Local community learns more about premature babies

The day is normally celebrated worldwide on November 17, but the hospital celebrated the day before its actual date as they felt since the 17th fell on the weekend, they won’t have the large attendance the hospital was hoping for.

Project manager Sr Ntombizodwa Tshabalala said they felt they needed to help the community by providing lessons about prematurity since it is a global challenge.

“Our monthly statistics show that the hospital admits 90 per cent of premature babies who take up to three months to reach the recommended weight of between 1.7kg and 2kg. It became necessary to create information sessions to educate the community about prematurity, its relevance, and causative factors,” said Tshabalala.

Tshabalala said the importance of breastfeeding was highlighted to mothers of premature babies.

Sr Cynthia Ntombela, operations manager of the neonatal ward, said there were many causes for a mother to give birth to a premature baby.

“There are factors contributing to being prematurely born, such as infection, placental problems or genetic problems, but in many cases the causes are unknown,” said Ntombela.

“Certain events can stimulate the onset of premature labour, including placental abruption, incompetent cervix, hormonal changes or infection. There are multiple risk factors for premature birth, including having a previous premature birth, pregnancy with multiple babies, infection, drug or alcohol use, and age.”

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Community taught more about premature babies

Mothers who gave birth to premature babies were given opportunities to share their testimonies and experiences on raising them.

One of the preemie baby moms, Tasmin Botha from Preemie Connect, talked about the difficulty she faced of raising her second child who was born prematurely.

“My child was born in 2017 eight weeks before the due date. He weighed only 108g at birth due to placenta abruption.

“He spent more than 54 days at the hospital because of health complications including bleeding on his brain, undescended testes and that his valves in the heart were open,” said Botha.

She said most of the problems were resolved on their own, except for undescended testes that he had to undergo surgery for.

Botha said because she gave herself enough time to learn more about raising a preemie baby, her two-year-old state of health is now almost 100 per cent.

“Other than the fact that my baby started crawling and walking very late, everything is fine with my child,” she said.

Tevin du Toit (23), who was born prematurely, said looking at him no one can tell that he is a preemie baby.

He said being taken good care of resulted in him becoming a healthy baby s few weeks after birth.

“Even if you look at me now you can’t tell that I was born prematurely. My weight is good, so is my speech,” du Toit said.

He said he only had problems when he started to change from remedial school to normal school.

“I had a problem with fitting in and I stuttered a lot. But speech therapy assisted me a lot when it comes to stuttering,” said du Toit.

He also said he faced a lot of bullying, but he managed to overcome bullying by raising above the challenge he was facing.

Sr Tiny Mahlanya was given an opportunity to talk about caring for a premature baby.

“While in the neonatal intensive care unit, your baby will likely receive fluids and nutrients through an intravenous (IV) catheter, and later start breast milk or formula feedings through a tube slid through his or her nose or mouth.

“In a warm room at home, dress your infant in only a diaper, then place the baby on your chest and turn your baby’s head to one side so that his or her ear is against your heart. Research shows that kangaroo care can enhance parent-child bonding, promote breastfeeding and improve a preemie’s health,” said Mahlanya.

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GALLERY: Local community learns more about premature babies

It was a fruitful day for those who attended as they had the opportunity to learn more about premature babies and their treatment and care.

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