Micro Preemies

[BabyRN2Be]

At what point is a baby considered a micro preemie? From what point to what point? I take it that it's the baby's weight in grams.

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

I've always thought it was

[Tiki_Torch]

I went to Neonatology on the Web at http://www.neonatology.org and searched for "micropreemie" in the Neonatology on the Web search bar and found an article written by Richard C. Lussky, MD where micropreemie is defined as 23-25 weeks and with a birthweight of 500-750 grams. It's hard to find a definition in most books for some reason...

[fergus51]

I have never heard that word used by staff at the hospital. Parents seem to be the ones asking about it. It's kind of like "borderline diabetic".

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I have never heard that word used by staff at the hospital. Parents seem to be the ones asking about it. It's kind of like "borderline diabetic".

Yeah, we don't usually use that term either. Don't think I'm terrible, but we usually refer to these babies as "fetuses" instead.

[prmenrs, RN]

Actually, the correct terminology, I believe, is low birth weight, very low birth weight, and extremely low birth weight. I did a quick look in Merenstein, could not find the specific weights in each category.

There are other factors to be considered besides weight--i.e., gestational age, and weight in relationship to gestational age.