How to quickly gain weight in a premature baby: terms of birth, their effect on the baby, weight, height, rules for care and feeding, advice of neonatologists and pediatricians

Waiting for a baby is a joyful and exciting period when young parents are in anticipation of new pleasant troubles and experiences. Unfortunately, sometimes these happy moments can be overshadowed by the premature birth of a baby. In this situation, parents have to answer questions that are completely unexpected for themselves: how the baby will develop, what to do to help him cope with the problems that arise, how to quickly gain weight for the premature baby.

Causes of Premature Birth

No pregnant woman thinks that her baby can be born prematurely. But not always the circumstances depend only on the wishes and plans of the future mother.

Causes of the early appearance of the baby:

• severe physical exertion in a pregnant woman;
• poor quality of food consumed;
• untimely medical assistance;
• frequent abortions preceding delivery;
• a woman in labor under the age of 18 or over 30, if the child is the first;
• the age of the baby's father is more than 50 years old;
• the presence in the pregnant woman of concomitant diseases;
• severe pregnancy;
• in cases of a threat to the baby’s life in the womb, the attending physician may decide to have an emergency cesarean section (impaired fetal-placental circulation, fetal hypoxia, intrauterine growth retardation).

According to WHO data, an infant who appears at a period of 22-37 weeks of gestation, weighing 500 g - 2.5 kg and a length of 25-40 cm is considered to be prematurely born.

Stages of prematurity

The condition of newborns and how premature babies gain weight depends on the time spent in the womb. The longer the woman managed to endure the baby, the more his internal organs and systems will be ready for external life.

Depending on the duration of birth and size of the baby, 4 degrees of prematurity are distinguished.

1. A baby with a 1st degree of prematurity is born on a gestational period of 35-37 weeks and has a weight of 2-2.5 kg. For the most part, such children are no different from full-term ones; special conditions and nursing in a medical institution are required only in case of congenital diseases or birth injuries.
2. At 32-34 weeks, babies with a 2nd degree of prematurity are born. Their weight is 1.5-2 kg, and for successful adaptation to new conditions of life, timely qualified assistance and proper care are required. It is important for parents to know how to quickly gain weight in a premature baby in order to avoid health problems.
3. If a woman gives birth at the 29-31st week, the neonatologist diagnoses the 3rd degree of prematurity in the newborn. According to statistics, the survival rate in children weighing 1-1.5 kg is quite high, but in the future they will need long-term treatment and recovery. Many of these babies suffer from birth defects and diseases.
4. At a period of up to 29 weeks, extremely premature (4th degree) children are born. Absolutely unsuitable for life outside the womb, such babies often die (up to 90% of those born on the 20-26th week, up to 70% at a later date). Extremely premature babies are also susceptible to serious diseases, genetic abnormalities and pathologies.

No matter how long the baby is born, the provision of timely medical care during preparation for childbirth, in their process and after the baby appears in the recovery period significantly increases his chances of a healthy future.

Features of a premature baby

All prematurely born children have certain characteristics of physical and psychological development, expressed to varying degrees depending on the term of prematurity.

Distinctive features of a premature newborn:

1. Appearance. The skin of a baby born prematurely is red, thin and wrinkled. Often covered with fluff or lanugo. The newborn’s nail plates are soft, often not reaching the edge of the finger. The arms and legs are short in comparison with the limbs of full-term babies, the head seems disproportionately large compared to the rest of the body.
2. Trouble breathing. Immature baby's breath is superficial, rapid. Apnea attacks occur - a sudden cessation of respiratory activity.
3. Underdevelopment of the cardiovascular system. The human heart is arranged in such a way that before birth there are openings in it due to the peculiarity of intrauterine work - an oval window and an arterial duct. By the end of the term of full-term pregnancy, these holes are closed - the heart is ready for full work after birth. If the baby is born earlier, this process does not have time to complete. Normally, by 6 months, the problem is eliminated naturally. If the oval window and ductus arteriosus remain open, surgery may be required.
4. Due to the insufficient secretion of saliva and gastric juice, a prematurely born baby often has digestive problems. Difficulties in assimilating food are one of the reasons why a premature baby is not gaining weight.
5. Later acquisition of skills. While a full-term baby at 1-2 months old learned to hold his head, turn over, react to toys, an early-born baby continued its development, which did not end in the womb, and could not learn anything new. Therefore, only a neurologist can talk about developmental delay after a thorough examination. Nevertheless, premature babies recognized as healthy simply develop at their individual pace.
6. How much is gaining weight premature baby. Healthy prematurely born children catch up to peers by weight and height by a maximum of a year.

Parents of premature babies should be patient and do everything possible to maximize their recovery and development.

Premature baby reflexes

Another difference between prematurely born children and those appearing on time is the instincts inherent in newborns in the first month of life.

The difference between the reflexes of a premature baby.

• Swallowing - the reflex necessary for the full feeding of the baby appears at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, but in extremely premature babies it is often insolvent.
• Sucking is also very important for the baby to fully eat and there is no problem how to quickly gain weight in a premature baby. Deeply immature children may be absent.
• Search - a full-term baby with a finger on his mouth turns his head in search of food. In a premature baby, this reflex is absent or very weakly expressed.
• Grasp - a child born on time clings tightly to the finger that touched his palm. In a premature baby, this reflex may be weakened or absent altogether.

There are other reflexes that pediatricians and neuropathologists pay attention to when examining a premature newborn. Among them are the reflex of Moro, automatic walking, Babinsky, Robinson, Bauer.

Breastfeeding Premature

The ideal food for a premature baby, as for any other, is mother's milk. That is why it is so important to try to save milk by decanting it, if for some reason breastfeeding is not possible in the first weeks of a baby's life.

To the question of whether premature babies gain weight quickly, it is the mothers who breastfeed the children can respond positively. This is due to the fact that the composition of the milk of the mother who gave birth on time and the woman in labor who did not deliver the baby differs in its composition - in the milk of a woman who has become a mother prematurely, an increased protein content is necessary for the normal development of crumbs.

Specialized Mixtures

If there is no opportunity to breastfeed, when solving the problem of how to quickly gain weight in a premature baby, special mixtures are used for prematurely born and small babies.

The difference between mixtures for premature infants:

• protein saturation;
• increased calorie content;
• high content of trace elements and nutrients.

Such mixtures can be found in liquid and powder form for children under 2 kg and up to 1 year.

Features of feeding a premature baby

Since a premature baby, due to physiological characteristics, cannot take and assimilate food on its own in full, there are several ways to feed a prematurely born baby.

How to feed a premature baby:

• by administering an intravenous glucose solution;
• the introduction of mother's milk or mixture through a probe, starting with a few drops and gradually increasing the portion;
• from a bottle through a nipple - as a rule, this method is used for babies who have a sucking reflex, but the baby is not strong enough to suck milk from the chest;
• breast-feeding.

If the question is how to quickly gain weight in a premature baby, breastfeeding or careful selection of an adapted mixture is recommended.

Average Weight Gain Standards

All parents whose children are nursing in hospitals are concerned about how much weight a premature baby must gain in order to be discharged home. As a rule, discharge is possible when the mark of 2 kg is reached.

Estimated weight gain (in grams per month) for babies with varying degrees of prematurity

These data can be guided by answering the question of how quickly premature babies gain weight, but it must be remembered that each baby is individual and only a pediatrician can determine the norm of his weight.

Calculation of the volume of the mixture or milk

It is difficult for young parents to understand how premature babies should gain weight and how much to eat.

They begin to feed the children according to the scheme:

• 1st degree of prematurity - applied to the breast, fed as full-term babies;
• 2nd and 3rd degrees - the first feeding - 2-5 ml of milk or mixture, each time increasing the portion by 3-5 ml, bring to the age norm;
• 4th degree - start with 2-3 ml, increasing the dose each time by the same volume.

Children are fed every 2.5-3 hours, filling up the lack of calories with intravenous droppers.

Care Rules

In order for a premature baby to catch up with peers as quickly as possible and not have health problems in the future, he needs special care.

What is important for a premature baby:

• compliance with the temperature regime - in the room, the mark on the thermometer should fluctuate within 22-25 ° C, special incubators are used in the hospital;
• maintaining moisture levels;
• for bathing the first 3 months it is recommended to use boiled water not lower than +38 ° ;
• the first time walks are allowed at a temperature not lower than +10 ° .

How quickly premature babies gain weight depends on their state of health and their care in the hospital and at home. For full development, kids should receive proper nutrition, enough oxygen, get acquainted with water procedures. In all matters, the consultation of a pediatrician is important.