Can a Baby Be Delivered at 6 Months

Overview

A premature nativity is a birth that takes place more than three weeks before the baby's estimated due engagement. In other words, a premature nativity is ane that occurs earlier the get-go of the 37th week of pregnancy.

Premature babies, especially those built-in very early, often have complicated medical bug. Typically, complications of prematurity vary. Only the earlier your baby is born, the higher the risk of complications.

Depending on how early a babe is built-in, he or she may be:

• Tardily preterm, born between 34 and 36 completed weeks of pregnancy
• Moderately preterm, born betwixt 32 and 34 weeks of pregnancy
• Very preterm, built-in at less than 32 weeks of pregnancy
• Extremely preterm, built-in at or before 25 weeks of pregnancy

Most premature births occur in the tardily preterm stage.

Symptoms

Your baby may have very mild symptoms of premature nascence, or may take more-obvious complications.

Some signs of prematurity include the following:

• Small size, with a unduly big head
• Sharper looking, less rounded features than a full-term babe'due south features, due to a lack of fat stores
• Fine hair (lanugo) roofing much of the torso
• Low body temperature, especially immediately afterward nascence in the commitment room, due to a lack of stored body fat
• Labored animate or respiratory distress
• Lack of reflexes for sucking and swallowing, leading to feeding difficulties

The post-obit tables testify the median nascence weight, length and head circumference of premature babies at dissimilar gestational ages for each sex.

Weight, length and head circumference by gestational age for boys
Gestational age	Weight	Length	Caput circumference
40 weeks	vii lbs., 15 oz. (iii.6 kg)	20 in. (51 cm)	13.8 in. (35 cm)
35 weeks	v lbs., 8 oz. (2.5 kg)	18.1 in. (46 cm)	12.6 in. (32 cm)
32 weeks	3 lbs., 15.5 oz. (1.viii kg)	16.v in. (42 cm)	eleven.six in. (29.v cm)
28 weeks	2 lbs., 6.8 oz. (1.i kg)	14.four in. (36.5 cm)	10.2 in. (26 cm)
24 weeks	1 lb., 6.ix oz. (0.65 kg)	12.2 in. (31 cm)	eight.7 in. (22 cm)

Weight, length and head circumference past gestational historic period for girls
Gestational age	Weight	Length	Head circumference
twoscore weeks	7 lbs., vii.9 oz. (three.4 kg)	xx in. (51 cm)	13.8 in. (35 cm)
35 weeks	five lbs., four.seven oz. (2.four kg)	17.seven in. (45 cm)	12.4 in. (31.5 cm)
32 weeks	3 lbs., 12 oz. (ane.7 kg)	16.5 in. (42 cm)	11.4 in. (29 cm)
28 weeks	ii lbs., 3.3 oz. (ane.0 kg)	14.1 in. (36 cm)	9.8 in. (25 cm)
24 weeks	1 lb., v.2 oz. (0.60 kg)	12.six in. (32 cm)	8.3 in. (21 cm)

Special care

If you deliver a preterm baby, your infant will likely need a longer infirmary stay in a special nursery unit at the infirmary. Depending on how much care your infant requires, he or she may be admitted to an intermediate care nursery or the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Doctors and a specialized team with training in taking care of preterm babies will be available to aid care for your baby. Don't hesitate to enquire questions.

Your baby may need extra assist feeding, and adapting immediately after delivery. Your wellness care team tin can aid you sympathize what is needed and what your infant'southward intendance plan will exist.

Adventure factors

Often, the specific cause of premature birth isn't clear. However, there are known risk factors of premature delivery, including:

• Having a previous premature birth
• Pregnancy with twins, triplets or other multiples
• An interval of less than six months between pregnancies
• Conceiving through in vitro fertilization
• Problems with the uterus, cervix or placenta
• Smoking cigarettes or using illicit drugs
• Some infections, particularly of the amniotic fluid and lower genital tract
• Some chronic weather, such as loftier blood pressure and diabetes
• Beingness underweight or overweight before pregnancy
• Stressful life events, such as the decease of a loved one or domestic violence
• Multiple miscarriages or abortions
• Concrete injury or trauma

For unknown reasons, black women are more likely to experience premature birth than are women of other races. But premature nascence can happen to anyone. In fact, many women who take a premature nascence accept no known risk factors.

Complications

While not all premature babies feel complications, being born too early can crusade short-term and long-term health issues. Generally, the earlier a baby is born, the higher the chance of complications. Nativity weight plays an important role, also.

Some problems may be apparent at birth, while others may not develop until afterwards.

Curt-term complications

In the first weeks, the complications of premature nativity may include:

• Animate problems. A premature baby may have trouble breathing due to an young respiratory system. If the baby's lungs lack surfactant — a substance that allows the lungs to expand — he or she may develop respiratory distress syndrome because the lungs tin can't expand and contract normally.

  Premature babies may as well develop a lung disorder known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia. In addition, some preterm babies may experience prolonged pauses in their animate, known as apnea.

• Middle problems. The almost common heart problems premature babies experience are patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and low blood pressure (hypotension). PDA is a persistent opening between the aorta and pulmonary artery. While this heart defect often closes on its own, left untreated information technology can atomic number 82 to a heart murmur, heart failure as well equally other complications. Low blood pressure may require adjustments in intravenous fluids, medicines and sometimes claret transfusions.
• Brain problems. The before a babe is born, the greater the hazard of haemorrhage in the brain, known as an intraventricular hemorrhage. About hemorrhages are balmy and resolve with picayune short-term impact. But some babies may have larger brain haemorrhage that causes permanent brain injury.

• Temperature command bug. Premature babies tin lose body heat rapidly. They don't have the stored torso fatty of a full-term baby, and they can't generate plenty estrus to counteract what'due south lost through the surface of their bodies. If body temperature dips too depression, an abnormally depression core body temperature (hypothermia) can result.

  Hypothermia in a premature babe tin lead to breathing bug and low blood carbohydrate levels. In add-on, a premature infant may use upward all of the energy gained from feedings just to stay warm. That'due south why smaller premature infants require additional oestrus from a warmer or an incubator until they're larger and able to maintain torso temperature without assistance.

• Gastrointestinal problems. Premature infants are more likely to have immature gastrointestinal systems, resulting in complications such every bit necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). This potentially serious condition, in which the cells lining the bowel wall are injured, tin occur in premature babies later they start feeding. Premature babies who receive merely breast milk take a much lower take a chance of developing NEC.

• Blood problems. Premature babies are at risk of blood problems such every bit anemia and newborn jaundice. Anemia is a common condition in which the trunk doesn't have enough ruby claret cells. While all newborns feel a slow driblet in blood-red blood prison cell count during the first months of life, the subtract may be greater in premature babies.

  Newborn jaundice is a xanthous discoloration in a babe'due south skin and eyes that occurs considering the baby'south blood contains excess bilirubin, a yellow-colored substance, from the liver or cherry blood cells. While there are many causes of jaundice, information technology is more mutual in preterm babies.

• Metabolism issues. Premature babies often take problems with their metabolism. Some premature babies may develop an abnormally depression level of blood carbohydrate (hypoglycemia). This tin happen because premature infants typically take smaller stores of stored glucose than do full-term babies. Premature babies likewise have more difficulty converting their stored glucose into more than-usable, agile forms of glucose.
• Immune system bug. An underdeveloped immune organisation, common in premature babies, tin can lead to a higher gamble of infection. Infection in a premature babe can quickly spread to the bloodstream, causing sepsis, an infection that spreads to the bloodstream.

Long-term complications

In the long term, premature nascency may lead to the post-obit complications:

• Cerebral palsy. Cognitive palsy is a disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture that can be caused by infection, inadequate blood menstruum or injury to a newborn'due south developing brain either early during pregnancy or while the baby is still immature and immature.
• Impaired learning. Premature babies are more probable to lag backside their full-term counterparts on diverse developmental milestones. Upon school age, a child who was born prematurely might exist more probable to have learning disabilities.
• Vision problems. Premature infants may develop retinopathy of prematurity, a disease that occurs when blood vessels smashing and overgrow in the light-sensitive layer of nerves at the dorsum of the eye (retina). Sometimes the abnormal retinal vessels gradually scar the retina, pulling it out of position. When the retina is pulled away from the back of the eye, it'southward called retinal detachment, a condition that, if undetected, can impair vision and cause blindness.
• Hearing problems. Premature babies are at increased risk of some degree of hearing loss. All babies volition have their hearing checked before going home.
• Dental problems. Premature infants who accept been critically ill are at increased run a risk of developing dental problems, such as delayed tooth eruption, molar discoloration and improperly aligned teeth.
• Behavioral and psychological problems. Children who experienced premature birth may be more likely than full-term infants to have certain behavioral or psychological issues, likewise as developmental delays.
• Chronic health issues. Premature babies are more likely to have chronic health bug — some of which may require hospital care — than are full-term infants. Infections, asthma and feeding problems are more probable to develop or persist. Premature infants are too at increased risk of sudden babe death syndrome (SIDS).

Prevention

Although the exact cause of preterm nascency is oftentimes unknown, in that location are some things that tin be done to help women — especially those who take an increased risk — to reduce their adventure of preterm birth, including:

• Progesterone supplements. Women who have a history of preterm nascence, a short cervix or both factors may be able to reduce the risk of preterm nascency with progesterone supplementation.

• Cervical cerclage. This is a surgical process performed during pregnancy in women with a curt neck, or a history of cervical shortening that resulted in a preterm nascency.

  During this procedure, the neck is stitched airtight with strong sutures that may provide extra support to the uterus. The sutures are removed when it's fourth dimension to deliver the baby. Inquire your doctor if yous need to avoid vigorous activeness during the balance of your pregnancy.

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Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/premature-birth/symptoms-causes/syc-20376730

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