A baby boy, born at 26 weeks weighing less than a pound, has gone home after spending nearly two years in hospital.
Baby Nathaniel Flores and his twin brother were born at just 26 weeks gestation. Tragically, Nathaniel’s brother died shortly after birth, but Nathaniel continued to fight for life despite weighing just 13.5oz.
Dr Dennis Davidson, one of the doctors at the hospital, said “He was on a ventilator with very high settings and required a tremendous amount of touch and go changes in his ventilation strategy, and most importantly he needed to gain weight”.
Nathaniel was almost two by the time his parents could take him home
Nathaniel spent a difficult 22 months in hospital, more than half of which was spent at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York.
Finally, though, as he was coming up to his second birthday, his parents, Sandya and Jorge, prepared to take Nathaniel home using the hospital’s parent and caregiver training centre.
“We have a simulated mock up home environment where they learn how to establish the baby’s room, how to care for their child in the home environment, which is very different than the hospital environment”, said the hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer, Jill Wegener.
Nathaniel’s mother expressed her confidence in taking their son home after such a long time.
“We have had probably way too much support”, she said. “People have held our hands for 22 months and I think we’ll be okay. I think we’re ready”.
“Letting him wander on the living room floor, watching a ball game with him”, Jorge said. “Those are the things I’m looking forward to”.
“I’m just grateful to hang out with him”, said Sandya. “I mean, he’s got opinions and feelings and he lets them know. And so I look forward to the playful period of this and just having fun”.
Improving survival rate for extremely premature babies
A 2008 study looking at survival rates for a neonatal intensive care unit in London found that neonatal survival rates at 22 and 23 weeks gestation had improved over time. In 1981-85, no babies who were born at these gestational ages survived to discharge. However, by 1986-90, 19% did and this increased to 54% in the period 1996-2000.
In the decade to 2019 alone, the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks doubled, prompting new guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) that enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks gestation. The previous clinical guidance, drafted in 2008, set the standard that babies who were born before 23 weeks gestation should not be resuscitated.
Research published in November 2023 by academics at the University of Leicester and Imperial College London found a total of 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks, who survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Congratulations to Nathaniel on making it home with his parents after such a long time in hospital. Children like Nathaniel show the amazing resilience of even the tiniest babies and the value of life at all stages”.
