Salvaging New Lives: Low Birth Weight and NICU Protocol

Background : A low birth weight baby is a clinical and diagnostic challenge. The neonatologists are faced with numerous neonatal intensive care unit protocols. This study was designed to review the policies of management of neonatal jaundice, sepsis, anemia, hypoglycemia, jaundice and hypoxic encephalopathy in a low birth weight newborn. Methods: Care of newborns in was done in intensive care unit after numerous research papers on low birth weight management were referred. Conclusion: The low birth weight newborn baby should be intubated electively if signs of respiratory distress appear. There should be an early Doppler of cerebral arteries to predict the ischemic changes in neonatal brain. Probiotic therapy with Bifidobacterium bifidus and Streptococcus thermophillus protects against necrotizing enterocollitis and results in increased weight gain. Newborn intravenous lines should not be flushed with normal saline ampoules containing benzyl alcohol as preservative as this increases the fluidity of neonatal blood brain barrier and predisposes to neonatal jaundice. Erythropoietin subcutaneous injections are most rewarding in low birth weight babies with neonatal anemia. There is also increased weight gain. Kangaroo care is useful in management of neonatal hypothermia and is also an immunological boast as the baby gets colonized with favorable microorganisms of maternal skin