Effect of extremely low birth weight babies on family and community.

Having a low birth child comes with a lot of mental pressure to parents and families. This is because families feel they have lost what would have been a healthy member. Low weight babies come with a lot of burden to families. Sometimes parents must take unpaid off and leave from work to take care for their loved ones. This leads to lose of income which impacts on the family’s ability to afford basic needs. Again, it comes in with increased debt as the cost of treatment is high, (Lakshmanan et al, 2017). Low birth weight babies have increased risk of contracting other diseases as their bodies immune system is weak. Most of the babies end up readmitted in hospital again thus creating more financial worries and burden. It does also come with social isolation in some cultures as its associated with bad omen.

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Besides the financial and social effects, low birth weight has long term health effects. These babies suffer delayed milestones which affects their intellectual, mental and physical growth. Some end up becoming a burden to their families because despite reaching adulthood they must be cared for like small children.

Ethnic disparities have direct impact on low birth weight babies. This is associated with socio economic factors which directly or indirectly contribute to families having low birthweight babies.

Support services for preterm infants and their families

We have several organizations which advance welfare of preterm babies. One is the Grahams foundation. This organization does support, inform and offer guidance to families of premature babies. This is achieved through collaboration with communities and parents to improve wellbeing of the babies and their families. (Adopted from Graham foundation webpage)

References

A. Lakshmanan, M. Agni, T. Lieu, E. Fleegler, M. Kipke, P.S Friedlich, M.C McCormick and M.B. Belfort,The impact of preterm birth <37 weeks on parents and families. A cross-sectional study in the 2 years after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. Health and Quality of Life Outcomesvolume15, Article number: 38 (2017) Retrieved on July 28, 2020 from https://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12955-017-0602-3

Graham foundation. Fighting for premature babies. Retrieved on July 28, 2020, from https://grahamsfoundation.org/