How do premature babies develop?

Much of the development of premature babies is normal. Babies also need attention in their early years to prevent health problems.

With premature babies, you should pay attention to the correct age of the baby, for example if the baby is 1 year old but 2 months early, it means that now the baby is only 10 months. You should only compare your baby's changes with those 10 months old. If you are concerned about the development of premature babies, please refer to the information below.

1. Premature babies develop language

Children learn languages ​​at different rates. Most premature babies develop this ability at a slower rate. Compared with term babies, on average, premature babies have more difficulty speaking and understanding what others say to them, leading to language delays.

However, this is not true for all preterm babies. There are many cases of premature babies possessing excellent language control. You can help your child learn language by reading and singing to him often, and responding to his / her response.

2. Premature babies develop physically

Preterm babies tend to be shorter and lighter than full term babies. If these babies become seriously ill, sometimes this can affect their growth up to 12 years old. If not, your baby will still develop to keep up with friends.

Movement ability

Babies born prematurely and underweight are more likely to experience physical and motor problems. When the baby is born earlier than expected, the doctor will check for signs of physical movement, such as muscle differences on different sides of the baby while the baby remains in the primary intensive care room. born. Suggestions for early intervention are often based on these tests.

About 40% of very early babies have mild defects in the following problems:

Fine motor skills, such as making a puzzle or holding a pencil.

Plan your movements, such as understanding, planning, avoiding obstacles.

Eye observation incorporating hand movements such as writing or drawing.

Emotional motor skills such as feeling the weight of a glass of water or lifting a box of cake without being dropped.

About 10-15% of premature babies have a weakened motor condition, commonly known as cerebral palsy. Accurate diagnosis of cerebral palsy before 12 months is not easy. It all depends on the diagnosis of baby development skills such as sitting, crawling and walking.

Tooth

Infants are at greater risk of oral disease than full term babies, especially when they are small and often get sick. The reason for this sometimes comes from having to use a breathing tube or not getting a lot of calcium and phosphorus in the womb.

Dental problems can include:

Abnormal enamel: Teeth may be gray or brown, with an irregular surface. Cavities form more easily with babies with less enamel. Therefore, let's train your child in the habit of oral hygiene from a young age to improve the problem as well as bring him to the dentist periodically.

Teething:  Premature babies usually teething a few months later, but still appear in the usual sequence.

At the time of your baby's 1 year old, you should take your baby to the dentist to understand how the baby's teeth grow and to help observe the baby's teeth development progress.

3. Premature babies develop senses

Most premature babies develop normal senses but are more likely to experience hearing or vision problems. Some parents say that premature babies are very sensitive such as high cognitive ability or sensitivity to certain sensory stimuli such as noise or certain fabrics. There are many studies supporting this idea.

Some preterm babies don't like having anything in their mouths and parents have a lot of trouble with breastfeeding. Your baby may also have a lower pain threshold than a full term baby.

Hearing

For premature babies, babies are more likely to have defects. This number is only about 2 - 6% and is most common in babies born very early. If this happens, your baby will need a hearing aid or a cochlear implant.

Most babies get their hearing checked for the first time while still in hospital. This will diagnose most problems, but the most important thing is to detect and solve them promptly because children need to listen properly to develop language and social communication skills.

Vision

Another common problem in premature babies is visual development. Babies will encounter problems such as limited vision, squinting, sensitivity or problems with perception of depth. In fact, only 1 to 12 percent of premature babies have serious visual impairment. Your baby will be checked regularly while in the hospital, from there detected and treated promptly.

4. Premature babies develop the ability to think and learn

Right from the time I was still in the womb, my darling never stopped learning and building my ability to think as well as experience things and phenomena. In fact, most preterm babies are still able to think and learn as normal.

There are still limitations to your baby's thinking skills, and you'll only realize that when your baby reaches school age. That is when children need to focus their thinking skills on thinking activities to solve problems, such as memorizing, word recognition, learning to sing. If your baby has a weakness in one of these areas, he or she will have difficulty learning to read and need extra support.

There are many problems in the process of developing thinking skills in premature babies, such as having difficulty planning and focusing attention on work. However, you can help your baby improve on the above problems if you provide them with a safe environment.

5. Infants develop communication skills, expressing emotions

Crying is a baby's way of giving signals to their parents about their needs. However, babies in the neonatal intensive care area tend not to cry a lot, except when the healing process involves painful actions, the baby cries.

The first year after birth, premature babies spend most of their time sleeping instead of communicating. Babies are also easily irritable or pay less attention. In addition, children often have difficulty staying calm, not eating well, and poor sleep. Therefore, the baby needs to be observed in order to have timely psychological support measures.