Blood Pressure in Premature Babies
A premature baby is born with several dysfunctions in the body. Most of their body parts are not fully developed and therefore the body is not able to properly the vital functions of life. Therefore, it is important to keep a tab on all the activities and developments going on in the body of the premature baby and bring them under control as soon as possible. Of all the important things, keeping a constant tab on their blood pressure is very important. As the heart of a premature baby is weak because of weak heart muscles, therefore it is unable push out pure blood to the organs with the required force on the arteries.
Due to this reason the premature babies suffer from low blood pressure or hypotension. Only a regular monitoring of blood pressure will bring out the extent of hypotension suffering. Besides the presence of a weak heart there are other reasons for the presence low blood pressure in premature babies. Blood pressure measurements can also fall low due to an infection, loss of fluid in the body, negative effects of some medications and also due to inadequate blood volume in the body. Also, there have been cases when some or the other respiratory problem in the body of a premature baby led to low blood pressure.
Immediate medical attention is required
It is very important that as soon as one realizes that the baby is suffering from low blood pressure, the baby should immediately be medically attended. Because, uncontrolled hypotension can also affect the functioning of other vital organs in the body, for instance the kidney and brain. Since blood is unable to reach the organs properly, there occurs oxygen and nutrient deficiency in those organs and they can get permanently damaged.
Measuring blood pressure is not that easy
While measuring blood pressure of a premature baby, there are several things that you need to take care of. As the baby is already in a premature state and his organs are already not fully developed and are delicate, therefore are prone to many types of infections. For measuring blood pressure, there is a special blood pressure measuring equipment. It works on the same lines as normal blood pressure measuring monitor. But, like the baby, its parts are very small and specially designed for them.
The cuff of the blood pressure monitor is placed around the arm or the leg of a premature baby. Just like the normal way, the blood pressure is measured by taking a reading on the monitor by tightening the cuff at regular intervals.
So, after monitoring blood pressure of the premature baby the next important thing to find how can the blood pressure be brought to normal level? This can be done by administering extra fluids in the body of your baby. Pressors, a medicine is also good for increasing blood pressure in the body. The problem of scarcity of blood in the body can dealt with the process of blood transfusion.
