Today, November 17 marks the International Day of premature baby, a special date to pay tribute to these little big fighters. In recent years the number of premature babies has increased considerably, reaching more than 32,000 births in Spain. In the world, one in ten babies is born early.
It seems incredible that they are born so small but with such a great capacity to fight for their lives. The parents of premature babies know very well the hard road that is being traveled in those moments.
A baby is considered premature when it is born before week 37 of gestation. In turn, premature babies are divided into subgroups according to the moment of their birth: late premature (between week 33 and 36), great premature (between week 28 and 32) and extremely premature (before week 28). We have known cases of very small babies weighing just 500 grams (and even less) that have managed to get ahead.
This year's campaign is Socks for life (Socks for life), an artistic initiative through which artists and celebrities will be invited to create works of art around the theme socks. Among other scheduled actions, socks can also be donated and thus raise money to support the cause.
Kangaroo method
In recent years, with the rise of prematurity, they have also emerged more humanized methods for the care and treatment of premature babies, such as kangaroo method. Its benefits have extended to maternity hospitals around the world and more and more are adopting this very positive method for the recovery of the newborn.
With the Kangaroo Method, it is intended to reproduce as closely as possible what the baby would live if it were still inside his mother's womb. It is mainly based on contact skin with baby skin with the mother and more and more, also with the father, who becomes part of the recovery of her baby.
Among other things, it has been shown that it helps the premature baby better to endure the pain of medical interventions, to regulate his body temperature and respiratory rate, promotes breastfeeding and promotes the bond between the mother (and father) and her baby.
