critical issues

• Anoxia


  Oxygen shortage
• Causes of anoxia


  • Umbilical cord becomes pinched or tangled at birth
  • Position during birth (breech position)
• Anoxia


  Can initially cause poor reflexes, seizures, heart rate irregularities, and breathing difficulties
• Anoxia


  Can also lead to Cerebral Palsy - difficulty controlling muscle movements
• Anoxia


  Increases the risk of learning or intellectual disabilities and speech difficulties
• Low Birth Weight Infants

  Weigh less than 5 pounds and 8 ounces at birth
• Types of Low Birth Weight Infants

  • Very Low birth Weight - less than 3 pounds 4 ounces
  • Extremely Low Birth - less than 2 pounds
• Pre-term Infants


  Born three weeks or more before pregnancy reach full term (before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation)
• Small for Date Infants (Small for Gestational Age Infants)


  Those whose birth weight is below normal when the length of pregnancy is considered
• Progestin


  Might help in reducing preterm birth
• Degrees of Prematurity


  • Extremely Preterm - born less than 28 weeks gestation
  • Very Preterm - less than 33 weeks
• Kangaroo Care


  Involves skin-to-skin contact in which the baby, wearing only diaper, is held upright against the parent's bare chest to help stabilize the preterm's heartbeat, temp, and breathing
• Respiratory Distress Syndrome


  Lack of surfactant (lung-coating substance) that keeps air sacs from collapsing
• Postmature Babies


  Tend to be long and this because they have kept growing in the womb but have had an insufficient blood supply toward the end of gestation
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome


  Sudden death of an infant under age 1 which cause of death remains unexplained