A premature baby is a baby born before pregnancy week 37. These  babies may have health problems and need to stay in the hospital longer. They may  have to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit NICU.  The earlier a baby is born, the more complications he faces. Premature babies have different characteristic than full term babies.
 

 

Appearance  of a premature baby

 
Skin : The skin of a premature baby is wrinkled. Babies who are very premature may have thin skin due to lack of body fat. You may be able to see the ribs under the skin. In extremely premature babies, the top layer of the skin has not yet formed. As a result, the skin looks smooth and shiny and may be too fragile to rub.

Eyes : The eyes of  a premature baby may be fused if she was born before pregnancy week 26. This is because the eyelids are shut and fused  until pregnancy week 26. However around 26 weeks the lids will open on their own revealing the eyes and some lashed

Hair :Extremely premature babies have  no hair at all. The hair on the head is just a fine fuzz. Older preemies on the hand have lanugo (fetal hair )  over most of the body.

Movement : The body posture and movement of  a premature baby depends on how old he is at the time of delivery. A premature baby has less muscle tone than full term babies. They tend to lie flat on their backs with their arms and legs  spread out like a frog. They may curl their fingers in a fist or flex their arms and legs. Older preemies may move but it is usually jerky or jittery. They may also be able to turn their heads  from one side to another and grasp your finger.

Other characteristics of a premature baby include

• fingers and toes that look like tiny buds
• their ears gets folded when the baby is laid on his  side
• in extremely premature baby, sex organs are not matured yet even though they can be clearly differentiated
• breast nipples do not appear until week 34 but the areola may be visible