Advice For Family Of A Premature Baby — Premature baby health

Both in winter and summer, this is a common question parents of ex NICU babies want to know! Especially after living on the sweltering hot conditions of the neonatal unit! The wonderful Bliss has the following recommendations: Check your baby regularly to ensure that he or she is not too hot or cold. You can do this by feeling the back of his or her neck or tummy. It is normal for a baby’s hands to feel colder than the rest of their body. To monitor your baby’s temperature, use a digital thermometer and place this under your baby’s armpit....

A premature baby's skin is delicate and sensitive and how you treat it is really important Evidence of baby massage dating back 3000 years, it is considered as routine as weaning and walking in regions such as Africa, India, Asia and the Caribbean. Nurturing touch is a fundamental part of a baby’s well-being and development. “Touch is the child’s first language” Skin is the largest sensory organ, acts as a waterproof, insulating shield, guarding against extremes temperature and harmful chemicals. It uses the nerves to keep the brain in touch with the outside world. Touching your premature baby employs all...

In short. Yes! It's so lovely to see parents reading to their premature baby and research indicates it's good for baby and parent. Reading to your premature baby can help boost brain development. Whilst baby is in the NICU, we are so focused on their physiological development that we can often forget about their cognitive development. There is growing evidence that reading to your premature baby will give them a good foundation for starting pre-school. Evidence shows that babies who were not exposed to language in the NICU have lower language performance aged 2. Also you can read books that...

In the first few hours of having your premature baby, we can guarantee that it will feel like your world has been turned upside down. You probably weren’t prepared for your little mouse to be saying hello to you as soon as they have, and it could be that mum – and baby – isn’t very well. The nurses on the neonatal unit will try and orientate you to the unit as soon as possible, but it can be hard to take it all in, particularly when you have your new baby to focus, so they may wait until the...

Very often, when a baby is born prematurely, Dad – or significant other to mum – is the first person to see baby in the NICU environment, they will either be taken with baby when they leave the labour ward, or they will be asked to go and visit baby as soon as the medical and nursing team have time to speak through the goings-on. One of the biggest responsibilities you will have is to find out about your baby’s condition, and take that information back to mum and the rest of the family. Even if you don’t take in...