2023-10-24 10:18:06
Daily trips to the hospital or long weeks in the room… Parents of children born prematurely, i.e. before thirty-seven weeks amenorrhea, often experience complicated journeys while their offspring is taken care of. . Sometimes first in intensive care then in intensive care, before neonatal medicine which must precede discharge from the maternity ward.
“Some can stay fifteen weeks,” estimates Professor Pierre Kuhn, head of the neonatology department at CHU Hautepierre in Strasbourg. A service which was chosen, like nine other hospitals in France (Nantes, Toulon, Rouen, Lyon Paris etc.), in order to carry out an experiment over three years. Its goal ? Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of home care for very premature babies.
Not just when or how. “No, we don’t let them go like that at home,” confirms Laurence Dillenseger, pediatrician on site. “Babies must be respiratory stable and at the end of learning to feed. Parents must absolutely be willing and capable of being autonomous. We only offer them in these cases, it often allows them to return home two weeks earlier. »
A period during which their child will continue to be monitored, but differently. Perhaps with equipment, such as a cardio-respiratory monitor, a nano-gastric probe or a phototherapy system. But especially with the daily arrival of a childcare worker, who can stay on site for up to an hour. In the event of an emergency, a number of a member of the service is also communicated, for “24-hour monitoring” “I also see the child once a week at the hospital,” adds Laurence Dillenseger, who has experienced this with 19 different families since the beginning of September. “Nineteen spontaneous positive feedback,” she assures.
“Goodbye hospital noise, hello silence”
It is not Elise Glas who will say the opposite. With her little Robin born two and a half months early, this mother was able to benefit from the system. “We met all the criteria because we knew, quote unquote, how to do everything. Bathe him, supplement his diet with the probe, etc. He had also gained weight and had no concerns about desaturation. In addition, it was important to me to breastfeed and it was complicated in the hospital because I didn’t sleep there. We came home and after two days, he was independent on the breast! Goodbye hospital noises, hello silence and birds! It was just happiness! »
“Studies have shown that it has positive effects for the mental health of parents and especially in the long term for the child,” continues Professor Kuhn. In Toulouse, which was a precursor, better neurological development was also observed at the age of two. Scandinavian countries have been doing this for a very long time and have excellent results. I had seen it in Sweden and we defended it at the national level with colleagues. »
Until this experiment was carried out, for three years. “At the end, there will be an evaluation, both medical and economic, to perhaps allow wider distribution,” adds the specialist, for whom the device is “obvious.” In Strasbourg, six babies can be monitored at the same time, within a radius of around thirty kilometers from the CHU. “I hope it will be expanded because it’s great, even more so for parents who already have other children,” concludes Elise Glas before leaving to take care of her son.
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