More About Premature Babies
Surviving Babies
- About 300,000 babies are born alive in Australia each year
- 0.4% weigh less than 1000 g at birth
- 1% weigh less than 1500 g at birth
- In the late 1970s only 25% of babies under 1000 g at birth survived in Victoria
- 20 years later the survival rate had risen to 75% for babies under 1000 g in Victoria, and is much the same today
- The average birth weight of a full-term baby is 3500 g
Care Managers
Most hospitals will assign a Care Manager for your baby.
The care manager will be a Neonatal Nurse who has experience in both Neonatal Intensive Care and Special Care Nurseries.
The Care Manager’s role includes:
- Support for you and your family while your baby is in the Intensive or Special Care nurseries.
- Coordination of care for your baby
- Assistance with expressing once you are discharged home and while your baby remains in the nurseries.
- Discharge planning: assisting with the discharge of your baby from the nurseries to either the postnatal ward if you are still an in patient, or to a hospital closer to home or home once you have been discharged.
When your baby no longer requires the specialised care of a tertiary level hospital, he/she may be transferred to another hospital that provides continuing care for babies. This allows the beds at the tertiary level hospitals to be better utilised for the benefit of all sick babies who may require these specialised services.