s due date. Full term babies are born at approximately forty weeks, and premature babies are born at less than thirty-seven weeks. In the final months and weeks of pregnancy, important growth and development occur in the fetus. This is why premature babies are considered to be at-risk for a number of issues. The earlier that a baby is born, the baby’s risks drastically increase for developmental issues. The cause of premature birth is often unknown. Any pregnant woman could experience preterm labor. Some women are at a higher risk for experiencing preterm labor. One known risk factor is having a previous preterm birth. Carrying more than one baby, such as twins, triplets, or more, is a risk factor for premature birth. Problems with the uterus or cervix can cause a woman to have a premature birth. African-American women are approximately fifty percent more likely to have a premature baby compared to Caucasian women. Chronic health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and blood clotting disorders are also risk factors for premature births. Certain infections, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, or illicit drug use during pregnancy can cause a woman to deliver a baby preterm. Women who are underweight and overweight before becoming pregnant are also at a risk for not carrying a baby full term (Siega, Adair, & Hoebl, 1996). Sometimes doctors need to deliver a baby before full term because of concerns for the mother’s health, as well as the baby’s health. ... ... middle of paper ... ...ur-risk-of-preterm-labor-and- birth.aspx March of Dimes (2009, August). Common conditions treated in the NICU. Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/common-conditions-treated-in-the-nicu.aspx Natural Resources Defense Council (2005, March 25). Healthy milk, healthy baby. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/breastmilk/benefits.asp Pineda, R. G., Tjoeng, T.H., Vavasseur, C., Kidokoro, H., Neil, J.J., & Inder, T. (2013). Patterns of altered neurobehavior in preterm infants within the neonatal intensive care unit. The Journal of Pediatrics, 162 (3), 470-476. Retrieved from Siega, R., Adair, L., & Hoebl, C. (1996). Maternal underweight status and inadequate rate of weight gain during the third trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of preterm delivery. The Journal of Nutrition, 126 (1),146-153. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8558295
Maternal & Child Health Journal, 8(3), 107-110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14089739&site=ehost-live.
One issue that is a big factor causing this is stress caused by racism. According to “Can Stress Cause Premature Labor?” By Cherly Bird, RN. Chronic stress is a stressful situation occurs and is not resolved, or reoccurs. The body is not able to cope with the stressful situation and does not return to normal. Studies show that moms with more stress are more likely to go into labor early, so we can say that stress increases a mom's risk of premature labor. When you are stressed the body can react in different ways, either with blood pressure or hormones. Some things that can help control the stress is counseling, talking about how you feel can help. Also, exercising, or complimentary therapies are a good way to help be more relaxed during a pregnancy.
Cook Children NICU receives around one thousand babies per year. Since the new unit was opened two years ago, they have single rooms where the parents can stay with their babies overnight, and it is controlled individually according to the patients’ needs. In the single rooms they are able to accommodate twins, triplets and quadruplets. According to Carolyn Cowling (personal communication, April.18, 2014), who is the LCSW, preemies have shown an incredible improvement in their health and are able to go home faster because they have a quicker recovery. Single rooms also allow parents to be with their infants all the time they want, even spending the night with them. Since most of them are there for a long run, it provides the feeling of being in their home.
Shinno, H., Matsuoka, T., Yamamoto, O., Noma, Y., Hikasa, S., Takebayashi, M., & Horigughi, J. (2007).
According to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, “In the United States, nearly thirteen percent of babies are born preterm, and many of these babies also have a low birth weight.” The baby may be put into the NICU for varies reasons. However, the most common reason that a child is put into the NICU is because he or she is premature. Premature means the baby was born before the 36 weeks. It is never good for a baby to be born early, as this could mean that the baby is not fully developed. There are other factors as to why a child may need to be put into the NICU after birth. For instance, birth defects can be the cause of why a baby is put into the NICU. A baby may be born with an infection such as herpes or chlamydia which can damage the newborns immune system at such a young age. Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can also cause an infant to be put into the NICU. Some maternal factors of why a baby may be put into the NICU is if the mother is “younger than 16 or older than 40.” If the parent may be an alcoholic or expose the baby to drugs, this can put the child into NICU care. If the parent has an STD or sexual transmitted disease, the baby is most likely going to have to be put into the intensive care unit. “Twins, triplets, and other multiples are often admitted into the NICU, as they tend to be born earlier and s...
Reddy, U. M., Zhang, J., Sun, L., Chen, Z., Raju, T. N., & Laughon, K. (2012). Neonatal mortality by attempted route of delivery in early preterm birth. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 207(2). doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2012.06.023
Low birth weight is arisen due to preterm birth, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) or both. Therefore low birth weight infants can be considered as a heterogeneous group of infants. Premature infants are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Those babies account for about 70% of low birth weight infants in the world. In other words, many low birth weight infants are premature. This is linked with mortality, morbidity, disability in infancy and has a greater risk of having chronic diseases in later life.
There are numerous research studies concerned with the factors that determine birth weight.4-10 Factors such as maternal weight gain, smoking, alcohol consumption, gestational age, maternal anthropometry and many other variables have all been the subject of several scientific papers. The World Health Organization defines normal birth weight as 2500 to 4000 grammes. Low birth weight (<2500g) is usually associated with significant infant mortality. 1, 11 Fetal macrosomia (birth weight >4000g)12 has however been shown to have significantly less association with infant mortality in recent years, probably due to medical advances in management of the condition.13
Problems seen in neonates include sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and childhood obesity. The mother is also at risk of vaginal bleeding and premature labour2. Smoking is also linked to lowering a women's fertility as it lowers the level of oestrogen produced by the body3. This makes it more difficult for a women to get pregnant in the first place, resulting in, possibly, a more stressful start to the pregnancy.
Low birth weight can be defined as baby born with weight less than 2500g. It is one of the adverse pregnancy results in the world, which is affected to the newborn survival, growth and development. There are categorizes in the low birth weight; very low birth weight which a birth weight is less than 1500g and extremely low birth weight which is a birth weight is less than 1000g. An estimated 18 million babies are born worldwide each year with low birth weight and 9.3 million of them in south Asia. Low birth weight percentage in Sri lanka is 16% and is high in the developing countries. At that time, the low birth weight (LBW) rate for industrialized countries are 5%-7%. In England and Wales, the incidence of low birth weight increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 6.7 percent in 1990, while that of very low birth weight increased from 0.78 in 1980 to 0.98 percent in 1990 (and 1.2 percent in 1996 - Masuy-Stroobant and Gourbin, 1995, p. 73; Petrou, 2003, referring to
There are main 3 situations with low birth weights. Infants who have their birth weight below 2500g are called as low birth weight. Infants who have their birth weight below 1500g are called as very low birth weight and infants who have their birth weight below 1000g are called as extremely low birth weight. But there are 20 million infants who have low birth weight every year and also considerably high rate of low birth weights are recorded in developing countries and it is 96%. Most of infants with low birth weights have risk of mortality and n...
Causes and Consequences of Low Birth Weight Birth of a baby is the start of a new era of a generation. As the new born infants are the internodes of the future, in order to have a healthy and strong population they should be given the proper health status from the beginning of their life. From the birth an infant can cause a lot of health risks such as birth defects, severe organ damage or functional problems and even the death. Most of the above health risks occur due to the nutritional problems as well as the physical damages. With the reference of most out coming results in the world, as LBW contributes to 60% to 80% of all neonatal deaths, the Low birth weight (LBW) has become a common problem that occurs at the first step of infants’ life and moreover it has become a severe problem as the health risks due to the Low birth weight can be even seen at the adulthood of a person who is born with low birth weight.
that, in turn, could adversely affect the weight of very young children” (child Trends). Works cited Alaimo, K., Olson, C. M., Frongillo, E. A., & Briefel, R. R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and health in U.S. preschool and school-aged children. American Journal of Public Health, 91(5), 781-786. Bronte-Tinkew, J., Zaslow, M., Capps, R., & Horowitz, A. (2007).
Low birth weight initially give sad result as preterm birth in early delivering in before 37 weeks or stopped fetal growth. There mortality and morbidity rate can increase and also inhibited growth and cognitive development and chronic illness in different life stages. Number of factors affect to this condition. Intra-uterine growth decreasing it cause where fetal growth going to constrained. Most of vitamin and mineral defici...
• Having your babies delivered before you have reached a full-term pregnancy (preterm birth). A full-term pregnancy lasts for at least 37 weeks. Babies born before 37 weeks may have a higher risk for many health problems, such as breathing problems, feeding difficulties, cerebral palsy, and learning disabilities.