LIFE IN INCUBATOR

Evening Star, Issue 21518, 16 September 1933, Page 6

LIFE IN INCUBATOR

UNDER " SAFETY WEIGHT " Medical science Ims made marked advances in the last few years in the care of delicate and prematurely born children. It has called to its aid tiie electric incubator, in which exceptionally small babies live until they reach “ safety weight,” which is, generally, about 4lb. The mites are fed in the incubator, and their first glimpse of the outside world is obtained through the glass front of their strange fostermother. In a ward at the Melbourne Women’s Hospital one day seventeen babies, including twins, slept peacefully in cots, lined with iieecy blankets (states the ‘Argils’). All weighed less than slb, At the end of the ward stood an electric incubator, which had played its part in sustaining the lives of the littlo ones. Each tiny cot was ticketed with the name of its occupant, and a carefully kept record of each child’s advance in weight. The smallest child the ward has ever sheltered weighed 21b 4oz. When they attain a weight of 4lb they are transferred from the incubator to a cot. None may leave the hospital until it weighs 51b. The ward, which is served by specially-trained nurses, is kept at an even temperature. The children aro fed by means of tiny glass pipettes with rubber ends. The twins who held pride of place in the word the other day were reported to bo “doing nicely.” Their respective weights wero 41b 9oz and 31b 12oz. The sister in charge said that under modern methods few delicate babies were lost. “If they survive the first three or four days,” she said, “ they are usually on the right road.” Tho babies in the ward aro never bathed, but every third day their bodies are oiled.