Babies born prematurely

dolores haze · Oct 21, 2007

Hi folks. I'm writing a children's story about a baby dragon that hatches too soon.

Her loving parents do everything they can to help her survive.
They put her in a patch of sunlight to ward off jaundice, they place her between them when sleeping to ensure sufficient body heat, they chew her food before giving it to her so she can digest it. I want to give a couple of more examples that show how much they love her, and try to ensure she lives, but I'm drawing a blank. Research on the internet is teaching me a lot about technological and medical treatment for preemies, but the dragon parents have no access to this.

Does anyone know of any other "natural" remedies/treatments for preemie babies that I could use in this story?

Also, as preemies grow up they often hit those developmental milestones slightly later than their non-preemie peers. I'd appreciate anyone who would be willing to share a few stories about their experiences with this. Thanks so much.

Shady Lane · Oct 21, 2007

No suggestions, dolores, but I just want to say this sounds frickin adorable.

Voyager · Oct 21, 2007

My son was born at twenty six weeks. For a long time his skin was very dry but because it was also very thin, baby lotions and the like were toxic to him. Instead we swabbed his skin with corn and olive oil, which also helped him gain weight, believe it or not. He also had constant spells of apnea where he would stop breathing, usually tickling the bottom of his foot would get him going again. Hope this helps.

WendyNYC · Oct 21, 2007

I don't know about dragon babies, but with humans, the lungs are one of the last organs to develop. I like Voyager's foot-tickling suggestion for your story.

Also, when the lungs aren't developed, it makes it very difficult to suck. Hmmm, how do dragons nurse?

Voyager · Oct 21, 2007

That's another posibility, they could maybe make some kind of straw or something to feed it. It's the vegal reflex and the immature brain stem combined that make it difficult for preemies to suck, their little brains can't coordinate breathing and sucking without sending them into apnea and the vegal reflex causes bradychardia. That might be a bit too much for little kids though. I think I like the chew his food for him better.

vfury · Oct 21, 2007

First off, your story sounds adorable!

Well, I was born three months early in the mid-eighties (was a December girl, should have arrived the following March), so I'm going to use me as an example.

It took several months before I was able to leave the hospital and no one had any high hopes apart from my family that I would even survive, and there were consequences while I was growing up:

- I developed a stammer as a result of my vocal cords and lungs not being fully formed, which I still have (that might affect the baby dragon in some way?). It's annoying, but bearable.

- I did have to go to therapy because the sinews at the back of my legs hadn't time to properly develop, so I was walking on tiptoe for a couple of years before it finally worked

- and I used to have back problems and would easily put out discs in my back before I realised the problem was solved by not running around everywhere. I do have to be careful though.

Other than that, though, I grew up normal and was never held back in school or anything. I'm short, but that's the norm for my family. And I definitely didn't reach my milestones after everyone else - I had already started to learn to read and write by the time I started primary school (this was the early nineties, before montessori schools became the norm in Ireland, anyway), and I've finished an English Masters before turning 22. This could have been a result of my upbringing, however (education is strongly stressed in my family), and I'm only one person, after all.

I hope some of this helps!

Pat~ · Oct 21, 2007

Both of my babies were 4-5 weeks premature; I think there's been some research that has shown that preemie babies who've been held and cuddled respond faster and thrive better than those that have little nurturing. I held and rocked mine constantly (in addition to their excellent neonatal care) and they were both home within a week.

One of mine had 'light therapy' for jaundice; I wonder if you could use 'sunlight therapy' in your story?

dolores haze · Oct 21, 2007

Voyager said:
My son was born at twenty six weeks. For a long time his skin was very dry but because it was also very thin, baby lotions and the like were toxic to him. Instead we swabbed his skin with corn and olive oil, which also helped him gain weight, believe it or not. He also had constant spells of apnea where he would stop breathing, usually tickling the bottom of his foot would get him going again. Hope this helps.

Great suggestions, Voyager. I'm going to use both of them.
Mmmm - so I need some kind of natural dragon skin lotion. It'll be fun coming up with that.
The fear that baby will stop breathing will be used in the story - it will strike a chord with the parents reading it to their child. I remember just watching my babies sleep, watching them breathe, and worrying that they might stop. There's been a couple of crib deaths in my family, so I was probably extra vigilant.
Thanks so much, Voyager, and please add anything else that may occur to you.

dolores haze · Oct 21, 2007

WendyNYC said:
I don't know about dragon babies, but with humans, the lungs are one of the last organs to develop. I like Voyager's foot-tickling suggestion for your story.

Also, when the lungs aren't developed, it makes it very difficult to suck. Hmmm, how do dragons nurse?

I'm working from the assumption that dragons are reptiles, so I won't have to deal with the nursing thing.
I'm going to use the foot-tickling suggestion when she's a brand new hatchling. Most of the baby dragon's lung immaturity will come in to play when she has difficulty mastering her fire breathing skills, with hilarious results.

L M Ashton · Oct 21, 2007

My niece was born 3 months early in 1990, and she was 3 lbs 3 oz. She spent some time in NICU, but had zero developmental problems, much to the surprise of everyone. She had a good prognosis from the very beginning. She was at the low end of the height and weight tables until she was twelve, and now she's taller than average at 5'8" or 9". She's perfectly healthy and always has been. She also had no problems in school at all, if that makes a difference.

dolores haze · Oct 22, 2007

vfury said:
First off, your story sounds adorable!

Well, I was born three months early in the mid-eighties (was a December girl, should have arrived the following March), so I'm going to use me as an example. It took several months before I was able to leave the hospital and no one had any high hopes apart from my family that I would even survive, and there were consequences while I was growing up:

- I developed a stammer as a result of my vocal cords and lungs not being fully formed, which I still have (that might affect the baby dragon in some way?). It's annoying, but bearable.

- I did have to go to therapy because the sinews at the back of my legs hadn't time to properly develop, so I was walking on tiptoe for a couple of years before it finally worked

- and I used to have back problems and would easily put out discs in my back before I realised the problem was solved by not running around everywhere. I do have to be careful though.

Other than that, though, I grew up normal and was never held back in school or anything. I'm short, but that's the norm for my family. And I definitely didn't reach my milestones after everyone else - I had already started to learn to read and write by the time I started primary school (this was the early nineties, before montessori schools became the norm in Ireland, anyway), and I've finished an English Masters before turning 22. This could have been a result of my upbringing, however (education is strongly stressed in my family), and I'm only one person, after all.

I hope some of this helps!

Yes, thanks, it does help. My little dragon will experience some frustration while her little body catches up. Maybe the stammer (in dragonland) would translate to her inability to roar, or something. And the therapy thing - I could do a lot with that. Thanks again.

Southern_girl29 · Oct 22, 2007

Pat~ said:
Both of my babies were 4-5 weeks premature; I think there's been some research that has shown that preemie babies who've been held and cuddled respond faster and thrive better than those that have little nurturing. I held and rocked mine constantly (in addition to their excellent neonatal care) and they were both home within a week.

One of mine had 'light therapy' for jaundice; I wonder if you could use 'sunlight therapy' in your story?

To follow up on what Pat said, they do "kangaroo care" now. My daughter wasn't a preemie, but she was a low-birth weight baby (due to my pre-eclampsia) and had trouble regulating her body temperature. The nurse would bring her in with just a diaper on and would lay her on my chest, bare skin to bare skin, and it helped get her temperature up.

Tallymark · Oct 22, 2007

This sounds adorable.

You could probably come up with some super-cute dragon-specific stuff to go along with the typical premature conditions. Like, maybe her scales haven't grown in yet, and they have to line the nest with the softest of leaves--or maybe her scales are too thin, and they need to feed her powdered diamonds to harden them. Maybe her fire sac is underdeveloped, and she needs extra help when it comes time to produce her first flame (perhaps by swallowing some lit coals--hey, it's fantasy, you can take a few liberties!).

Baby animals are often born with their eyes shut, especially if premature...I'm not sure, but if the skin of the eyelids of a premature animal is too thin, you might need to cover them so that the light going through won't hurt the undeveloped eyes? I could be wrong on that one though.

Oiling the skin sounds like a pretty good idea too. Maybe some exotic plant oils...or if you reference birds for some of your biology, you could go with a preening gland (birds have an oil gland at the base of their tail...when preening, they rub their beak on their backs to pick up the oil).

Tsu Dho Nimh · Oct 22, 2007

The standard "fix" for preemie babies in arreas where medical attention is scarce, or in an emergency, is to place the baby in skin-to-skin contact with the mother, with baby in nursing position and then wrap a shawl around both of them.

It's a temperature-controlled incubator, with heart sounds and food supply. The survival rate is strikingly higher than for babies of similar prematurity kept at the same temps artificially.

dolores haze · Oct 25, 2007

Thanks for the help, everyone. The children's story is posted in SYW -Children's if anyone wants to take a look at it. It's called "Toosoon the Dragon."

Babies born prematurely

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

Voyager

Ribbed for your pleasure.

WendyNYC

fiddle-dee-dee

Voyager

Ribbed for your pleasure.

vfury

Hearts the furrily challenged.

Pat~

Luftmensch Emeritus, A.D.D.

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

L M Ashton

crazy spec fic writer

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

Southern_girl29

Tallymark

Tsu Dho Nimh

dolores haze

international guttersnipe