It is clear that nobody chooses to have a premature baby. And except for specific cases, nobody chooses either the day their baby is born when it is not premature. It is not chosen because the best at maturity level is that each baby is born at the time it is prepared.
And although 37-week-old babies are already considered full-term, a recent study shows that the brain develops better inside the uterus than outside, and this gives strength to those who investigate to avoid premature births, and those who prefer Do not move forward if there are no clear reasons to do it.
In the last trimester the brain size quadruples
It is known that the last trimester of pregnancy is crucial in the brain development of each baby, because in just three months the brain size is multiplied by four. Well, researchers from the Research Laboratory on the Developing Brain of the National Children's Health System of Washington D.C. They decided to study what the difference was, if there was one, between being born at term and being born early.
To do the study, which has been published in Pediatrics, a sample of 75 premature babies born before 32 weeks of gestation was taken and compared with another of 130 full-term babies.
The premature babies were born, on average, at 27 weeks gestation, had a weight less than 1,500 grams at birth and had no brain lesions of any kind. Those born at term, meanwhile, were born on average in week 39 of gestation, weighed on average 3,400 grams and, obviously, also had no brain injuries.
The brain develops better in the uterus
In order to know how the brain of premature babies outside the uterus had developed, they waited for them to be the age at which they had to be born, and then they looked at the structures of their head to compare them with those born at term.
They saw that premature babies had a lower volume in the brain, cerebellum (related to learning, behavior, social abilities and complex motor functions), the brain stem and the intracreneal cavity. So they concluded that the brain develops better in the uterus than outside.
Catherine Limperopoulos, author of the study, stated in a press release the following, as we read on Medline:
What this study shows us is that every day and every week of development in the womb are essential. If possible, we should keep the fetus in the womb to protect it from the dangers that may occur in the extrauterine environment.
From the results, the researchers will continue working to know what are the procedures of the neonatal units that help babies develop better, and thus enhance them in some way to try to match the development of the baby as much as possible.
In addition, from the data, we draw the conclusion that we mentioned at the beginning: inducing labor or performing an elective caesarean section before the woman goes into labor spontaneously is something that should only be done if there is more important medical reasons than the possibility of allowing the baby to develop a few more days inside the uterus
