The births of premature children have increased in developed countries in recent times. Between 8 and 10% of births occur before the 37th week of gestation and justify 75% of perinatal mortality and 50% of childhood disability.
These are children who grow up in conditions other than those born at term and that is why both parents and health professionals should take into account (among other things) that, When talking about premature children, age has to be corrected.
All children born before 37 weeks are considered premature and, since they are born before, they are smaller and less developed than those born at term. This means that the development, weight and height of these children is not equivalent to their real age, since they are born several weeks earlier than they should have done and the growth and maturation that they had to do in the womb they have to do in the outside.
Take for example the case of two babies, Alberto and Carla, whose expected date of birth is August 1, 2009. One of them, Alberto, is born prematurely, with 31 weeks and 2 days of gestation, on June 1 of 2009.
After two months, on August 1, the second baby, Carla, is born at term. The day we talk about Carla as a newborn baby Alberto is celebrating his second month of life.
Does this mean that Alberto has two months of advantage over Carla?
Well no, much less, although many people believe so. The day that Carla is born corresponds to the day in which Alberto was theoretically born, and that is why it must be considered that the true day of birth when assessing the development and growth of the child, of starting to offer new foods, etc.
Each time a premature child is placed on a growth chart according to his age of birth, he is harmed by the gestation time that was lost.
If the professional takes it into account there is no problem, but if you treat it as if it were your real age you can take the label of “undergrowth” or “fair weight” when it may be that its growth and development is perfectly normal for your corrected age.
Let's go back to the case of Carla and Alberto. On December 1, 2009 Alberto turns 6 months old and his mother, who has a neighbor with a child of that age, who has started feeding him, decides to start the complementary feeding.
Carla is 4 months old and the nurse has told her mother that it is advisable to drink milk until six and, from then on, start giving her little things to eat.
The result is that Alberto will start eating with a corrected age of 4 months, when he should start doing it about 8 months after birth, when he was a corrected age of six, Missing two wonderful months of exclusive milk. In the same way, a professional who does not take into account Alberto's corrected age could expect him to remain seated for seven or eight months after birth, when he will probably not until two or more months later.
Does age have to be corrected for everything?
For everything except for the vaccination calendar. Children who are vaccinated begin immunization two months after birth, like full-term children.
Even when?
The correction must be made to assess weight, height, head circumference, development quotient and motor acquisitions up to 24 months of age corrected. Once you reach that age, the child's real age applies.
I know that everything explained is obvious, but with a child born at 35 weeks gestation I have realized that many professionals do not correct the age and place the weight and size on the graphs according to the real age or even recommend offering Food ahead of time.
