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Home › Articles › Newborn Care › Are You Prepared for a Preemie?

Are You Prepared for a Preemie?

A Guide to Preterm Babies

By Gwen Morrison

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"While many babies born prematurely do very well in terms of growth and development, many have physical and psychological problems that emerge as the child grows up," says Pinto-Martin. "We have found that poor school performance and the need for special education is not always recognized when the child first enters school, but may be more apparent by third or fourth grade."

Gaining Ground
Kim Wilson from Hamilton, N.J., co-author of Living Miracles: Stories of Hope From Parents of Premature Babies (St. Martin's Press, 2000), offers this advice to parents: "As your preemie grows older, be aware of their speech and pronunciation and their progress or lack of. When my son was 6 years old he tested on a 3-year-old level."

Wilson's son was born two months premature, but weighed an astonishing 5 pounds, 7 ounces. At 8 years old, he had caught up with peers and is still currently on target. He attended speech therapy a few times a week and was tested from one to three times per year.

Dorothy Phelan from Ontario, Canada remembers the worry that came with her tiny bundle of joy in May of 1973. "She had such a tiny stomach, she was up every hour," says Phelan. "She walked late and she had a terrible time with her teeth. The doctors told me her jaws weren't completely developed when she was born. She later needed extensive work done on her teeth, including plates and braces. We discovered when she was 4 years old that her vision was underdeveloped at birth. She ended up wearing bifocals to correct the vision problem."

Phelan recalls that her daughter was always underweight, even in later childhood years. "She just didn't eat," says Phelan. "As she got older, she was plagued with bowel and urinary tract problems that doctors have linked to her premature birth."


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