A premature baby has a lower threshold for deterioration than a full-term infant. After discharge from neonatal care, return to hospital immediately if your baby shows any of the following:
- Breathing that is faster than normal, laboured, or associated with grunting or chest recession
- A colour change to blue, pale, or mottled skin that does not improve with warming
- Temperature above 38 degrees Celsius or a baby who feels persistently cold
- Refusal to feed for two or more consecutive feeds, or marked reduction in feeding compared to the baseline established before discharge
- Weight loss or failure to gain weight at follow-up measurements
- Unusual limpness, difficulty waking, or prolonged unresponsiveness to stimulation
- Any episode of stopping breathing, even briefly, that required stimulation to restart
- The follow-up schedule for premature babies is more frequent than for full-term infants for exactly this reason. Use corrected age rather than birth age when assessing development, and do not hesitate to contact Vatsalya Children's Hospital between scheduled appointments if you are concerned.
Written by Dr Rajendra Pathak, MBBS (Motilal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad), MD Pediatrics (Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi), Senior Consultant Paediatrician and Founder-Director, Vatsalya Children's Hospital, Mahavir Road, Orderly Bazar, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221002.
