EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
|
| ||||
|
First Years (0-2)
|
||||
 Fortunately, specialists working in neo-natal intensive care units (NICU) around the world are dedicated to helping their most fragile patients. Most babies admitted to a NICU are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. (“Full term” is 37 to 42 weeks and “post term” is 42 weeks or more.) Preemies have low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds) or have a medical condition that requires special care. Dr. Chad Lieber, director of the CHOC Children’s Bio-Optics Laboratory, and neonatologist Dr. John Cleary, also from CHOC, have been working together to face preemies’ most challenging hurdle: proper nutrition. A baby born prematurely is unable to take in nutrients through her mother’s womb, as she should be doing at this stage in her development. Complications arise because preemies need to absorb, digest and metabolize nutrients, and excrete waste products, with systems that are not yet fully developed. Due to the lack of optimally working organs, the survival rates for these fragile babies are relatively low, compared to other newborns. Lieber and Cleary are working to increase this survival rate. Both are evaluating a non-invasive method for predicting preemies’ tolerance for feeding by using light reflected from the undersized newborn’s bellies. By doing this, the doctors can develop proper foods that can be processed by premature babies, giving them a greater chance to grow and develop in a normal fashion. (Particular attention is being given to the babies’ neurological systems, which are critical to this process.) The Gerber Foundation – which establishes grants for organizations that help the nutrition, care and growth of young children – has contributed funding to CHOC to develop optical sensors that measure the levels of oxygenated blood in the brain. Bandage-sized sensors are placed on NICU babies’ bellies and foreheads; the CHOC doctors hope to measure gut health, thereby determining if a preemie is healthy enough to tolerate food. Soon, about 200 CHOC babies will be tested. “Our hypothesis is that through blood oxygenation, we can determine feeding-tolerance levels in an effective, non-invasive manner that is simple to use and superior to the current imaging methods, which only show a difference after something bad has happened,” says Lieber. “There has been exciting progress in the survival of our most fragile preterm infants,” Cleary adds. “Survival is just the first step.” Jennifer Chin is a contributing writer to Inland Empire Family magazine. • GREAT PREEMIE RESOURCES Are you stressed out about raising a healthy preemie? These Internet resources can help: > Prematurity.org Includes lots of great advice and parental support > KidsHealth Furnishes general Q&As about preemies; click on the Parents Site link, then type “preemie” into the search box; kidshealth.org > Preemie.info > Preemieparenting.com > Preemiecare.org All three sites above include preemie stories and links to related resources. > CHOC Neonatal Intensive Care Have questions? Ask the doctors at CHOC’s helpful neonatal website: choc.org/nicu > Micro Mom Blog Follow Liz McCarthy as she blogs about raising a preemie, and have access to tons of great links; lizmccarthy.blogspot.com > The Gerber Foundation Offers grants and scholarships to help improve infant health; gerberfoundation.org • CHOC CARES Here are just a few of the many reasons why parents from throughout the region have for years trusted CHOC Children’s to give their preemies top-notch care: > CHOC is one of only 45 free-standing children’s hospitals in the U.S. > The number of babies in CHOC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has grown 104 percent since 1998. > CHOC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cares for infants who weigh as little as 1 pound. > To keep up with the latest advances, CHOC’s NICU nurses receive an average of 24 hours of continuing education every year. > Although CHOC remains one of the newest free-standing children’s hospitals in the U.S., the medical care center boasts outcomes on par with those that have been around for far longer. Source: choc.org |
||||
RSS SubscribeSEARCH THE SITE
