Handicaps in babies

The smaller the baby, the weaker is his hold on life. The immaturity of his brain leads to poor activity and lethargy. Breathing difficulties may cause blue spells. Your doctor may need to resuscitate him. His temperature-regulatory mechanism is inadequate. Subnormal temperature is seen in a majority of such babies and may prove fatal. At times, he may develop high fever too. In coordination in sucking and swallowing causes vomiting and choking. The capacity of the stomach is small and he can tolerate only very small amounts of feeds. Digestive upsets are common. As a result of poor tone of the muscles, abdominal distension is common. Since liver enzymes are rather immature in such a baby, blood bilirubin level is relatively high and stays high for a prolonged time. This will be apparent to the mother as a prolongation of the so-called physiological jaundice over a longer period. Also, high blood bilirubin is more likely to cause damage to his brain than in a healthy baby. Incidence of a particular type of congenital heart disease, patent ductus arteriosus, is higher in preterm babies. He is more prone to develop dehydration and ankle swelling. He may also develop many metabolic disturbances such as hypoglycemia, various nutritional deficiencies such as anemia.