The growth and development of your baby
is important to take your baby to the doctor’s office soon after that the baby leaves the hospital. Your doctor will check the baby’s weight gain and find out how your baby is doing at home. Talk to your doctor about how to feed your baby. Your doctor may recommend vitamins, iron and a special formula if the baby is being bottle fed. Often given to premature babies vitamins to help them grow and stay healthy. Your baby may also need extra iron. After about four months of taking iron drops, your baby will have approximately the same amount of iron that a baby born at term. Your doctor may want your baby to take iron drops for a year or more. During the first two years your baby may not grow as fast as a baby born at term.
Premature babies are usually smaller during this time. Sometimes they grow in spurts. They usually catch the babies born at term after a while. To keep track of the growth of your baby, your doctor may use special growth charts for premature babies. Your doctor will also want to know things like how active your baby, when you sit for the first time and when crawling for the first time. These are things that doctors want to know about all babies. The feeding schedule for your baby At first, most premature babies need to feed eight to ten times a day. Do not wait more than four hours between feedings, because if you do, your baby may become dehydrated, it means lacking fluids. Six to eight wet diapers a day show that your baby is getting enough breast milk or formula enough.
Premature babies often spit up (returned milk) after eating. If your baby spits up too much, he or she will not gain enough weight. Be sure to talk with your doctor if you think your baby is spitting up too. Putting your baby to eat solids Most doctors advise giving a premature baby solid food between four and six months after the original date in which a baby might be born, not after the date the baby was born. Premature babies may choke if given solid food before that. They have to develop their ability to swallow. If your baby has medical problems may be helpful to a special diet. How your baby sleeps Although premature babies sleep more hours a day that babies born at term, they sleep for shorter periods of time.
They wake up more often and they wake you up more often. All infants, including premature babies should sleep on their backs (face up) and not on their stomachs (prone). Use a firm mattress and no pillow. Sleeping on the stomach and soft mattresses may increase the risk that your baby has Syndrome Sudden Infant Death (SIDS by its initials in English). The vision and hearing your baby ‘s squint is more common in premature infants than in babies born full-term. The medical term for crossed eyes is strabismus. Often, this problem disappears as the baby grows. Your doctor may want you to take your baby to an eye specialist to see if the baby has this problem. Some premature babies have an eye disease called retinopathy of prematurity (ROP by its initials in English). The ROP usually only occurs in babies born very early, at 32 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. If there is chance that your child has ROP, your doctor will advise you to take regular checkups with an eye specialist. Retinopathy of prematurity can be treated to help prevent vision loss. Premature babies are also more likely to have hearing problems than babies born at term.
If you notice that your baby does not seem to hear you tell your physician to make a check of hearing the baby. You can check your baby’s hearing by making noises behind or beside the baby. If your baby does not turn his head, or do not jump at a loud noise, you should tell your doctor. immunizations your baby to premature babies are given immunizations (shots) at the same ages that babies who are born to term. A flu shot can help your baby when it reaches six months old. Premature babies might get sicker with the flu than babies born at term. Talk to your doctor about flu shots for your family. This can help protect your baby from catching the flu from someone in the family.
Traveling in a car with your baby when traveling with your baby in a car, use an infant car seat (or another kind of infant carrier if your doctor recommends). Make sure your head and your baby’s body do not slump over when he or she is in the car seat. You can use rolled up towels or diapers to give support to the baby in the car seat. The safest place for babies to ride in the back seat. It is extremely important not to place your baby in the front seat if your car has an airbag on the passenger side. When driving the car with her ??baby give glimpses through the rearview mirror. Or you can have a friend or family member is mounted in the back with your baby. If using an apnea monitor for your baby, it should be used even while your baby is riding in the car. You should not leave your baby alone in the car even for a couple of minutes.
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