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

This is part 2 of the series on premature babies. Children born in weeks 22-27 are called extremely preterm and need highly specialised intensive care during their first weeks outside the womb.

When children are born so early, efforts are made to make the environment as similar to that in the womb as possible. This means keeping warm in a warm and humid incubator, and it needs to be calm, dark and quiet around them, and the little body needs support from a bed nest. A baby will also often need assistance breathing in the form of a respirator, due to the irregular breathing pattern and the fact that its lungs are not fully mature yet. Most children also need light treatment as their liver is not fully developed, as well as nutrition through a drip and food through a feeding tube.

Most of the child’s energy is spent on continuing to develop its brain, which is still immature even though most of the nerve cells have been formed. Around week 25-27, the brain begins to gain more structure and can function more efficiently. This is important for the child’s learning and intelligence.

At this point, your baby’s hearing is developed, but they are sensitive to loud noises. The eyelids are very thin and provide minimal protection for their eyes. Their eyes are sensitive, but under the right conditions can manage to open for shorter moments. Their sense of smell has developed and your child can already taste flavours.

Extremely preterm babies often fluctuate between shallow sleep and light wakefulness, so it can be difficult to know whether your baby is asleep or awake. Their skin is thin, reddish and has very superficial nerve fibers that make the skin fragile. Around week 25-27, the baby can start to move as a reaction to someone talking, but the immature movement pattern makes the movements seem rather jerky and comes in the form of stretching.