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About Premature Baby Development

Premature babies need extra special care to develop properly. Typically when a premature baby is born it has to stay in NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit, until it is around 34 weeks old (gestational age) and other stipulations are met. Preemies develop at a different rate than full-term babies for the first few years of life.

  1. Eating and Sleeping Routines

    • When your premature baby comes home he will most likely want to eat during the night and sleep during the day. To help change this pattern watch for hunger signs, like rooting, sucking, or bringing hands to face. Your baby will tend to eat small amounts very frequently at first, but will start eating more and going longer periods without having to eat. Your child will also start sleeping longer amounts of time during the night when the amount of milk or formula increases.

    Developmental Stages and Ages

    • A premature baby goes through the same developmental stages as a full-term baby, but will most likely go through the stages later. To get a real sense of where the premature baby should be, calculate how old she would be if she were born on her due date. If she was born at six months gestation, she was three months early. When she is six months old, it is as if she is three months old. She was born early but that does not mean she will develop early. The baby still has to do all the developing that should have gone on in the womb.

    Immunizations

    • Although premature babies do not develop at the same rate as full-term babies, preemies should get their immunizations at the same scheduled time as a full-term baby. The immunizations should go by the child's birth date, not the due date.

    Vision and Hearing

    • Retinopathy of prematurity is a condition where the small blood vessel in the eye grows abnormally. Also premature babies tend to have problems with hearing more often than normal term babies. If you stand behind your baby and make a loud noise and the baby does not jump or startle, he may have a hearing problem. Bring any hearing or vision concerns to your doctor's attention.

    Famous Ties

    • A number of important figures in history were born prematurely. These people include Johannes Kepler (born 1571, 2 months early), Isaac Newton (how early unknown), Winston Churchill (born 1874, 2 months early), and Anna Pavlova (born 1885, 2 months early). This is a great list to keep in mind when the thought of the development of your premature baby is overwhelming.

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