Readers Respond: Did Your Late Preterm Baby Have Any Health Problems?

Late preterm babies, or babies born between 34 and 37 weeks gestation, are at risk for certain health problems. They may need NICU care, may have respiratory or feeding challenges, and may need to stay in the hospital for extended periods of time.

Did you have a late preterm baby? Sharing your experiences will help other parents of late preterm babies to know what to expect. Share Your Story

Nothing Has Shown Up At 22 Months

What bothered me most about the NICU (well, besides all the beeping!) was that no one could tell me if my baby was at risk for problems down the line. She was born with so little blood in her and weighing only 3lbs 10oz it was hard to believe that she would not have any health problems in the future. I breastfed her for 18 months in the hopes that it would help tip the odds in her favor. (I would have gone longer, but she began to treat nursing as a game!) Thus far she's just perfect. She is still on the small side, but she's quite a personality and she is growing normally -- walking, talking, throwing tantrums and the whole bit!

—Guest Amber Tresca

36 Weeks

My daughter was born at 36 weeks via c-section for a double nuchal cord. She did well from the start and we were discharged at 36 hours. She did have trouble maintaining her body heat and did not gain well for the first two months. She was 5 lbs 10 oz at birth and 5-1 when we brought her home. She is a little behind on her food, and gets an upset stomach easily but is way ahead in her milestones and speach. We were not given any info on preemies and I had never even heard of the late preterm baby. At 15 months is is now in the 50% percentle for height and weight uncorrected but still only eats the diet of a 12 month old.

—Guest pixie

My Baby

I had my daughter at 34 weeks and 2 days. She stayed in the nicu for 1 week and a half. I am so glad she's healthy.

—Guest arriyannahs mom

35.5 Week Baby

With my first son my water broke at 35.5 weeks. I was given the shot for his lungs. He was born weighing 6 lbs and had no problems other than slight jaundice but my second son had that too and he came at 40 wks! He was kept an extra day though for monitoring cause my water had been broke for 3 days. He's three now and is a healthy active little boy. He's past all of his milestones early!

—Guest Tabby

35 weeks

After a long hospital stay with preterm labor at 33 weeks where I received steroids for lung development, my son was born at 35.5 weeks weighing 7 pounds 4 oz (yes, we are sure on the dates). He was a little grunty and needed a little oxygen at first, but was released from the NICU after about 6 hours and sent home 2 days later.

—Guest slc mom

36 Weeks Exactly

My water broke at 35 weeks, 7 days, and my son was born 16 1/2 hours later. He was rushed to the NICU because he had TTN (fluid in the lungs) and was having a rough time breathing. He weighed 6lbs, 2oz.. He had a very hard time latching on and screamed bloody murder anytime I put him to the breast. We syringe fed for awhile, but even after he took a bottle (of breast milk) he had a rough time of it. He was discharged and had jaundice. Later we found he had a swallow dysfunction and silent reflux, he has had RSV and TONS of respiratory issues. ER visits are a regular thing for us, but he has since grown out of a lot of things, except when he gets a cold he's "just more sick than regular kids" according to the DRs. The swallow dysfunction caused us lots of issues (pneumonia, constant congestion), but with the corrective thickener in his drinks, it has been mostly corrected!!! The reflux is still very much a part of his life, and he takes 40mg of Nexium every day. 20mg in AM, 20mg at PM.

—Guest Bonnie09

36 weeker with RDS

My water broke at 36w4d after an uncomplicated pregnancy. After I delivered, she had obviously labored breathing, and spent 9 days in NICU where she received 2 treatments of surfactant and spent time in phototherapy for jaundice. When I got her home, she didn't want to wake up to breast feed, so I would sometimes have to pump and give her a bottle. She was a large baby despite being born early, 8 lbs 8 oz and 20.5". She now appears to suffer no ill effects, she is 23 months old and speaks in complete sentences. The first few weeks home, though, that was brutal.

—Guest Amanda

36 weeks exact.

I had my daughter at 36 weeks exactly. She was born at 5lbs and 8 ounces 17.5 inches long. She was under the warmer for about an hour but they never said she has a problem with maintaining her weight. As soon as I got her she latched right on and had no problems at all breastfeeding. They told me she has low blood sugar and as soon as she fed that was all gone. She did have jaundice but so did my son born at 38 weeks. At a month she was put on preemie formula for extra calories because she wasn't gaining weight very fast. She was on that formula for 3 months and she did not, I repeat DID NOT gain weight any faster on that than she did on my breastmilk. After she was taken off I continued with breastfeeding. My daughter is tiny, thats just who she is. She's now almost 3 and 24 pounds and about 28inches, she's just small. She is walking, running, and doing everything as scheduled except her speech, her speech is above her age level and so is her learning abilities.

—Guest Mamashobbyshop

34 wks 5 days

My DD was born at 34wks 5days and she seemed perfect. She weighed 5lbs 12 oz. She developed jaundice and was treated for it with photo therapy, other then that she was perfect. They never told us there could be problems later in her life but I don't know maybe they didn't know. She has had surgery on her eyes to correct crossing, she will be seven soon and they suspect that she has ADD, she does not do well in school, she may have a learning disability, she is somewhat immature for her age. She is very naive and does not recognize danger in anything. I am concerned and have no clue where to turn

—Guest Ashly

35w2d

My son was born at 35w2d with suck issues, inability to latch onto a nipple, constant state of congestion. He has had RSV 3 times, aspiration pneumonia more times than I can count. He is 22 months and does not walk or talk. He is far sighted and has accomodative esotrophia, wears Sure Step braces to correct the incorrect anatomy of his feet. He is dysphagic, hypotonic and hyperreflexic. And nobody knows why. Anyone else?

—Guest MelissaW01

35 weeks

I had my son at 35 weeks. Even though he was born healthy, crying, weighing 6lbs and looked seemingly perfect, there were a lot of challenges. He absolutely couldn't breastfeed no matter how much I tried and he suffered from bronchitis, bronciolitis, and pneumonia throughout his first 2 years. He always seemed to be on antibiotics. His skin was also extremely sensitive. I had to use Dreft in the wash for him until he was about 6. And only Aveeno and Arbonne products on his skin in infancy. Arbonne diaper cream was the only rash cream I could use and only Huggies Supreme diapers. He also would only take the larger orthodontically correct nipple for bottle feeding. I wish I had been more informed and prepared by my medical staff but I wasn't. I had to learn all this on my own; trial by fire. I was 19 and scared. There is not enough info out there for these types of "preemies". My son was never even called a preemie and I was given zero education on how to care for him or what to expect.

—Guest Angel

37 weeks

My daughter was born at exactly 37 weeks. She weighed 7lbs. She had a little bit of breathing trouble for the first hour, but didn't need any help. The nurses just suggested skin-to-skin bonding with me, with low lights and a quiet, calm atmosphere. She was discharged at the same time as me, but we did have some jaundice issues in the week to follow. We were able to treat it with a light bed at home. It was a struggle to keep her awake for breastfeeding, so we had to breastfeed and then supplement with breastmilk and syringe-finger feeding. She did not need formula supplementation. It took about a week to resolve the jaundice, and her feeding improved greatly when she wasn't so sleepy from being jaundiced. Today she is a happy, intelligent, social, sweet 2 year old with an impressive vocabulary for her age. She is very susceptible to respiratory problems when she gets a cold. She may be pre-asthmatic, but we're not sure if it is genetic or a possible complication of being born early.

—Guest Jill

37 Weeker

My first daughter was born at exactly 37 weeks and weighed 5lbs 6oz and was 18inches long. She came out screaming and nursed right away. She still had some fine hair on her shoulders and neck and she didn't have any cartlidge in the tops of her ears. She was little with not a lot of fat, but she did well and barely lost any birth weight. We took her home 2 days later at 5lbs 2oz. She had a little bit of mild jaundice but did not require light therapy and by the end of her first week home she was up to 5lbs 8oz and had kicked the jaundice. She is an EXTREMELY bright but small 3 year old who can read letters and numbers and just started karate!

—Guest Sarah

36 weeker

My daughter was taken by c-section at 36 weeks due to me having preclampsia. She had some problems latching on and tired very easily when trying to breastfeed. I didn't produce enough milk and had to put her on formula. Also she is very gassy, I believe this may be due to being early and having to adjust to formula.

—Guest jstalaf

tamrakar

It was very difficult when my baby was born. Now he is 8 years old and has been diagnosed as adhd and he is on the medication Concentra. Is it because he was born early???

—Guest bhumika