A baby born before the gestation age of 37 weeks is preterm.
Normal pregnancy last from – (37 to 40 weeks)
extremely preterm – (less than 28 weeks)
very preterm – (28 to less than 32 weeks)
moderate to late preterm – (32 to 37 weeks).
The News of your baby coming home from NICU with green signal from Doctors , filled you with joy . You waited a long time to take your little bundle of happiness Home with you. Lets get started How to take care of preterm baby at home
Temperature
Premie babies takes time to control their body temperature .Proper layering should be done. Baby’s temperature should be assessed by comparing hands and feet with the abdominal temperature. Try to avoid over heating as well as low temperatures.
Use very light warm blanket and Swaddle them often.
Kangaroo mother acre (KMC)
It is direct skin to skin contact between a mother and her newborn. KMC increases the chances of breastfeeding and helps mother to increase their milk supply. as per the research skin to skin helps to increase hormone oxytocin which in turn improves breast mil output. During skin to skin baby also stimulates areola and which helps in releasing harmone prolactin thus help breast to produce more milk.
KMC also helps in regulating baby body temp at normal range.
It helps in strengthen the bond between mother and baby. Father’s can also be a part of KMC and older sibling in presence of you can give KMC .It reduces the risk of mortality in premies. It also helps in early discharge from hospitals
Feeding
Breast-feeding requires coordination between sucking, swallowing, and breathing . so initially these babies temporarily are fed through tubes
Once the babies are mature enough to take a direct milk feed these tubes are removed and milk is given by palladia or feeder. you can also try a spoon bottle after sometime.
Feeding Frequency
Feed at interval of 1.5 to 2 hours in a day . If not direct breastfeeding then do breast milk pumping every 2-3 hours to maintain your supply. Hydrate well and eat healthy to maintain quality and quantity of milk and offer milk using palladia and spoon feeder. Avoid bottle until and unless advised by your doctor. Bottle feeding reduce the chance of direct breastfeeding.
Burp baby well during and after feeding.
Do NNS (non nutritive sucking ) after emptying your breast as advised by your doctor.
Take help from family and don’t forget to catch up with your sleep too.This helps increasing and maintaining good milk supply. Direct breastfeeding comes around 34 weeks.Do take a note of pee and poop count as you have to inform doc in your next visit. Ensure baby should feed well .any doubt or suspicion about feeding immediately contact to your doctor.
Protection from infection
Protection from infection is very imp, as these babies are prone to catch the infection very quickly, so please limit the public(relatives, neighbours etc) visit. use hand sanitiser before touching baby. and follow immunisation schedule as per the Doctor.
Bath and massage
once baby reaches around 2-2.5 kg of weight, you can start giving massage which will help baby in strengthening the muscles.
Remember your premie baby is born fighter. Believe in yourself and in your tiny babies as they grow Although it’s stressful but be calm, happy and relax this will help in handling tiny miracle confidently at home.