Early baby- reassure me please?

[seeker]

My neice's baby has just been born at 36 weeks- 4.9 pounds. He seems fine but needs 48 hours of precautionary antibiotics. I only know about hulking babies so this seems impossibly small. Is it?

Not impossibley small at all.

My firends DC's were both born at 28 weeks and are not excelptionally lively and bright.

My old next door neighbour in now in her 80's (maybe 90's) and she was 2lb something when she was born.

Congratualtions to your niece.

Thank you. Mine were 9.9 and 10.6- so this is a whole new world to me

My nephew was a chunky 7.8 and he had precautionary antibiotics too, I think they do this a lot now.

All fine and fab now

My eldest was born at 35 weeks weighing 5lbs 10ozs and the staff reckoned he was big for that gestation.

My next child was born at term and weighed 9lbs 2ozs.

One of my friends has had 4 babies all born between 36 and 37 weeks and all tiny like that and now all normal healthy toddlers and children so definitaly not impossibly tiny.

But also gosh your babies were huge mine were 2 and 3 weeks early and both only 6lb something.

My brother and I were both less than 4lb when we were born and 3-4 weeks early both of us, however, we've both excelled in school and are doing very well both in work and private lives. You may find, as my parents did, that small babies give more problems with digestion as internal organs may be less developed than full-term/big babies. I've not got anything scientific to back that up appart from my parents experience with both brother and I who had terrible colic. It might just be worth considering stocking up on infacol Oh and we weren't great at latching on in the beginning, presumably because of size. All worth thinking about how to deal with for your nice. Congratulations to you and your your nice though!

Sorry... spelling got a bit awkward in that last post - sloppy!

He's now in special care becUse he can't regulate his body heat-I do wish I knew what all this meant!

My friends little boy was born at 31 weeks, he was in neonatal for a while but he's throwing on the weight now.

My nephew was 4.5lb when he was born at 35 weeks, he was a very sick baby for a few weeks but now he's a big strapping 11 yo. He never gets colds or coughs and is really sporty and brainy.

My ds was 8 weeks early weighing in a 4lbs 8oz and is doing fine. Currently in the kitchen with his daddy stuffing his face with sandwiches (now 10 months not corrected).

When babies are born very young they need a little more help to make sure they don't get too cold. My ds loved being in the incubator because he likes being naked and got to lie on his tummy with his naked bum in the air .

Congratulations and get used to saying she's xx months old corrected/not corrected

Ds was 8 weeks early, 3lb 7oz. Spent 5 weeks in hospital, 3 of which were in an incubator. He is now a typical 8 yr old, red belt in karate, soon to be invested in cubs etc etc.

Sometimes, premature/small babies have problems keeping their body temperature up, and spend a little bit of time in an incubator. From memory (got to know mums in this situation whilst I was in hospital pre-birth) most babies only needed a couple of days in the incubator before they were able to regulate their temperature themselves.

Thank you - they are two hundred miles away so there's nothing I can do. I do feel helpless.