Neonatology 

Newborns need time to adjust to life outside the womb, in a cold and noisy medium. And the adaptation is made harder if the infant is premature or has a low birth weight because there is a risk for hypoxia, hypothermia and other affections associated with them. That is why premature babies need special attention, which is offered through incubation.

Incubation is the process by which infants are offered an appropriate environment, which maintains optimal conditions, somewhat similar to those in the womb. The incubator is an instrument used for in this scope.

The newborn will be placed or not in an incubator depending on its ability to adapt to external environment. In general, premature infants, those with very low weight, the hypothermic or ill ones benefit of treatment in an incubator. The incubator is also used to transport infants from one hospital to another.

In general, the object of the incubator is to keep the optimum temperature and humidity, to provide enough oxygen and to isolate the babies, protecting them from infection and other potentially harmful foreign factors. The incubator is also used watch on infants with health problems.

Although each maternity must have (at least theoretically) incubators, some may not provide the conditions required for certain children and therefore, in some cases, they must be transported to a larger hospital, where there are better incubators and the necessary equipment.

There are several reasons why a newborn may need treatment in the incubator:
Premature babies cannot regulate their own body temperature and must be in an environment suitable to their needs. Room temperature is too low and can vary too much.
Premature infants are more susceptible to all sorts of diseases and infections and should be in a sterile environment in order to prevent complications.
Pre- or term born children, but with a little weight, cannot feed themselves and the milk must be introduced into their stomach through a special tube.

Premature babies need more careful monitoring because their body is not fully developed. They can have serious health problems from those associated with prematurity - cerebral bleeding, digestive eye and disorders, jaundice, anemia, infections, breathing problems - and if they are placed in an incubator the medical personnel can keep them under observation easier.

The team that takes care of a child in the incubator should be quite large and should include physicians with different specialties that can intervene at any time if needed. However, the child care team should not miss the most important people: the parents. Even if the infant is in an incubator, that does not mean you cannot touch, caress or talk to it.
It can be strange and disturbing to see your child so small, connected to so many devices, wires and tubes. Some mothers have the impression that will never be able to keep her baby, as do other parents. But as the baby gets stronger you will need fewer equipment and tubes, and mother will be able to keep it in her arms and caress it freely.
Besides the baby incubator itself, it may be connected to monitors that show the pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure and temperature. The wires of these monitors are glued to the child's chest. If the infant cannot breathe alone, probably it still needs a ventilator that will help the lungs, and to receive enough oxygen it needs an oxygen mask or a nasal cannula.

Because premature babies cannot feed themselves, to monitors and ventilation the infusion, catheter or cannula that provide hydration, nutrition, and even the necessary medication are added. Infants who are strong enough to digest the milk but cannot suck yet need a gastric tube which leads milk directly into the stomach.

If your newborn has jaundice, the incubator may be completed by a phototherapy lamp.

In general, parents can and are encouraged to visit the infant from the incubator, to touch it, to comfort it, not to lack it of physical contact with its mother and father. Obviously, the visit is excluded if one parent has a cold, flu, or other contagious disease.

Also, the mother should be encouraged to breastfeed, when possible, because breast milk increases the child's immunity, helps it fight against infection and to become stronger every day. Even if the baby is not strong enough to suck itself, it can be fed with breast milk obtained by using the pump. The important thing is for it to receive milk which can help to overcome the situation in which they are.