What are the complications of having a premature baby?

Answer 1

It depends on HOW premature the baby is, and often times what the cause of the premature birth was.

My daughter was born at 27 weeks (12 1/2 weeks early), and stayed in the NICU for 4 months (16 weeks). She was 1 lb. 14 oz. and 13 1/2 inches at birth. She had the typical problems of preemies born that small: low birth weight, breathing issues (she was on oxygen for a while), feeding issues, Stage 2 ROP in her eyes, numerous blood transfusions, insane acid reflux, etc, etc. Premature babies are also often delayed with their milestones...some more than others, and some not at all. However, they usually catch up by the time they're 2. Doctors also follow a different milestone timeline for preemies, which is usually known as their "corrected or adjusted" age. For instance...my daughter is now 13 months old...but because she was born 3 months early, her adjusted age is more like 10 months old.

My daughter is actually doing quite well for what she went through, and I'm grateful that she didn't experience even more problems. She's actually extremely smart and very alert and social. Some studies have shown that some preemies are often more advanced than their peers because their bodies have had to adapt to the outside world much sooner.

All preemies are different. It's best to ask the child's doctors about each individual child if there are any concerns.

Answer 2

A preemie can have lots of problems or very few. Underdeveloped lungs/breathing problems are common. Developmental delays can be common. Body temp. regulation and feeding problems can occur. It also depends on how premature the baby is, say a baby born at 35 weeks compared to one born at 29 weeks. The earlier the birth, the more likely the baby is to have these problems.

Answer 3

There are many, their hearts may not form properly, their lungs, they may not be able to feed well, bowl blockages, there is all kinds of stuff depending on how early. If the doctor can predict that it will happen the mother is given a steriod to help speed up growth of the baby. This will give them a better chance at life, but does not always work. Most babies born no younger than twelve weeks early have a chance of surviving, but they may have neurological damage.

Answer 4

they can have short and long term lung problems. the lungs of premature babies are often not fully developed when they are born. my son was 4 weeks early, which isn't a lot of time, but it was enough. he had jaundice really bad and was hospitalized for a few days. he also got RSV when he was about 4 months old. that was scary because we had about 4 children in our town die from it.

Answer 5

there are many, i had my son at 30 weeks he was three pounds nine ounces, he had really bad problems with apnea and barcadia (Sp) which means he would literally forget to breathe and his heart rate would drop, this happend many times a day. he was in the NICU for three months after he was born and when he was realeased had to come home on a monitor in case he did it at home, he is 17 months old now and was/is behind developmentally and is constantly sick. (colds) he is a normal child dont get me wrong, but there are still complications with any preemie baby and they are all different.