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Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Similarly, the child mortality rate, also known as the under-five mortality rate, compares the death rate of children up to the age of five.
Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), or fetal growth restriction, refers to poor growth of a fetus while in the womb during pregnancy. IUGR is defined by clinical features of malnutrition and evidence of reduced growth regardless of an infant's birth weight percentile. The causes of IUGR are broad and may involve maternal, fetal, or placental complications.
Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between 28 and 32 weeks, early preterm birth occurs between 32 and 34 weeks, late preterm birth is between 34 and 36 weeks' gestation. These babies are also known as premature babies or colloquially preemies or premmies. Symptoms of preterm labor include uterine contractions which occur more often than every ten minutes and/or the leaking of fluid from the vagina before 37 weeks. Premature infants are at greater risk for cerebral palsy, delays in development, hearing problems and problems with their vision. The earlier a baby is born, the greater these risks will be.
Infantile respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS), also called respiratory distress syndrome of newborn, or increasingly surfactant deficiency disorder (SDD), and previously called hyaline membrane disease (HMD), is a syndrome in premature infants caused by developmental insufficiency of pulmonary surfactant production and structural immaturity in the lungs. It can also be a consequence of neonatal infection and can result from a genetic problem with the production of surfactant-associated proteins.
Breast milk or mother's milk is milk produced by mammary glands located in the breast of a human female. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns, containing fat, protein, carbohydrates and variable minerals and vitamins. Breast milk also contains substances that help protect an infant against infection and inflammation, whilst also contributing to healthy development of the immune system and gut microbiome.
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), which involves skin-to-skin contact (SSC), is an intervention to care for premature or low birth weight infants (LBW). The technique and intervention is the recommended evidence-based care for low birth weight infants by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2003.
Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Medical viability is generally considered to be between 23 and 24 weeks gestational age. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the availability of advanced medical care. In low-income countries, half of newborns born at or below 32 weeks gestational age died due to a lack of medical access; in high-income countries, the vast majority of newborns born above 24 weeks gestational age survive.
Low birth weight (LBW) is defined by the World Health Organization as a birth weight of an infant of 2,499 g or less, regardless of gestational age. Infants born with LBW have added health risks which require close management, often in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). They are also at increased risk for long-term health conditions which require follow-up over time.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating intestinal disease that affects premature or very low birth weight infants. Symptoms may include poor feeding, bloating, decreased activity, blood in the stool, vomiting of bile, bowel death, multiorgan failure, and even death.
Neonatal jaundice is a yellowish discoloration of the white part of the eyes and skin in a newborn baby due to high bilirubin levels. Other symptoms may include excess sleepiness or poor feeding. Complications may include seizures, cerebral palsy, or kernicterus.
Antenatal steroids, also known as antenatal corticosteroids, are medications administered to pregnant women expecting a preterm birth. When administered, these steroids accelerate the maturation of the fetus' lungs, which reduces the likelihood of infant respiratory distress syndrome and infant mortality. The effectiveness of this corticosteroid treatment on humans was first demonstrated in 1972 by Sir Graham Liggins and Ross Howie, during a randomized control trial using betamethasone.
Nutrition and pregnancy refers to the nutrient intake, and dietary planning that is undertaken before, during and after pregnancy. Nutrition of the fetus begins at conception. For this reason, the nutrition of the mother is important from before conception as well as throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding. An ever-increasing number of studies have shown that the nutrition of the mother will have an effect on the child, up to and including the risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes throughout life.
Breastfeeding difficulties refers to problems that arise from breastfeeding, the feeding of an infant or young child with milk from a woman's breasts. Although babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk, and human breast milk is usually the best source of nourishment for human infants, there are circumstances under which breastfeeding can be problematic, or even in rare instances, contraindicated.
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that breastfeeding begin within the first hour of a baby's life and continue as often and as much as the baby wants. Health organizations, including the WHO, recommend breastfeeding exclusively for six months. This means that no other foods or drinks, other than vitamin D, are typically given. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to 2 years and beyond. Of the 135 million babies born every year, only 42% are breastfed within the first hour of life, only 38% of mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months, and 58% of mothers continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years and beyond.
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process of feeding milk in all female creatures is called nursing, and in humans it is also called breastfeeding. Newborn infants often produce some milk from their own breast tissue, known colloquially as witch's milk.
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), also known as Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI), is a worldwide programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), launched in 1992 in India following the adoption of the Innocenti Declaration on breastfeeding promotion in 1990. The initiative is a global effort for improving the role of maternity services to enable mothers to breastfeed babies for the best start in life. It aims at improving the care of pregnant women, mothers and newborns at health facilities that provide maternity services for protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, in accordance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
Neonatal sepsis is a type of neonatal infection and specifically refers to the presence in a newborn baby of a bacterial blood stream infection (BSI) in the setting of fever. Older textbooks may refer to neonatal sepsis as "sepsis neonatorum". Criteria with regards to hemodynamic compromise or respiratory failure are not useful clinically because these symptoms often do not arise in neonates until death is imminent and unpreventable. Neonatal sepsis is divided into two categories: early-onset sepsis (EOS) and late-onset sepsis (LOS). EOS refers to sepsis presenting in the first 7 days of life, with LOS referring to presentation of sepsis after 7 days. Neonatal sepsis is the single most common cause of neonatal death in hospital as well as community in developing country.
Infant feeding is the practice of feeding infants. Breast milk provides the best nutrition when compared to infant formula. Infants are usually introduced to solid foods at around four to six months of age.
Human milk immunity is the protection provided to the immune system of an infant via the biologically active components in human milk. Human milk was previously thought to only provide passive immunity primarily through Secretory IgA, but advances in technology have led to the identification of various immune-modulating components. Human milk constituents provide nutrition and protect the immunologically naive infant as well as regulate the infant's own immune development and growth.
The first 1000 days describes the period from conception to 24 months of age in child development. This is considered a "critical period" in which sufficient nutrition and environmental factors have life-long effects on a child's overall health. While adequate nutrition can be exceptionally beneficial during this critical period, inadequate nutrition may also be detrimental to the child. This is because children establish many of their lifetime epigenetic characteristics in their first 1000 days. Medical and public health interventions early on in child development during the first 1000 days may have higher rates of success compared to those achieved outside of this period.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Engle, William; Tomashek, Kay; Wallman, Carol (December 2007). ""Late-Preterm" Infants: A Population at Risk". Pediatrics. 120 (6): 1390–1401. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-2952 . PMID 18055691.
- 1 2 Barfield, Wanda. "Late preterm infants" . Retrieved 16 July 2014.
- ↑ Wang ML, Dorer DJ, Fleming MP, Catlin EA. Clinical outcomes of near-term infants. Pediatrics. 2004 Aug;114(2):372-6. doi: 10.1542/peds.114.2.372. PMID 15286219.
- ↑ Moster, Dag; Lie, Rolv; Markestad, Trond (July 17, 2008). "Long Term Medical and Social Consequences of Preterm Birth". The New England Journal of Medicine. 359 (3): 262–273. doi: 10.1056/nejmoa0706475 . PMID 18635431.
- ↑ Morse, S. B.; Zheng, H.; Tang, Y.; Roth, J. (December 15, 2008). "Early School-Age Outcomes of Late Preterm Infants". Pediatrics. 123 (4): e622-9. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-1405. PMID 19336353. S2CID 46233619.
- ↑ Santos, Ina (November 16, 2009). "Late preterm birth is a risk factor for growth faltering in early childhood: a cohort study". BMC Pediatrics. 9 (71): 71. doi:10.1186/1471-2431-9-71. PMC 2780991 . PMID 19917121.
- ↑ Stephens, Bonnie (August 22, 2008). "First-Week Protein and Energy Intakes Are Associated With 18-Month Developmental Outcomes in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants". Pediatrics. 123 (5): 1337–1343. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-0211. PMID 19403500. S2CID 6529250.
- ↑ Meier, Paula (2007). "Increased lactation risk for late preterm infants and mothers: evidence and management strategies to protect breastfeeding". Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. 57.
- ↑ Radtke, Jill (January 2011). "Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health". Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing. 40 (1).
- ↑ Lapillonne, Alexandre (March 2013). "Nutritional Recommendations for the Late-Preterm Infant and the Preterm Infant after Hospital Discharge". Journal of Pediatrics. 162 (3): S90-100. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.11.058. PMID 23445854.