Delivery Early May Mean Developmental Delays

US News, Science
February 17, 2011

"There's a reason why normal gestation is 40 weeks," said Dr. Marty Ellington Jr., chairman of the department of pediatrics at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "If a child needs to be delivered for a maternal or infant medical condition, care has advanced where those children can do quite well. But we should never discount the importance of those two to four weeks. If we have a choice, we would want the child to go to term."

Woythaler said more research is needed to determine how to best help preterm babies suffering developmental delays reach the same level as their peers carried to term.

"Very premature infants automatically get referred to early intervention," she said. "Not these infants. Not all of these infants are doing poorly -- a lot are doing well and normally. Once we can pinpoint which infants can benefit from early intervention, that's the point we can do something."

Ellington pointed out that gender and medical issues that contribute to developmental delays in this group can't be changed, but "the social component is modifiable with respect to early intervention programs."

"When put into a whole, [the delays] can significantly impact a child's performance, particularly as they reach school age," he said. "They compound each other and make it difficult for a child to function in a normal classroom."

[Sam: Create a warm, interactive environment rich in language stimulation, whether your baby is born full term or early, but especially if born early.]

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2011/02/17/delivery-even-a-bit-early-may-mean-developmental-delays