Bliss (charity) weeks gestational age. This study is helping to inform healthcare and education services to ensure the right support is provided at all times for premature and sick babies as they grow towards adulthood. The heads of babies that are born extremely premature (less than 29 weeks) do not grow very well, which affects how their brains develop later. Many of these babies are fed intravenously, directly into a vein, in the first month of life as their gut is too immature to digest milk in high enough quantities for their nutritional needs. The SCAMP study, which was funded by Bliss,
Preterm birth to keep the infant warm on their way to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In developed countries premature infants are usually cared for in an NICU. The physicians who specialize in the care of very sick or premature babies are known as neonatologists. In the NICU, premature babies are kept under radiant warmers or in incubators (also called isolettes), which are bassinets enclosed in plastic with climate control equipment designed to keep them warm and limit their exposure to germs. Modern neonatal intensive care involves sophisticated measurement of temperature, respiration, cardiac function, oxygenation, and brain activity. Treatments may include