Safe breathing in a premature baby

The lungs finally develop to the 34th week of intrauterine fetal maturation. During formation, they are small in size and filled with liquid, their walls are not elastic. The pulmonary system is not ready for oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide. When the development of the lungs ends, the child's breathing takes place on his own. If he is born before they are formed, he needs help to breathe normally. Especially it concerns premature babies. 

After birth, babies should breathe continuously to receive oxygen. In preterm infants, part of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) that control breathing is not sufficiently developed to provide uninterrupted breathing. This causes a violation of the rhythm of breathing. From time to time, accelerated breathing gives way to periods of shallow breathing or stopping it. This condition is called apnea.

As a rule, in children who were born at the gestation period of fewer than 35 weeks, there are periods of stopping breathing or heart. These breathing disorders can begin on day 2 of life, and last from 2 to 3 months. The lower the weight of the child and the term of prematurity at birth, the more likely that he or she will face the problem of apnea. In the diagnosis of apnea, preterm infants (especially those born less than 34 weeks of gestation) will receive medical care most of the time in the intensive care unit of newborns. Many of these children will not do without hardware assistance in breathing, because their lungs are too immature to allow babies to breathe on their own.

To support respiration in preterm infants and children with extremely low body weight, the SIPAP Infant Flow device is used, which simultaneously implements several methods of respiratory support for patients with respiratory failure. It is advisable to use multiple respiratory contours for this apparatus. The use of a multiple respiratory circuit in comparison with a disposable breathing circuit has several advantages: it serves almost 200 times longer, is resistant to the destructive effects of disinfectants, has a very elastic and durable structure, multifunctional. The purpose of our project is to buy a neonatal contour for SIPAP Infant Flow, which we deliver to the department of post-intensive care, nursing and rehabilitation of newborns at the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology of NAS Ukraine.

Help the children breathe!