The very first thing that I was concerned about other than the size of my child was the reality that she was on 2lpm supplemental oxygen. She was breathing on her own which I was told was quite good and within a couple of days she was taken off of the oxygen. That is one of the principal requirements to being allowed to bring your baby residence, your baby need to be breathing on his or her own.
About the final milestone we met was the weight requirement. Now this is one of those black and white areas I was talking about. Samaiyah was born at 2lbs. 12oz. and the hospital likes the baby to be 5lbs. before being discharged. she was just over 4lbs. but since she was doing so well she was allowed to come property after all the other milestones had been met.
Yet another requirement is for the baby to be able to maintain her body temperature. First they will be remain in their incubator and the temperature will be turned off and the baby will be monitored to see if their body temperature will stay steady and at the proper level. After a day or two if the baby is performing well they will move her to an open crib and then the fun begins due to the fact you are allowed to hold and interact with them fairly a lot all you want.
Also your baby should be taking all of her feedings by mouth. That means graduating from the feeding tube, learning to suck a bottle and not to breath even though they are eating. Preemies can expirate the formula into their lungs because their bodies have not learned to hold their breath even though drinking.
When it came down to the last test, the vehicle seat test, we had to order a special 1 due to the fact she was still so tiny. This test was to see if the baby could deal with the ride residence in the auto seat and to make sure her oxygen saturation didn’t drop and their had been no drops or spikes in her heart rate. The baby is needed to stay in the auto seat for the estimated quantity of time that it will take you to get her house from the hospital.
I hope this info has been of a help to you and given you an notion of what to anticipate in the NICU with your preemie.
Milestones your preemie must meet before being discharged from the NICU
Posted by Admin on January 26th, 2012
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