Will premature babies' intelligence be affected? Do premature babies have low intelligence?

Will premature babies' intelligence be affected? This is a concern for many parents of premature babies. Today, let's learn how to prevent babies from having intellectual disabilities due to premature birth and give them the best care.

Will premature babies' intelligence be affected?

Will premature babies have low intelligence?

Are premature babies necessarily mentally retarded? In fact, this cannot be generalized. It can only be said that premature babies are more susceptible to intelligence and are more likely to suffer from diseases that affect intelligence, such as cerebral palsy. Reasons for premature babies' mental retardation:

1. Because premature infants have poor temperature regulation function and immature respiratory center, they are prone to respiratory dysfunction, which is manifested as shallow breathing, irregular respiratory rhythm, respiratory arrest, cyanosis of the skin, and cerebral hypoxia.

2. In addition, the lack of alveolar surfactant can easily lead to hyaline membrane disease, which aggravates hypoxia. Premature infants have poor swallowing and digestive functions, and are prone to vomiting and choking on milk, which can cause aspiration pneumonia and aggravate hypoxia.

3. Premature infants have imperfect liver function, and lack enzymes and proteins that help to reduce jaundice, so that jaundice cannot subside quickly and hyperbilirubinemia occurs. In addition, premature infants have poor coagulation function, and hypoxia is prone to intracranial hemorrhage. Severe diseases such as apnea and aspiration pneumonia, hyaline membrane disease, hyperbilirubinemia, and intracranial hemorrhage can cause hypoxia and necrosis of brain cells in premature infants, affecting the intellectual development of children.

4. Premature babies are also prone to hypoglycemia and hypocalcemia, which can cause convulsions, damage brain cells, cause brain development disorders, and mental retardation. Therefore, pregnant women should do prenatal examinations, avoid heavy physical labor, and prevent premature births; if the baby is born prematurely, as parents, they should intervene in the child's intellectual development at an early stage. Only in this way can we promote the intellectual development of premature babies, maximize the potential of their brains, and effectively prevent and treat their mental retardation. Seize the favorable period of the first two years after the birth of premature babies when their brains develop fastest, have the strongest plasticity, and have the best compensatory ability, and implement comprehensive interventions on premature babies to help them correct their defects.

Intelligence test for premature babies

Test 1: Visual tracking of a red ball or a human face

The baby lies on his back with his head in the middle position, and a 10cm diameter red ball is gently shaken 20cm away from the baby's eyes to attract the baby's attention. Then slowly move it to the left and right in an arc shape, and observe whether the baby's eyes and head follow the movement of the red ball.

Normal: At one month old, the baby's eyes can track, but the head may not turn; at two months old, the baby's eyes and head can turn up to 45 degrees to the left and right; at three to four months old, the baby can track 90 degrees to the left and right, that is, turn 180 degrees.

Abnormalities: Inability to focus or track, limited head turning range.

Test 2: Pull-up and head-up posture

The infant lies on his back with his head in the middle position. The examiner supports the baby's forearms on both sides and slowly pulls the baby up to 45 degrees, observes whether the baby can lift his head, and then pulls the baby into a sitting position to observe whether the baby can hold his head upright.

Normal: A 1-month-old baby's head droops back when pulled up, but can remain upright for 5 seconds when sitting; a 2-3-month-old baby's head droops back slightly, but can remain upright for more than 15 seconds; a 4-month-old baby's head and trunk are lifted in a straight line when pulled up, the upright head is stable, and the baby can turn his head to look left and right.

Abnormalities: 1 month old babies cannot hold their heads upright; 2-4 month old babies have their heads dorsiflexed (obviously drooping backward) when pulled up and cannot hold their heads upright.

Test 3: Prone position with head raised and hand support

Let the baby lie prone, use toys in front of the head to tease it, and observe whether the baby can raise his head and support himself with his hands.

Normal: A 1-month-old baby's head turns to one side; a 2-month-old baby can raise his head for a moment with his chin off the bed; a 3-month-old baby can raise his head more than 45 degrees, supported by his elbow; a 4-month-old baby can raise his head 90 degrees, supported by his elbow, and can turn his head left and right.

Abnormalities: Babies cannot lift their heads at 2-3 months old, and their heads are unstable at 4 months old. They cannot use their elbows to support their chests off the bed.

Test 4: Reaching

Let the baby lie on his back or sit up with a toy hanging in front of him to encourage him to reach it.

Normal: A 3-month-old baby has the awareness to reach out, but cannot do so; a 4-month-old baby can reach out, but may not be able to reach the toys; a 5-month-old baby can reach out and reach the toys.

Abnormalities: No tendency to reach at 4 months, no ability to reach at 5 months.

Test 5: Rolling over

Narration: Place the baby in supine position (wearing thin clothes), and use toys to encourage him to turn over to one side.

Normal: The baby has the awareness to turn over and can turn to the side position at 3 months, and can turn from the supine to the prone position at 4 months.

Abnormalities: No awareness of turning over at 4 months, unable to turn to side position at 5 months, and unable to turn from supine to prone position at 6 months.

Test 6: Communication and Emotions

Narration: Communicate with your baby face to face and observe his/her performance

Normal: 2-month-old babies can smile spontaneously and make small guttural sounds; 3-month-old babies can laugh and make sounds; 4-5-month-old babies are interested in things around them; 6-month-old babies can recognize familiar people.

Abnormalities: Will not smile when teased face to face at 3 months; will not make any sound at 4 months; has no interest in surroundings at 5 months; has an indifferent expression and no special reaction to people taking care of him at 6 months.

Countermeasures to improve the mental retardation of premature infants

1. Early intervention: benign stimulation and play

Benign stimulation and play allow children to experience a rich and colorful external environment, that is, various colors, shapes and sounds. The specific approach is similar to the early education of normal children.

Specific steps:

1. Hang some colorful or noisy toys on the bed and bedroom walls, and change them frequently to arouse children's interest in seeing and hearing.

2. Let your baby play with some common objects to develop the child's ability to explore with his mouth, eyes and hands.

3. Keep talking to your child and tease him to make sounds. For children aged 1 to 2, focus on language training and coordinated movements to develop their ability to understand language. By speaking and doing at the same time and imitating mouth shapes, children can be trained to express their wishes and needs with simple words and sentences.

4. Develop children's perceptual discrimination, communication, fine motor skills and gross motor control abilities through various types of play.

5. Develop children's hands-on ability through activities that involve both hands, hands-on games, painting, turning pages of books, and daily operations.

6. Through storytelling, games, dancing, and sports activities, extend their "attention span" time, stimulate their curiosity and self-confidence, and cultivate good character traits such as independence, perseverance, and courage.

2. Nutritional catch-up: breastfeed as much as possible

The study showed that low-birth-weight premature babies who were breastfed had higher IQs by the time they were 7 or 8 years old than those who were not breastfed. The longer the breastfeeding lasted, the greater the effect on IQ, the researchers reported. Children who were breastfed for 8 months or more scored six points higher on verbal IQ measures than those who were not breastfed.