Henry Uche
Amuwo Odofin Maternal and Child Centre (AOMCC) Festac, Lagos, has discharged a baby who weighed 700 grams at birth but managed to weigh successfully 1.5kg at discharge in about 50 days.
The Medical Director, AOMCC, Dr Dapo Soyinka, told Daily Sun in Lagos that the delivery and management of a preterm baby, with such weight was a milestone because it was a first-of-its-kind for them. “It was peculiar because the baby was not only born too soon but also born too small for his gestational age.”
According to him, it took ultimately God’s Grace and expertise as well the dedication of the specialists and staff of the Hospital to be able to achieve it.
The MD pledged the Hospital’s support to continue monitoring the baby until he is about 24 months, to ensure that he doesn’t develop any complications.
The Head of Paediatrics Department, Dr Oyejoke Oyapero, said that the hospital was informed when the mother was referred to them to expect a small baby, so they were worried about the weight.
“Our fears were heightened with the weight of 700 grams, that is the smallest we have had in this hospital.
“We were very skeptical about the survival of the baby because these kind of babies are supposed to be about 25 weeks at that size, not at 33 weeks and their chance of survival is really slim,” she said.
The Paediatrician added that after assessing the baby, given his size and age, they would have referred the baby to one of the State’s tertiary hospitals but couldn’t find any with space to admit him.
She noted that babies born too soon, too small or too sick could develop complications that may lead to cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and other diseases.
“Given the complexities of the delivery, we progressed with the management of the baby, put him in the incubator, gave drugs to monitor any apnea (cessation in breathing) and fortunately, he did not have a lot of that.
“The baby pulled through, we needed to transfuse at some point and we put the baby under photo-therapy, expecting jaundice. At the first week he dropped to 600 grams and we were scared but he started picking up again and as the days went by, we got to 1,000 grams (1kg), then 1,200 grams.
“We had to bring the baby out of the incubator earlier because he had stayed longer given the age and the weight and monitored him closely,” she said.
Oyapero also noted that the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) was then adopted to help the baby get heat from his mother and served as an apnea monitor to keep him awake and alive.
She further said managing the preterm neonate, who was born during the period of the total lockdown in the state was quite challenging for not just the hospital but also the mother, who had to monitor the baby two-hourly.