Preterm Birth: Introduction Low birthweight defines neonates who are born too small, and preterm or premature birth are the terms used to define neonates who are born too early. With respect to gestational age, a newborn may be preterm, term, or postterm. With respect to size, a newborn may be normally grown or appropriate for gestational age, small in size or small-for-gestational age, or over...

INTRODUCTION At Singapore General Hospital, approximately 240 infants of the 1500 deliveries per annum are delivered preterm, many of very low birth weight-median of 1210 g-often have extended hospital stays, even after they are declared medically fit. METHODS To better understand the discharge patterns of the preterm infants in the department, a team of two neonatologists and two nurses perf...

BETTER neonatal care has improved survival of infants less than 1.0 kg birth weight (Stewart et al, 1977). One of the challenges in managing very low birth weight (VLBW) babies is that of providing optimal nutrition (Shaw, 1973), given the constraints upon absorption (Grand, Watkins and Torti, 1976) and subsequent metabolism (Rosenberg and Scriver, 1974). Our aim is to highlight the development...

BACKGROUND Although immigrants to the United States are usually ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged, foreign-born women generally have lower rates of low birth weight infants than do US-born women. OBJECTIVE To measure the relationship between maternal birthplace, ethnicity, and low birth weight infants. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study of birth certificate data. SETTIN...

In preterm infants an optimal nutritional supply must be provided early during the neonatal period. Indeed, undernutrition leads to growth retardation which may be hazardous for brain development (18). Growth rate is maximum during the last trimester of gestation and corresponds to about 60 cm/year (19). Therefore, contrary to young children, preterm infants after an arrest of growth, whatever ...

Postnatal growth failure in preterm infants is due to interactions between genetic and environmental factors, which are not fully understood. We assessed dietary supply of nutrients in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW, < 1500 g) infants fed fortified human milk, and examined the association between nutrient intake, medical factors and growth during hospitalisation lasting on average 70 d. We studied...

INTRODUCTION Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome is an extensive desquamative erythematous condition caused by exfoliative toxins of Staphylococcus aureus. This disease usually affects neonates and generally responds rapidly to antibiotic therapy. CASE PRESENTATION We describe the case of a premature baby boy, weighing 1030 g, born after 26 6/7 weeks gestation, who developed two episodes of ...

BACKGROUND Early life stress, such as painful and stressful procedures during neonatal intensive care after preterm birth, can permanently affect physiological, hormonal and neurobiological systems. This may contribute to altered programming of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) and provoke changes in HPAA function with long-term health impacts. Previous studies suggest a lower HPAA...

The preterm very low birth weight infants are at high risk of developing neurodevelopmental delay despite little or no medical complications at the time of birth. The care and interventions of such infants have an impact on the pre-existing risk. The Developmental Care Interventions (DCI) are the range of treatment strategies aiming to alleviate the risk thereby improving neuro-developmental ou...

Extremely premature and very low birth weight infants have multiple, costly and complex health and developmental issues. After the neonatal period, the best chance for these children to avoid extreme disability and dependence, and thereby reach their potential, is with timely and intensive early intervention by appropriate allied health services, such as speech, occupational and physiotherapy. ...