Nearly 40 days of efforts to revive a premature baby boy at Vinmec Phu Quoc

(Dan Tri) - "The baby boy was born at the 29th week, weighing only 1.6 kg, suffering from respiratory failure, infection, and meningitis syndrome, but was healthy in his mother's arms after nearly 40 days," said Master, Doctor Nguyen Nam Phong, Head of the Department of Neonatal Pediatrics, Vinmec Phu Quoc Hospital.

On October 6, Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Duyen gave birth to her second baby boy naturally at 29 weeks of pregnancy at Vinmec Phu Quoc Hospital. Normally, a baby is born full term at 39-40 weeks, with an average standard weight of about 3.2-3.3 kg.

Weighing only about 1.6 kg, the baby is classified as an extremely premature, low birth weight newborn, at high risk of serious complications such as apnea, pneumonia, body temperature disorders and neonatal infections.

Immediately after birth, the baby cried weakly, moaned, had sunken chest, purple lips, and poor sucking reflex. The baby was diagnosed with neonatal respiratory failure, early neonatal sepsis, and stage 4 hyaline membrane disease, requiring immediate intensive resuscitation or his life would be in danger.

The baby boy is cared for and monitored in a positive pressure incubator (Photo: Vinmec).

“At this gestational week, the baby’s lungs are barely functioning, severely lacking Surfactant - a substance that helps the lungs expand and exchange oxygen. Every passing minute is the difference between life and death.

We immediately performed endotracheal intubation, low-pressure ventilation, and decided to use the LISA (Less Invasive Surfactant Administration) technique - injecting surfactant through a micro-catheter into the lungs," said Dr. Phong. Previously, this technique was only performed at major neonatal resuscitation centers.

After the intervention, the baby continued to be ventilated and monitored 24/7 in an internationally standardized positive pressure incubator. At the same time, the baby was given total intravenous nutrition because he could not breastfeed yet, combined with necessary nutritional supplements carefully calculated according to each gram of weight.

Two days later, the doctors decided to consult remotely with the team of neonatal resuscitation experts at Vinmec Smart City Hospital ( Hanoi ) to develop an optimal treatment regimen for the baby.

The baby was maintained with optimal ventilation, daily fontanelle ultrasound to screen for intraventricular hemorrhage, prophylactic antibiotics for infection, phototherapy for jaundice, abdominal circumference monitoring, sucking reflex assessment, and an incubator environment that ensured appropriate temperature and humidity. After a few days, the baby was breathing regularly, the fontanelle was flat, reflexes improved, and he began to tolerate breast milk dripped through a catheter well.

From mid-October, when the condition gradually stabilized, the baby's skin-to-skin time (Kangaroo Care) was increased from 3 hours to 8-10 hours/day. This is one of the important measures to help premature babies stabilize their breathing, increase immunity and stimulate sucking reflexes. By early November, the baby was completely weaned off the ventilator, breastfed 30-35ml per feeding, and had good digestion.

Through successive stages of treatment, from adjusting the diet, increasing the amount of milk each meal until practicing direct breastfeeding, the baby responded well, without any complications in the lungs, brain, or digestion. On November 3, the baby was returned to the Obstetrics Department with his mother for further monitoring before being discharged on November 11.

Premature baby boy on the day of discharge (Photo: Vinmec).

After 7 weeks of continuous treatment, the baby weighed 2kg, had good reflexes, self-regulated body temperature, was free of infection and could be exclusively breastfed. This was the first case of a 29-week premature baby being fully nourished in Phu Quoc without needing to be transferred to the mainland.

On the day of discharge, the baby weighed 2 kg, had rosy skin, was breathing on his own, was exclusively breastfed, had good reflexes, slept well, and gained weight steadily by 20-25g per day.

“The most difficult thing is not the technique, but keeping the baby’s condition stable every hour, every minute for many weeks. Every small change in diet, medication or support measures must be calculated meticulously and carefully,” Dr. Phong shared.

Mother and son of premature baby boy take photo with doctor Nguyen Nam Phong (Photo: Vinmec).

The journey to protect the lives of small children at Vinmec Phu Quoc has opened up new hope: right on the pearl island, premature babies can still be treated safely and effectively according to international standards.

This is also a testament to the international standard of expertise of Vinmec Phu Quoc, and at the same time reflects the smooth coordination of the links in the entire Vinmec system, promoting common strength to provide high-quality medical services to the people.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/gan-40-ngay-no-luc-hoi-sinh-su-song-cho-be-trai-sinh-non-tai-vinmec-phu-quoc-20251202103751331.htm