Читать книгу Infants and Children in Context - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 183

Low-birthweight infants are at a disadvantage when it comes to adapting to the world outside the womb. At birth, they often experience difficulty breathing and are likely to suffer from respiratory distress syndrome, in which the newborn breathes irregularly and at times may stop breathing. Low-birthweight infants have difficulty maintaining homeostasis, a balance in their biological functioning. Their survival depends on care in neonatal hospital units, where they are confined in isolettes that separate them from the world, regulating their body temperature, aiding their breathing with the use of respirators, and protecting them from infection. Many low-birthweight infants cannot yet suck from a bottle, so they are fed intravenously.

The deficits that low-birthweight infants endure range from mild to severe and correspond closely to the infant’s birthweight, with extremely low-birthweight infants suffering the greatest deficits (Hutchinson et al., 2013). Low-birthweight infants are at higher risk for poor growth, cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, neurological difficulties, respiratory problems, and illness (Adams-Chapman et al., 2013; Durkin et al., 2016; Miller et al., 2016). Higher rates of sensory, motor, and cognitive problems mean that low-birthweight children are more likely to require special education and display poor academic achievement in childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood (Eryigit Madzwamuse, Baumann, Jaekel, Bartmann, & Wolke, 2015; Hutchinson et al., 2013; MacKay, Smith, Dobbie, & Pell, 2010). Low-birthweight children often experience difficulty in self-regulation, poor social competence, and poor peer relationships, including peer rejection and victimization in adolescence (Georgsdottir, Haraldsson, & Dagbjartsson, 2013; Ritchie, Bora, & Woodward, 2015; Yau et al., 2013). As adults, low-birthweight individuals tend to be less socially engaged, show poor communication skills, and may score high on measures of anxiety (Eryigit Madzwamuse et al., 2015). Frequently, the risk factors for low birthweight, such as prenatal exposure to substances or maternal illness, also pose challenges for postnatal survival. The Lives in Context feature discusses HIV, a risk factor for neonate development.