News Moms Need

If your baby is in the NICU, kangaroo care can seem like a life saver. Kangaroo care is a way to hold your baby so that there is as much skin contact between you and your baby as possible. It has wonderful benefits for both you and your baby.

For kangaroo care, your baby is placed upright on your bare chest.
• Ask the nurse for a warm blanket to cover you and your baby.
• Strong smells like perfume or cigarette smoke on you or your clothing can bother your baby, so be sure to wash before holding.
• Hold your baby for at least an hour in this position. Be sure to go to the bathroom and put your phone away before getting comfortable. Your baby needs your full attention.

Gentle, still touch is very important, especially for the most sick and fragile of babies. It might make you feel good to stroke your baby, but it doesn’t feel good to your baby in the NICU. Stroking can make a baby feel uneasy or uncomfortable. Touching without moving your hands is best.

Kangaroo care is good for your baby because it can:
• Keep your baby warm
• Stabilize your baby’s heart rate
• Help your baby gain weight
• Comfort your baby

It’s good for Mom and Dad too because:
• It can help you bond with your baby.
• It can stimulate a mother’s ability to make breast milk.
• It can reduce your stress and lift your spirits.
• It may help you become more confident parents.

Kangaroo care is safe and beneficial, even if your baby is connected to machines. Whatever your situation, kangaroo care is a precious way to be close to your baby. You will cherish this time. You can learn more about kangaroo care by looking at our Power Point presentation at this link.

When a baby born early is in the NICU, it’s usually because he needs to be closely monitored in a safe, protected environment so he can continue to develop like he would if he were still inside Mom. This high level of care can’t happen in the cute nursery you have set up at home. That has to wait until later.

Since premature babies cannot regulate their body temperature well, they often are placed in a radiant warmer for a couple of days. This odd-looking open bed may not look like it will do much, but a special sensor taped to the baby’s skin keeps track of his body temperature and adjusts the heat around him as needed. The openness of the bed allows easy access for medical attention during constant monitoring.

Once stabilized, babies usually are transferred to an isolette. This plexiglass box is an incubator that protects the baby from temperature fluctuations in the room. It has portholes on the sides for medical staff to reach through in order to provide different treatments, diaper changes, etc. One wall of the isolette can be unhinged to provide complete access to the baby. As in the radiant warmer, the temperature within the isolette is regulated in accordance with the baby’s temperature needs. Some isolettes also provide moist, humidified air to prevent the baby’s environment from becoming too dry.

Many parents of a baby in the NICU want to decorate their baby’s isolette, make it personal. In time, that will be a great idea, but in the beginning babies often can’t handle any extra stimulation. Very tiny babies may not even be able to handle being touched for the first week or so. It’s hard for parents to see their baby in such a sterile environment. Items such as a special isolette cover, a stuffed animal or family photo can provide a touch of home. By talking with the NICU staff caring for their baby, parents will learn when and how much of a personal touch will be best for their little one.

If you had a baby in the NICU, how long was it before you were able to personalize your baby’s bed?

Chris and Vince Centofanti thought they knew all about preterm birth. She was a neonatal nurse-practitioner caring for critically ill babies, and he worked for GE Healthcare’s Maternal-Infant Care division, providing specialized medical equipment to hospitals. But then their own baby, Nina, was born nine weeks early, weighing less than three pounds.  She suffered from respiratory distress and spent her first five weeks fighting for life in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU).

“I can’t tell you how difficult it was, seeing our own little girl lying in the NICU, fighting for life. All our hopes and dreams for her hung in the balance,” says Chris Centofanti.  “As a nurse-practitioner I’ve seen many other parents in this situation, and now I know exactly how they feel.” “I never expected that my own daughter would have to be cared for in a NICU with the equipment I had provided to the hospital,” says Vince Centofanti.

While pregnant with Nina, Chris felt unwell at 31 weeks and went to the hospital. She was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, a form of high blood pressure with elevated liver enzymes and a low blood platelet count. It is a rare, but potentially life-threatening illness that typically occurs late in pregnancy. The only treatment is to deliver the baby as soon as possible. For the next 48 hours, Chris was treated with steroids to help develop baby Nina’s lungs before birth. At birth, Nina was immediately transferred to the NICU, where she spent the next five weeks.

In addition to Nina, the Centofantis have an older son Nick, and a second daughter, Mia, who was born at 35 weeks of pregnancy, thanks in part to weekly progesterone treatments which reduced the risk of Chris going into premature labor. “Even though things didn’t go as planned, we’ve been blessed with three healthy children, thanks in large part to the work of the March of Dimes.  Just a few years ago, the outcome might be been very different,” says Chris.  She adds, “Thanks to the care that Nina received, and the support of the March of Dimes for research and treatment, now we also know the relief and joy parents feel when their child survives and becomes healthy enough to leave the NICU and go home.”

Today Nina Centofanti has grown into an active 7-year-old who loves to dance, climb trees and turn handsprings. She has been named the March of Dimes 2013 National Ambassador. As ambassador, Nina and her family will travel the United States visiting public officials and corporate sponsors, and encouraging people to participate in the March of Dimes’ largest fundraiser, March for Babies. The money raised supports community programs that help moms have healthy, full term pregnancies, and funds research to find answers to the problems that threaten babies’ lives.
 
“Serving as the National Ambassador family is a way for us to show our appreciation for our children’s good health, and serve as advocates for lifesaving March of Dimes programs,” says Vince.  “The March of Dimes has provided 75 years of support for research, treatments, educational and prenatal care programs that has saved lives, reduced the suffering, and improved the quality of life for countless children and the parents who love them. My daughter Nina is one of their success stories; a perfect example of what March of Dimes efforts have accomplished.”

The March of Dimes has been helping families by focusing on improving the health of babies and children for 75 years.  We all aspire to provide the best care and comfort for our children.

Over half a century ago, when paralytic polio threatened our children, Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby projected a similar message to pitch for the March of Dimes. The photo above, with March of Dimes poster boy Delbert Dains, was taken on the stage set for the movie White Christmas, released in 1954. The song “White Christmas,” by Irving Berlin and which Crosby first popularized in 1942, remains the best-selling single of all time. That Bing Crosby was one of the three “ultra icons” of pop music (the others are Elvis Presley and the Beatles) is undoubtedly lost to most people today, but a person viewing this photo in 1954 might recognize a familiar set of associations typical of that era: a child disabled by contagious disease, the most popular singer of the age, and the nostalgic pull of the meaning of Christmas and the emotional security of home.

The March of Dimes message has evolved, just as our mission has evolved. Our fervent wish for “stronger, healthier babies” is the bedrock from which all of our educational programs and scientific research are launched. From that perspective, and in the spirit of the season, we hope all the readers of News Moms Need will find that special place in the coming weeks “where tree tops glisten, and children listen…” Happy Holidays from the March of Dimes.

What is preterm labor? Who is at risk? Are there ways to prevent it? Learn the signs and symptoms and current treatment options.

Dr. Siobhan Dolan, author of the upcoming book Healthy Mom Healthy Baby: the ultimate pregnancy guide will be our guest. Ask questions and share your experience and advice.

Join us on Twitter Friday November 30th at 3 PM ET. Be sure to use #pregnancychat to follow along and fully participate.

Please join us Friday, November 9th, at 2 PM ET for a #preemiechat about micropreemies, babies born at less than 28 weeks and weighing less than 800 grams. Our guest will be Amanda Knickerbocker, @micropreemie, whose daughter spent over 200 days in the NICU.

Meet us on Twitter and share your experiences and challenges. Ask questions. Help other parents currently surviving the NICU rollercoaster with tips on things that really helped you survive those long days, weeks, months. We hope to see you then.

Blessings to all the courageous men and women who rescued delicate premature babies from a failing neonatal ICU during the devastating throws of hurricane Sandy.

In a normal NICU hospital setting, highly trained doctors, nurses, therapists and other professionals monitor a baby’s every breath. These fragile beings are totally dependent on all of us for regulating their breathing, body heat, heart rate, and nutrition and it can be a tricky balancing act in the best of times. Here is a link to just some of the many things related to life in the NICU.    How frightening it must have been for everyone to see the mechanical systems failing. That’s where the trained and compassionate medical personnel really shone.

It took multiple people to transfer the isolettes, oxygen, monitors. They needed to be carried down multiple flights of stairs, into the stormy night to waiting ambulances to carrying them to safety. Some babies were tucked skin-to-skin against a nurses warm body (kangaroo care) to keep them warm. Can you imagine being the parent of one of these fragile babies?

If you or a friend or family member experienced the added anxiety of having a baby in a NICU during last week’s storm, or in the power outages that have followed, please feel free to share your story with us and others. How are you coping? What would you like to hear from others and what suggestions do you have?

Please remember that November is Prematurity Awareness Month and November 17th is World Prematurity Day.   Please join the March of Dimes in our efforts to spread the word about the seriousness of premature birth. And don’t forget to thank the docs and nurses you meet for their amazing and caring work.

Today I met a preemie who was an inspiration.

I went to my physical therapy session to treat an injured shoulder, and a new PT aide greeted me with a huge smile and got me settled into my usual routine. Her name is Danielle, or “Dani” and since we were both new to one another, we started chatting. Somehow I started talking about the March of Dimes, (big surprise) and she told me that she had been born prematurely,– only 3 lbs. 2 ounces - at 32 weeks, and her twin, sadly, did not make it.

As I pedaled away on the arm ergometer, she told me about all of the medical problems she had at birth – a congenital heart defect (patent ductus arteriosus or PDA which required a metal closure to be surgically implanted, ) a murmur, a perforated rectum, and other complications. There were more surgeries than she could remember, not to mention having had a colostomy. Her preemie problems extended in to her childhood as she had several other surgeries. Numerous therapies followed the surgeries, especially OT and PT. In high school, she set a goal to be healthy and back on her feet in time for her prom, and she was successful!

There was something about this young lady, however, that made me almost think she couldn’t be right. Was she kidding me? As she ran around the room taking care of physical therapy patients, her spritely walk and engaging personality did not reveal that this fighter had had such a difficult start. Quite the opposite.

Danielle defied many of the predictions that doctors had made in those early days (25 years ago). She credits her mother for letting her live a normal life despite her fears of Dani hurting herself or facing serious problems from being so active. And active she was! Dani started gymnastics at the age of 2 and continued all through childhood and into high school. She played basketball and ran high school Varsity track in 7th grade competing against kids much older. She still loves to be active. In fact, she said she occasionally walks on her hands in the PT room, just for fun!

It was Dani’s post surgery physical therapy that inspired her to go into the field. She earned a bachelors degree in biology and is on schedule to graduate from a physical therapy assistant program in the spring of 2013. But why stop there? This preemie fighter is continuing to push the limits – she is waiting to hear if she has been accepted to a doctoral program in physical therapy, because she doesn’t feel she has fulfilled her true potential yet (nothing like an underachiever…right?). Dani is looking forward to specializing in cardiac rehab with children, especially preemies, where she feels she can make a difference. I bet she will. Danielle says her motto is “anything is possible. The word impossible contains the word possible.” She definitely practices what she preaches.

I was happy to discover that both Dani and her mother had participated in March of Dimes activities throughout the years. I am honored that she did. I’d like to think that many of the March of Dimes’ researchers and discoveries helped Dani to become the incredible young lady she is today. If so, it makes me smile. But, perhaps more importantly, it is Dani who is an inspiration to anyone who meets her, especially if you are a preemie or a person with a disability.

So, for all of you parents out there who feel that having a preemie (especially one with medical challenges) is all doom and gloom, you had best think about Danielle. Don’t underestimate your little one’s future – you never know what she will do or achieve!

It is the beginning of fall and soon winter will follow. And that means cold season is right around the corner. But when you have a premature baby sometimes those sniffles can mean more than just the common cold. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common virus that usually causes cold-like symptoms in adults and older children. In fact, almost all babies get it before the age of 2. But it can have serious consequences for high-risk infants.

Certain babies are at risk for severe RSV and complications from the infection, including bronchitis and pneumonia. Premature infants, babies who were born at low birthweight and babies with heart or lung disease are all at increased risk. It is especially important for parents of these infants to be aware of the signs and symptoms of RSV. These include:
• Persistent coughing or wheezing (Do not give over-the-counter cough and cold products to infants and children younger than 4 years of age. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, these medications can have serious and life-threatening side effects.)
• Rapid, difficult or gasping breaths
• Blue color of the lips, around the mouth or under the fingernails
• A fever of more than 100.4° F

RSV spreads easily through touching, kissing, sneezing, and coughing. It can live for hours on hard surfaces, such as countertops, and even in used tissues. There are some simple steps parents and caregivers can take to minimize their baby’s exposure to RSV. The main thing to do is wash your hands often and thoroughly with soap and water. Make sure everyone who touches your baby has clean hands. Keep your baby away from crowds of people. Do not allow anyone to smoke around your baby. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze and don’t share cups, spoons and forks with others.

Babies who are at highest risk from RSV (including babies born at or before 32 weeks of pregnancy) may benefit from medication that helps prevent the infection. This medication is called palivizumab (Synagis). It is given in monthly injections during the fall and winter months. Make sure you discuss this with your baby’s health care provider.
For more information, you can visit RSV Protection.

Note: The March of Dimes does not endorse specific brands or products.

Premature babies often face extra challenges in their first years of life. So, how are we supposed to know where they might fit with their developmental milestones? Are they on track? Watch this interesting video with pediatrician Dr. Alan Fleischman.