In this five-part series, you will read about premature babies and the neonatal ward.

This is part 5 of our article series on premature babies. A pregnancy that lasts 37 weeks or longer is classified as full-term, so you do not say that children born from week 37+0 are premature. If your child were to be sick, however, they may still need to be cared for in the neonatal ward to get extra support in the beginning.

Now your child may have slightly longer periods of being awake and the your child’s brain is developing constantly. At this time, the fine-tuning of the child’s brain cells, which have already been produced, takes place.

The sense that takes the longest to develop is vision, which will continue to mature, even after your child is full-term. When your baby is born, it can see at a distance that is approximately between the parent’s face and the chest, i.e. around 20-30 cm. The child gets enough stimulation just by looking at its parent’s face.

When your child is full-term, they can recognise different nuances in voices. At this time, the child can control its movements to a greater extent and bring its hands to its mouth and grasp things. The child can lift its head for short periods of time, but will need to continue practicing this while it is awake.