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Wetin be premature baby?
Wahala from birth wey dey premature na di major source of death among pikin dem wey dey under five years old.
For 2020, ova 13 million pikin dem or more than 1 in 10 na who dem born premature.
Di World Health Organization (WHO) say for 2019, around 900,000 pikin dem wey dey under di age of five die from complications wey arise sake of say dem be premature wen dem born dem.
Wetin e mean to be premature baby?
Premature babies na pikin wey dem born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy don complete.
Di different categories of premature birth na based on how many months di pregnancy last:
- extremely preterm (less dan 28 weeks)
- very preterm (28 to less dan 32 weeks)
- moderate to late preterm (32 to 37 weeks)
Di earlier for pregnancy di pikin come out, di more likely say dem no go survive.
Why preterm birth dey happun?
UK National Health Service (NHS) say na preterm rupture, wey be wahala inside pregnancy, na im be di most common cause of premature birth.
Oda causes na:
- infection
- di mama health condition like pre-eclampsia (wey be di sickness wey dey cause ogbonge headaches, eye problem and vomiting)
- weakness of di cervix
- mama wey get belle of more than one pikin
End of Di one wey oda users dey read well well
Tommy, wey be UK charity wey dey do research about premature birth, find out say for some women, di cervix (di canal wey connect di vagina and di womb) open too early during pregnancy. Dis early opening na im dey cause premature birth.
Therapies and treatments dey for high income areas to take prevent premature birth. Dem be cervical stitch, or cerclage, according to Andrew Shenna, wey be professor of obstetrics wey dey run di Tommy Preterm Birth Surveillance Clinic.
Cervical stitch na operation wey dem dey put stick around di cervix (wey be di neck of di womb).
Sign of early labour
Prof Shenna say early signs say labour dey come dey similar to normal labour wen e dey happun.
Dem include water wey go burst comot di vagina, dat one fit be water breaking. Oda symptoms na normal contractions of di uterus, some na discharge or bleeding.
Prof Shenna explain say, "most of di care na reactive care. If di woman come with contractions, you need to make sure say she go somewia wia facilities to look afta di baby dey.
"Some drugs dey wey dey prepare di pikin wey wan come early. Magnesium fit protect di pikin brain and di mama fit take steroids to boost di pikin lungs and avoid breathing wahala."
Wetin be di survival rate for premature babies?
Preterm birth dey happun all ova di world but mostly for southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, na wetin WHO tok.
Di survival rate for premature babies depend on di kontri.
For example, e pass 90% of extremely preterm babies (before 28 weeks) wey dem born for low-income kontris wey dey die within di first few days. But for high-income kontris, na less dan 10% of di pikin dey die.
But everywia, many survivors often get disability for dia whole life, dem fit get learning disability plus visual and hearing wahala. Dis na because dia bodi bin no fully develop for belle.
Premature pikin, most especially di ones wey dem born very early and wey dey under 1kg to 1.3kg get higher risk of health palava and disabilities.
How you fit take care of premature baby?
E dey possible for pikin to survive if dem born am at around 24 weeks (six months) but dem go need special care for neonatal unit wey get specialist facility for di hospital.
Di equipment wey dem need to help dem to survive na:
- incubators, wey be di most used equipment for neonatal unit. Dem make am to resemble womb and give safe space so premature new born go fit develop
- ventilators, wey dey give oxygen and pressure for newborns wey neva fit breathe by demsef.
- monitors, wey dem dey take check vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels
- intravenous drips,wey dem dey use give liquid and medicine to di babies dem through dia blood vessel
- feeding tubes, wey dem dey take give di baby food through di nose or mouth to enta di pikin belle
- infusion pumps, wey be to give nutrition, fluid or blood products and medication
- umbilical catheters, wey dem dey use give di medicine or nutrition to di baby. One type dey used to measure blood pressure and check levels of certain gases for di blood
Skin-to-skin contact
Last year, di WHO give new guidelines say skin-to-skin contact with caregiver – wey dem dey call kangaroo parent care – suppose start immediately afta birth, without say dem don enta incubator first.
Di practice dey calm down and relax both di parent and di baby. E dey also regulate di baby heart rate and breathing, wey dey help dem to adapt beta to life outside di belle.
E dey also boost digestion and interest to chop and also dey adjust bodi temperature.
Di guidelines comot afta one study wey di WHO mention suggest say if more parents do skin-to-skin care immediately afta birth, every year, up to 150,000 lives fit dey saved.
