Premature Infant
The Premature Newborn
A premature infant's health at birth is influenced by many factors, including:
- Gestational age at birth.
- Weight at birth.
- Maternal illness and medical treatment during pregnancy.
- Congenital birth defects.
Most infants born at 36 and 37 weeks' gestation are mature enough to be discharged from the hospital with the mother. But many premature infants are too immature to survive without medical care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Symptoms of prematurity that require hospital care include:
- Underdeveloped lungs.
- Inability to breathe continuously (apnea of prematurity).
- Inability to maintain body heat.
- Inability to feed orally.
While in the NICU or at home, many healthy premature infants also need treatment for jaundice and for anemia (infants born early have not had enough time before birth to build sufficient iron stores).
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| Author: | Debby Golonka, MPH | Last Updated: May 5, 2009 |
| Medical Review: | Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics Jennifer Merchant, MD - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine | |
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