Care Gwen To “Incubator" Babies Meets With Striking Success

Southland Times, Issue 23816, 13 May 1939, Page 17

Care Gwen To “Incubator" Babies Meets With Striking Success

One of the world’s smallest babies is at present thriving under expert attention and care in the special ward at the Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. This is Wendy, who, when she was born, on January 12, weighed one pound 14 ounces and three-quarters. The Dionne quintuplets, who first put “incubator babies,” as they are familiarly known, on the map, could have given Wendy a pound or more at birth, for their total weight was 13 pounds and six ounces. The case of Wendy, who lies in her special cot blissfully unconscious of all the aids which science have brought to bear towards the preservation of her young but valuable life, is evidence ot the wonderful progress made of recent years in the care and treatment of the premature baby. Had she been bom five or six years ago she would have had only an infinitesimal chance of survival. Yet recently the scales recorded her weight at 41b 13oz, and after two or three more months under special care it is confidently expected that she will be sent home to her mother a lusty babe of 61b or 71b. It has been suggested that that date should be chosen fot her birthday! In common with ether premature babies, Wendy has spent the first weeks of her life in a special little ward at the hospital, where, wet or fine, rain or shine, at the height of summer or the depth of winter, the temperature is so carefully regulated that it never varies from 65deg. to 70 deg. Fahr. Not the smallest current of draught is permitted in the specially ventilated room. Her first resting place was in a tmy cot, the temperature of which is electrically controlled, and which is the nearest thing to an incubator. Then she graduated to other cots, the heat of which is regulated by hot water bags, changed in rotation according to the

needs of her body temperature, which is frequently taken. ’ Soon, as she develops- the power of generating and maintaining her own body temperature, the number of these bags will be diminished. FED WITH A DROPPER The maintenance of the correct temperature is one of the essentials in preserving the tiny, slender thread which holds a premature baby to life. The smallest ailment will serve to snap it, and there are regular inspections for possible infections of nose or throat, since colds, ear infections and pneumonia are the greatest bogies. The next essential is correct feeding. On the first day in the lives of the Dionne quintuplets they got warm water from an eyedropper, and the second day started on a diet of mother’s milk, corn syrup and a few drops of rum. Wendy’s diet has been more simple—and quite teetoal! She began with two teaspoonsful of milk a day, fed to her through a pipette—virtually a dropper, with a tiny bottle attached —and the amount has been gradually increased, according to the rule that as th 6 body capabilities develop three ounces of liquid should be given for each pound of body weight. The gentlest treatment is required for this feeding, and the milk is given drop by drop. When human milk is not available deficiencies of iron must be made up. OIL BATHS | It will be some months yet before | Wendy has her first introduction to a water bath. For the first fortnight of her life she was left in peace, and since then has been rubbed with oil once every third day. Only her tiny face shows as she lies in luxury in her cot, swadded with cotton wool, with a special padded bonnet oi wool and gauze to keep the air away from her bald head.

No Royal child could have better service or more devoted attention than that

given by the sisters, who take a special pride in her progress. There was a very grave doubt as to whether she could survive, and now, with careful watching and handling, the verdict is “progressing well.” SAVING BABIES Saving the babies from death in the first month of life is the biggest problem in bringing down the toll of infant mortality, and statistics tell a striking story of success, not only here, but in other countries of the world. In New York a special demonstration centre has been set up at the New York Hospital for research and training in the care of premature babies. It will be available for training doctors and nurses and medical social workers in the unsolved problems of incubator babies, such as how they should be fed. Here the air is filtered, and the temperature and humidity automatically controlled. A big thermometer is pinned to the coverlet of each crib, and a shaded electric light gives extra heat when individually needed. • Every known emergency is anticipated. Oxygen tanks stand ready for cyanotic attacks —insufficient aeration of the blood—and each child is tested for blood type on being admitted, so that transfusions may be given at the .shortest possible notice. As the baby ’thrives he graduates from the air-con-ditioned atmosphere of the special nursery to another room approximating the conditions he will find at home, and here his mother visits him, learning from the nurse the special routine he will need when he can leave hospital. It is interesting to note that our own institutions have nothing to learn from this model New York centre. The same infinite precautions, the same equipment and treatment is in use at the Women’s Hospital and at the Children’s Hospital where actual incubators are in use. Last year no fewer than 181 of the 3730 babies who passed through the Women’s Hospital wards were premature babies, so that the need for this equipment is manifest.