Parents of children who were preemies... How is it going? What challenges did/do you face, if any, due to?

Question

the early birth of your child/ren?

My sweet baby nephew was born this May at 2 lbs, 14 oz. and I'm just wondering about the future... He is up to over 13 lbs now!

Thank you so much for responding. All these answers were great.

GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU!

Answer 1

My son was born at 23 weeks, weighing 1lb7oz and he is now 3 years old. There was a lot of worry about his future, its kind of something you just have to wait out. It's a very tough challenge. My son is doing better than i could have ever imagined, the only way you can tell he was preemie is he still has kind of a big head and he's tiny for being 3. Working with an ocupational therapist was the best thing i could have done for him. They taught me ways to do the same things you would do with a full term baby except at a different approach to help the proper development of a preemie. Also be sure that the babies doctor knows how to work with premature babies, a lot of doctors including pediatritions don't know as much about premature babies and try and treat them as if they were full term. All children develop at a different pace, even preemies. If you have any questions feel free to ask me, i went through this experience with the help of nobody except the hospital staff. I also did a lot of research to make sure that i could do my own part of making sure i was helping him. [e-mail]

Answer 2

My wife was a preemie, a little over 2lbs., she's sassy and about ready to turn the big 5-0. There are lots of advances in todays medicine. Your nephew will have a happy, long life. Have fun with him!

Answer 3

I work with premature babies. I'm glad your little guy is doing well. The smallest baby I've ever worked with was born weighing 12 oz, the same weight of a coke can. He was born at 23 weeks, but is now 3 and doing pretty well. Good luck to you.

Answer 4

My god-daughter was a premie. At birth she only weight 1.5 pounds. She stayed at the hospital for about 4 months and when she came home she was in and out of the hospital for a few months. The doctors finally discovered that her longs were too tiny for her to breath and they put in a trache (sp). She will be 2 in December and the trache is her only issue,it should be out by January.

Answer 5

My son was born at 26 weeks weighing 1lb 6oz. We went through the fairly typical NICU rollercoaster for micropremmies (one day up, the next day down and so on). He was ventilated for a long time, in fact he needed oxygen for 13 months, the last 12 and a half months via nasal tubes. Pumping breastmilk for him for months was HARD WORK as I found it really difficult to let down to the pump.

He had a number of minor infections in NICU, no NEC (necrotising enterocolitis) though, which is a common problem. His eyes developed Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) III, but thankfully that self resolved without any treatment. Having to leave my baby in the hospital while I went home with empty arms was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.

He stayed in hospital for 135 days and came home still quite small and fragile. We kept him pretty much isolated from other people until he was about a year old, as premmies have such poor immune systems.

He needed extra calories in his breastmilk, as it's not uncommon for premmies to have failure to thrive, and he also needed supplemental iron as he missed out on those extra months of receiving the maternal iron stores.

He also had quite severe oral defensiveness for a long time, due to the ventilation, but therapy worked that out in the end.

His development was normal until about five months old, when we noticed that he wasn't quite up to the developmental goals of other kids his age. It wasn't until 18 months of age though, that he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He'd escaped the brain bleeds that are common with most premmies, but he still developed CP due to his early birth.

Most premmies brains are wired differently from full term children, as their neurological development once they are born is nowhere near the normal neurological development of a baby still in utero. Often this causes side effects, some minor like slight learning delay, or sensory problems, but sometimes the effects are more serious, even devastating in some cases.

My son is quite normal intellectually, but his physical problems are severe. He has moderate to severe spastic cerebral palsy affecting his entire body, so he's quite stiff. He has many different therapies and interventions, and needs a wheelchair to get around, as well as botox injections every six months. He's seven now and in grade one, but requires an integration aide to assist him in his schooling and mobility.

We also have to be pretty careful about his health, as he still can get quite sick with respiratory illnesses, and once he is sick, he has little reserves of energy to draw upon, so he becomes very tired and lethargic.

He also had astigmatism (cross eyes) until an operation corrected that, however he is short sighted as a result, and needs glasses.

All in all, we had a pretty rough trot with his prematurity, but some people have it a lot harder. Others of course have a breeze through NICU. Often though the effects of prematurity are not fully felt until the baby grows up and goes to school. I don't mean to scare you, as we really feel that our son has a great life, and a wonderful future (he thinks so too lol), I'm just trying to give you a heads up for what to keep in mind.

Much love to your little nephew and here's hoping that he has a lovely happy and healthy long life ahead of him!