Preventing premature birth
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Having a severely premature baby is significant complication – we cannot prevent all form of prematurity but there are some things that we can do.
- Identify risk factors
- Have you had previous gynaecological surgery?
- Malformation of the uterus
- Previous baby born before 34 weeks
- What can we do?
- Regular visits when you are pregnant
- Assessing the cervical length via ultrasound at your routine scans
- Infections screens – you should have a urine sample at your first pregnancy visit and infection should be treated promptly
- Regular visits when you are pregnant
- Modify some lifestyle factors including:
- Smoking cessation
- Dental health – infected gum and tooth decay is a significant cause of preterm birth (see section on how to brush your teeth)
- Healthy lifestyle & weight loss(healthy BMI)
- Treatment options
- Probiotics – see next section
- Progesterone – discuss the role of progesterone with your health care provider
- Steroids when your baby is viable and there is concern that premature birth is very likely
- For a small group of patient a cervical suture is considered to prolong a pregnancy
