They are tiny and vulnerable, yet playful. Premature babies get a very special toy in a Ludwigsburg clinic.
Ludwigsburg (dpa/lsw) - According to a pediatrician, the number of premature births has fallen by an average of one third during the pandemic. "The lack of social contacts, a healthier life, less stressful work in the home office during the lockdown meant that pregnancies lasted longer," said Jochen Meyburg, Medical Director of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the RKH Klinikum Ludwigsburg, the German press agency. According to him, this value was even 50 percent at the Heidelberg University Hospital. Studies from Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands confirmed this.
However, this observation in 2020 and 2021 does not mean that all pregnant women should now forgo social contacts and their work. "You can't send women back to the 19th century - nobody wants that." Other doctors do not consider Meyburg's findings to be sufficiently proven in view of studies to the contrary.
Every year around 60,000 premature babies are born in Germany, who are cared for in incubators in specialized clinics on premature baby wards. Since they have a strong grasping reflex, they sometimes pull on the hoses and cables that surround them. To prevent this, a crocheted octopus is placed in the incubator in Ludwigsburg for them to grasp and hold. "The grasping reflex, also on the feet, by the way, dates back to primeval times when babies were still clinging to their mother's fur," explained Meyburg.
The most common reasons for premature births are infections, premature rupture of membranes and undersupply of the unborn child due to circulatory disorders in the placenta. Premature babies are children who are born before the 37th week of pregnancy. According to Meyburg, the very youngest babies born in the 22nd week weighing less than 500 grams have little chance of survival. In Ludwigsburg, one to three of 50 to 60 very small premature babies with a birth weight of less than 1500 grams die every year - with 2600 births a year. "We are in a borderline area where the medical team talks to the parents about whether therapy makes sense in view of the child's possible disabilities."
Before the 24th week of pregnancy there is a clear risk of permanent impairment. "But many get away with it without any damage to their health." From the 32nd week there are unproblematic births.
Meyburg advises that parents of premature babies, most of whom are brought in by caesarean section, should spend a lot of time with the child. The so-called kangaroo care is particularly recommended: the children lie on their mother's or father's stomach and are covered with a blanket - just like the kangaroo babies in their mother's pouch. According to Meyburg, the cuddly octopuses bring warmth and color to the incubator and, with their twisted arms, are reminiscent of what the baby always sees in the mother's womb - the umbilical cord.
