Babies who are born too small

Babies who are born too small Babies who are born too small (SGA) or too early (Premature) often go the hospital’s NICU (Neonatal Intensive care Unit). Here the babies get round the clock care from a team of experts who regularly monitor the baby's blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and temperature. This NICU set up has increased the survival rate of many preterm babies.

Preterm Care May 24, 2023 0 236 Add to Reading List

Most of us would have seen the NICU with latest incubators and other medical devices. But did you know how this NICU came into existence? It took a war, famine, and poultry to develop a technology responsible to save thousands of premature infants. Between 1870 to 1871, the Franco-Prussian war along with a famine led to a population decline in France. To increase the population, the French needed to have more babies. At this time a French obstetrician Dr. Etienne Stephane Tarnier realized that if he could find a way to reduce infant mortality, the population growth rate problem could be solved. He saw the benefits of warming chambers for poultry at the Paris Zoo. He then constructed similar chambers for preterm babies in 1880. This incubator solved the problem of thermoregulation and it saved many babies.