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At what age is preemies's skin too delicate to touch?

post #1 of 12
10/5/08 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
I've read that. Is it for real? At what week are they touchable?
I know nothing about preemies, am just musing.
I've been thinking about kangaroo care and how that is often limited and wondering why not sling them all day? I don't know much about how they can be overstimulated. Please excuse my ignorance.
Thanks!

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post #2 of 12
10/6/08 at 1:19am
It is going to depend on the kid. Typically those born 23-25wks have the most fragile skin. Some you can touch, others it's painful for them to be touched. My daughter's skin was still very translucent and fragile when she was born at 25w0d. She didn't tolerate touch. One of the wires from her leads laid on top of her skin for too long (they tried to reposition everything frequently) and it rubbed her skin off and caused a sore.

My 29wkr on the other hand was a totally different story. His skin was still somewhat translucent but far more durable. He enjoyed touch pretty much from birth.
post #3 of 12
10/6/08 at 9:50am
My 28 weekers was a little jumpy when touched at first, but within a week or two, he started to enjoy it.
post #4 of 12
10/6/08 at 10:28am
Maggie was also right at 24/25 weeks (within hours, but she is considered a 24 weeker) and her skin was much to delicate to touch. Also they are too fragile to kangeroo at this point or spend too much time with anything on their skin.
post #5 of 12
10/6/08 at 11:30am
Thread Starter 
So do they just lie on a diaper?
post #6 of 12
10/6/08 at 11:42am
My boys were too delicate to be touched. We weren't allowed to hold them until they were just over 1 month old. Before that, we were allowed to hold their hand for a few minutes. They were kept on an open bed, with saran wrap on top, and a humidifier next to them to prevent their skin from breaking down.
They did have little diapers (about as big as a pantyliner) that they wore but they never caused any problems.
post #7 of 12
10/6/08 at 11:46am
My dd was born at 29 weeks and we were able to do kangaroo care the day after she was born, but she didn't really take to it too well until she was a couple weeks old. She pretty much liked to be left alone all snuggled up in her isolet. Those first couple of weeks her alarms would go crazy when we tried to move her around. I think some of it is her personality because at almost three she has never, ever let me snuggle her unless she was really sick. We couldn't co-sleep because she hated us touching her.
post #8 of 12
10/6/08 at 2:40pm
They are in humidified isolettes (or "incubators") for the firts few days. The skin begins to keratinize after a few days. After humidification, they often use a barrier ointment like Aquaphor. This is to help insensible water losses that can lead to electrolyte imbalance. Which can cause the baby to need more fluids, which can cause them to keep or re-open their ductus arteriosis. Which can lead to all sorts of problems.

We encourage some touching even for the tiniest babies, but also try to keep stimulation to a minimum. Most micro preemies don't tolerate stimulation very well.


And you can't really sling babies on vents, which many of the tiny babes are in the beginning. Kangaroo care is wonderful but it has to be appropriate for the status of the baby.
post #9 of 12
10/6/08 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maggirayne View Post
So do they just lie on a diaper?
Yes. My dd didn't actually wear a diaper until about 1-2wks old and then it was a teeny tiny one that was losely closed around her middle.
post #10 of 12
10/7/08 at 12:45am
DD was born at 26 weeks, for her first two weeks her skin was paper thin and would tear if she was touched. She has little scars all over her tummy from diaper changes, they actually put a diaper on her, I'm not sure why they didn't just lie her on one.
post #11 of 12
10/13/08 at 5:21pm
Hayden is a 30 weeker, his skin was sensative but we could hold his hand. Not rub him at all but could hold his hand, he did not have finger nails, eye lashes, nor eye brows when he was born, his skin was semi translucent. He was on C-PAP when born so we could not do kangaroo care until he was off that, once he was on a regular nose canula we could hold him but had to wrap him in 2 blankest then had 2 on top of him, after a week or so of that we got to do kangaroo care, at first only for 15 minutes because he had issues keeping his body temperature up but as the weeks went by he gained the ability to keep his temp up and we got to kangaroo for a half an hour, then 45 mins then an hour. Once we got him up to 30 mins, we would break it up 15 mins early in the day then 15 mins later at night.
It really depends on the baby, at first Hayden hated being touched, like it was painful, then as he got a bit older, he loved being held.
post #12 of 12
10/13/08 at 11:54pm
My 27 (almost 28) weeker could be touched w/o it harming her skin but she was very sensitive to touch. Too much was incredibly overstimulating for her, though, and the nurses had to do her care so the amount of time I could actually put my hands on her were limited. She was about 2 weeks old before I could Kangaroo her.
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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › Ages and Stages › NICU & Preemie Parenting › At what age is preemies's skin too delicate to touch?