The Premature Newborn Unit

1. The Premature Newborn Unit

Makarenko Rimma

2. The Premature Newborn Unit

The Premature Newborn
Unit provides a
specialized day-andnight care for premature
newborns and children
with any diseases. A
significant number of
babies is daily
hospitalized in our
Premature Newborn
Unit.

3. Why a baby is required to be put in the Premature Newborn Unit!

To catch up with the growth
and development, which
should occur during prenatal
development, premature
babies need extra care and
attention. For example, it is
difficult for the premature
newborn to keep warm
because the baby still can not
regulate its own body
temperature. This requires a
special baby cot (incubator).
If the baby is too small, weak
and can not eat, it can receive
necessary nutrition through
drip feed or through a feeding
tube, through which milk goes
into the stomach of the baby.

4. Premature newborns also need additional monitoring, treatment and care. They are still very vulnerable and can have serious health problems. Common health problems of premature babies:

- breathing problems;
- blood stroke;
- poor state of the heart;
- improper functioning of
the bowels,
- indigestion;
- sight problems;
- jaundice;
- anemia;
- infection.

5.

The medical staff of our
Premature Newborn
Unit constantly monitors
showing of any signs of
the above mentioned
disorders and diseases.
If necessary, they
promptly conduct
necessary treatment.

6. Who takes care of the baby in the Neonatal Pathology and Premature Newborn Unit!

Our Premature Newborn Unit
has a team of professionals:
Attending and specialized
nurses of the newborn unit.
Senior medical nurse.
Pediatrician or neonatologist
who will take care of your baby.
Other specialized doctors, such
as surgeons, radiologists, which
is called from other
departments for advice.
Attending physicians with
various degrees and titles.
Assistant physicians.
Physiotherapists.
Dietitians who will select
adequate nutrition for the baby.
Nurses caring for children.

7.

The last but not the least
important in the list - the
parents. They know best their
child; the mother is the main
person responsible for taking
care of it. Our doctors
understand this and treat
them as a part of the team. We
attract the mother, as possible,
to actively working of the
baby.
Our Premature Newborn Unit
follows an open doors policy.
Visits are always possible
during the day time

8. Why the maternity department has so many technical equipment and tubes?

Perhaps it's pretty scaring when
the mother sees her baby placed
in various kinds of technical
devices. She might have a
thought that she would never be
able to be with her child. Be
sure that as the baby gets
stronger, less technical
equipment is required for its
development. Every day it is
getting easier for the mother to
take care of its little baby.
Some devices emit loud sound
signals that can be frightening.
Do not hesitate to ask the
nurses, what such signal means,
whether it requires special
attention.

9. Here is a list of some types of equipment, which you may encounter in the Neonatal Pathology and Premature Newborn Unit:

Heaters for babies
The incubator is a special crib that supports
desired temperature and in some cases
controls the level of humidity. Some types
of incubators have a lid. Some incubators
are equipped with an additional heating
element, which is located above the baby.
Monitors
There are different types of monitors that
help the neonatal team take care of your
baby.
Monitors for tracking key vital functions
are used to monitor the baby's heartbeat,
breathing rate, blood pressure and body
temperature. Nurses place on the chest of
the baby applicators with wires, which
displays information on the health of the
baby on the monitor. Quite often, the
monitor produces a variety of signals.
The monitors that tracks the baby's blood
oxygen saturation. Applicators are installed
on the hands and feet of the baby.

10. Devices to assist the baby to perform respiratory function

The artificial lung ventilation apparatus
helps the baby's lungs to work. If your
baby is born prematurely or weak, it
may need such device. The doctor
gently inserts the endotracheal tube into
the baby’s trachea. Gas mixture
consisting of air and oxygen through the
tube enters and leaves the lungs of the
child.
The continuous positive airway
pressure apparatus is another type of
equipment that can help your baby
breathe. This device provides a
continuous flow of air into the lungs
and helps to keep the airway open. Air
enters through a mask or tube that is
installed in the nose of the baby. This
tube is called a nasal cannula.
If the child needs extra oxygen, there are
incubators with a transparent dome for
oxygen therapy. The baby can also get
extra oxygen through a mask or nasal
cannula.

11. Tubes

The Venflon intravenous cannula
attached to the tube for liquid, drugs,
nutrition needed for your baby may
be inserted into the baby’s vein. The
tube may also be placed in the area
of the artery for monitoring blood
pressure, levels of oxygen and
carbon dioxide in the blood.
The infusion pump is a device that
helps deliver necessary drugs and
fluids through a tube at a certain
speed and required frequency.
If the baby is not yet ready to eat
from its mother's breast or bottle, a
gastronomic tube delivers milk
directly into the baby's stomach. The
nurse gently inserts through the
mouth or nose of the baby a soft,
flexible tube into the stomach.

12. Special light rays

If your child has jaundice,
phototherapy will help it. Many
newborn babies develop jaundice.
Their skin is yellow, because a
substance called bilirubin is
produced faster than the baby’s
body can output it.
Under the influence of such rays,
bilirubin generated in the baby's
body is converted into a harmless
substance until the baby is able to
do it by itself. With the help of
phototherapy, bilirubin takes the
form which is much faster
excreted from the body. During
this procedure, the child is
exposed to phototherapy lights, a
special mask services as eye
protection.

13. Can the baby be visited in the Neonatal Pathology and Premature Newborn Unit?

The mother is usually
allowed to stay with the
baby around the clock.

14. How the mother can help her baby while it is in the Premature Newborn Unit?

The premature baby requires
all the same things as any
other child - mother's touch,
mother's voice and mother's
presence. All this will be of
excellent service to the baby.
There are some things with
which my mother will be able
to help her little baby while it
is in the Premature Newborn
Unit:

15. Kangaroo care

Once your baby is
stronger, one of the most
effective ways to help it is
the so-called kangaroo
care. The mother just
keeps her baby under her
clothes, providing skin to
skin contact. The kangaroo
care allows the baby for
calming down, improving
its health, accelerating
development.

16.

According to research, the
kangaroo care may reduce the
risk of infection, help
establish breastfeeding and
communicate with the baby.
Employees of our unit can
help the mother hold the baby
in the right way when it is
ready for that.
Some pediatricians have a
negative attitude to the
kangaroo care, considering
that its use gives the wrong
load on the spine of the baby
and affects development of
the baby.

17. Feeding of the baby

Once your baby is stronger, the
mother can begin to feed it. If the
mother wants to breastfeed, our
nurses will do everything possible to
help her.
Nurses help the mother pump out
breast milk until the baby gets
stronger.
Feeding the premature baby with
breast milk can help the
development of its brain and
contribute to the disease control.
Breastfed babies are sooner checked
out.
If the baby is born prematurely, it is
not always easy to establish the
breastfeeding process for various
reasons. It is especially hard when
the mother is under stress, when the
mother is too worried about the
baby. The mother will always be
provided with necessary assistance
and support.

18. Childcare

The baby may need
some time to get
stronger and parents
begin to do their normal
parental
responsibilities, such as
changing diapers and
bathing..

19. Taking care of yourself

One of the most important things
parents can do for their baby is to
take care of themselves. Get
enough sleep, eat regularly and
correctly, do breaks from home
routines.
It is very exhausting when your
baby is in the Premature Newborn
Unit, especially if there are other
children and the mother is not yet
fully recovered from difficult
labors. It is natural that the mother
puts the needs of the baby in the
first place, but she should not
forget about herself.

20. When may the baby be checked out from the hospital?

It is difficult to answer this
question, because all children are
different. It depends on the
condition of the baby. The
condition of the babies, weight
and size of which is less, which
are born prematurely, usually
involves a lot of problems. They
remain in most cases longer in
othe Premature Newborn Unit.
The premature baby, which, on
the contrary, feels better, usually
remains in the Premature
Newborn Unit until the previously
expected due date. If the baby’s
condition is really good, it may be
checked out earlier.