Premature birth

Breast milk is the best possible nutrition for your baby. Close contact with your baby – skin-to-skin bonding – not just in the first few hours of life, is the first step towards successful breastfeeding.

We consider all births before the end of the 37th week of pregnancy to be premature.  
It is not always easy to determine why a woman goes into labour early and how long she will be able to continue the pregnancy whilst suppressing uterine activity. This is influenced by a whole range of factors – the immune systems of both the mother and the foetus play a particularly important role, as do genetic predisposition, pre-pregnancy procedures on the cervix and inflammatory processes. 
Premature labour often presents similarly to full-term labour – more or less regular uterine contractions occur, which gradually lead to changes in the cervix, or the waters may break prematurely. Sometimes the symptoms are very subtle.  
Where possible, we try to delay the birth by at least a few days to help the baby prepare better for coming into the world – for example, by administering medication to help the lungs mature, antibiotics, or medication to slow down uterine activity. The birth
itself is often no different from a full-term birth. Here too, provided conditions allow, a natural birth is gentlest on the baby. However, given the reduced reserves of premature babies, we monitor the progress of labour more closely.
Babies who are only slightly premature and adapt well after birth may stay with their mothers in our postnatal ward. 
If there is a risk of delivery before the 35th week of pregnancy, we endeavour to safely transfer the expectant mother to the designated perinatal centre for intermediate care before delivery; if there is a risk of delivery before the 31st week of pregnancy, we opt for transfer to a perinatal centre for intensive care.