Caring for Premature Babies

Across the UK, 8% of all babies are born prematurely, that’s 53,000 babies each year¹. Survival outcomes for preterm babies in the UK are improving, but gestational age has an impact². Babies born at 22 weeks have around 10% chance of survival, with survival rate rising to 89% for babies born at 27 weeks².

Pre-term births can be scary and daunting to new mums and their families, so continued support and communication with them and their support network is key. Pregnancy, the birth and the early weeks of a child’s life are a crucial period for the future of the family and of the child³.

As a healthcare professional working within the maternity department, you play a key role in helping new mums feel reassured and empowered, by supporting them in navigating what happens once the baby has arrived.

At Laborie, our mission is to help every mother, and every newborn, go home healthy. The Laborie Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatal portfolio includes products that support the continuum of care during antenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, neonatal and gynaecological surgical procedures.

Working in the NHS can be a challenging environment, particularly in high stress departments like maternity and neonatal wards, where your time is in demand and your patients emotions may be high. Another reason why Laborie are passionate about developing world class products to support healthcare professionals to deliver the highest quality care for their patients.

Every baby born in the UK will be offered a newborn blood spot heel prick test between day 5 and day 8 of their life⁴. babyLance^TM Safety Heelsticks have been designed by neonatal nurses, for neonatal nurses. Multiple heel prick tests can be distressing for mum, baby and the healthcare professional responsible for administering them, – particularly for premature, small babies who often experience more heel prick tests than a full term baby. That’s why babyLance is available in 3 sizes, birth – 6 months (incision depth 1mm), preemie (incision depth 0.85mm) and micropreemie (incision depth 0.6mm).

babyLance Heelsticks proprietary internal spring activates the blade’s swift pendulum action—delivering an ultra-smooth incision to reduce trauma to an infant’s delicate subcutaneous tissues. To reduce trauma, the babyLance cut profile illustrates a gently arching incision that lacks a blunt puncture mark or inconsistent, jagged cut.

A 0.1 ml dose of 24% sucrose has been  found to be effective in treating pain associated with a single heel lance in neonates⁵. The sweet taste of sucrose can trigger an analgesic effect, which helps alleviate pain and distress in neonates and infants during procedures like lumbar punctures, venepunctures, and immunizations which may cause discomfort⁶.

Designed to help calm and soothe babies, SweetUms^TM 24% sucrose solution is preservative free and has a rounded tapered tip for easy insertion into the babies mouth easily facilitating sucrose administration drop by drop.

 

SweetUms^TM can be used in conjunction with other non-pharmacological comfort measures including acupuncture, non-nutritive sucking, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care, swaddling, therapeutic massage, musical therapy and facilitated tucking.

At Laborie, we believe that great healthcare is an essential safeguard of human dignity. To support successful and effective use of our portfolio, we have a team of clinical educators, including qualified midwives to offer training and education to healthcare professionals across the UK. If you are interested in training or education for your team, please contact us here.

To learn more about babyLance^TM, SweetUms^TM and the Laborie OB portfolio, click here.

 References:

1. Premature birth statistics | Tommy’s (tommys.org) 2. Premature Babies: Causes, Complications, and Treatment (patient.info) 3.Fair Society Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review), Professor Marmot, 2010. 4. Newborn blood spot test – NHS (www.nhs.uk) 5. Stevens, B., Yamada, J., Campbell-Yeo, M. et al. The minimally effective dose of sucrose for procedural pain relief in neonates: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Pediatr 18, 85 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-018-1026-x   6. Nursing guidelines : Sucrose (oral) for procedural pain management in infants (rch.org.au)

With thanks to: