(COLUMBUS, Ohio) November 2014 – By the time you read this article, another baby will be born prematurely in this country. It happens more than 450,000 times each year and the numbers continue to climb. In the last generation alone the number of premature births has risen more than 35 percent.
Treating those tiny babies usually takes teams of specialists, and often some rather unconventional approaches. “There aren’t a lot of medications made specifically for preemies, so we adapt a lot of medicines from the pediatric and adult worlds and use them in our world,” said Edward Shepherd, MD, section chief of Neonatology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “You’d be surprised by the therapies that can make a dramatic difference in the lives of these babies,” he said.
Caffeine, for example, is becoming a staple in many NICUs across the country because of it’s effectiveness in preemies. “Because they are born so early and are still developing, many of these little babies simply forget to breathe,” said Dr. Shepherd. “Caffeine stimulates their brains and reminds them to keep breathing.”
