Taking your preterm baby home is a daunting task. Taking care of a preterm baby, which weighs just 1-1.5 kgs can be troublesome, over the fact that babies are already so small size.
How to take care of a preterm baby?
The first thing is to always set in the neonatal ICU and learn how the nurses hold and take care of the baby by managing your baby yourself. Learn how to feed the baby, how the body temperature should be maintained, how the baby should be bathed among other things. Most hospitals will have sessions of the preterm babies with mother's for atleast 2 to 3 days to make sure that the baby can be looked after properly after leaving the hospital.There are three things that should be taken care of after bringing the baby home:
1. Nutrition
The baby should be fed as per the recommendation of the doctor. Breastfeeding, providing medicines, vitamins, minerals and timely provision of food to the baby must be ensured. Also look out for danger signals, such refusal to being fed, not passing urine, frequent vomiting, the skin colour of the baby turning blueish or not remaining normally pink or difficulty in breathing.
2. Maintaining the temperature
Second thing to take care of is maintaining the baby's body temperature by giving skin to skin contact. Make sure the room temperature is properly maintained, the normally suggested range is 24 to 28°C.
3. Don't allow outsiders
Do not allow outsiders to meet the baby presently, since the immunity of the baby is relatively low and the baby is at a risk of getting an infection. Children often are the carriers of most infections, so make sure they are distant from the baby. One should stay confident and keep in touch and follow up with the doctor for taking better care of premature babies.
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