Tiny baby girl born weighing 400 gm survives in Udaipur
In a state where the skewed sex ratio reflects the bias against girls, survival of Seeta, born premature weighing 400 gram, is a story of skill and determination of doctors and her family. The healthy weight for newborns is 2.5 kg and above.
Seeta, who turned seven months old on Thursday, is said to be one of the smallest babies to survive in India. Doctors at Jivanta Children’s Hospital in Udaipur, where she was born, call her a “miracle baby” who fought against all the odds and won.
A baby, Rajni, weighing 450 grams, was reported to have survived in Chandigarh in 2012.
Born to a couple married for 35 years, Seeta was delivered when her mother developed uncontrollable high blood pressure during her pregnancy and sonography revealed foetoplacental insufficiency (restricted blood flow to the foetus). The average length of gestation is 40 weeks (20 days).
Seeta was born through an emergency caesarean section on June 15, 2017, weighing 400 gram and measuring 8.6 inches, her feet slightly bigger than a fingernail. She was not breathing when she was born, but her family decided to fight to keep her alive, doctors said. Seeta was immediately shifted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital, and kept under the care of Dr Sunil Janged, Dr Nikhilesh Nain and trained nursing staff.
“When the baby was born, we were uncertain of what could happen,” said Dr Sunil Janged, chief neonatologist at the hospital, who headed the team that looked after her in NICU. She was in the NICU for almost 210 days and was discharged on Thursday, weighing close to 2.4 kg.
To salvage a baby of this size was challenging. She was put on advanced respiratory support to help her breathe. Since her guts were immature, she was given total parenteral nutrition to ensure she got all the essential nutrients, such as amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals, multivitamins and trace elements directly into blood circulation, doctors said.
“Premature babies this small need medical support for survival and the failure of any one system can kill the baby. The babies that small have less than 0.5 % chance of survival without brain damage,” said Dr Pradeep Suryawanshi, senior neonatology professor at Bharti University, Pune.
The initial days were difficult as her birth weight dropped but she gradually started digesting a few drops of milk. She was able to digest milk when she was seven weeks old; she could drink from spoon after four and a half months. “The biggest challenge was to prevent any infection and our team managed it well,” said Janged. “We are grateful to Seeta and her family and we appreciate them for setting a new example to the community,” added Dr Ajay Gambhir, former president of the Neonatology Forum of India.
“It’s the latest technology, hi-end equipment and the expertise of NICU team that has produced this phenomenal result,” said Dr SK Tak, head of paediatrics department, Ananta Medical College.
“If such premature baby has survived, then it’s no short of a miracle because babies that are under 24 weeks or not beyond 600 gm rarely survive in India. Such babies also face the risk of physical or mental deformities in future, so one has to weigh risk and benefits before attempting resuscitation,” said a gynaecologist at AIIMS, Delhi.
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