MAKING ADJUSTMENTS FOR PRETERMS WHEN ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT

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     When a baby is born preterm/prematurely, you need to monitor his development. The development of that baby is not assessed with the chronological age. That is, the number of months or years spent on earth. We use the corrected age to assess the child. This is done in order to compensate for the baby being born prematurely.

      This is how to calculate the corrected age.

     Subtract the number of months the baby spent in the uterus from 9 months. You can also subtract the number of weeks the baby spent in the uterus from 40 weeks. The figure you get is subtracted from the baby’s chronological age: that is, the weeks or months spent after birth. This will give you the corrected age which will be used to assess the baby’s development.

     For example, for a baby born prematurely at 7 months, who is now 10 months old. You subtract 7 months from 9 months. This gives you 2 months. You then subtract the 2 months from the baby’s age (10 months) to get 8months. This is the corrected age of the baby. You will then compare his development with that of an 8-month-old baby. This is to compensate for the early delivery.

     If a baby is born prematurely at 6 months and is now 1year (12 months), the corrected age is calculated as follows.

     9months-6months=3months

    12months-3months=9months

    The baby’s corrected age is 9months and so he should be assessed with the development of a 9-month-old.

 

    Calculation in weeks

    A baby born at 28weeks who is currently 6months.

    Subtract 28weeks from 40weeks(term). That gives 12 weeks. Convert the weeks into months(12weeks=3months). Then subtract 12weeks, which is about 3 months from the 6months. That gives 3months. So, the baby will be assessed with the developmental milestone of a 3-month-old.

    We must remember to assess the developmental milestones of premature babies with the corrected age and not the actual age.

    Dr Gloria Amponsah-Kodua (Paediatrician specialist)


Thank you for reading. Have fun calculating the corrected ages. Don’t forget to leave a comment.

The writer is a Paediatrician and a member of the Paediatric Society of Ghana. She is the Executive Director of healthy kids foundation.

 

 

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