The health crisis has led the SOS Préma association to denounce the restrictions on parents’ access to neonatology services. Two mothers of very premature babies give us their testimony.
- The SFN (French Society of Neonatology) and the government have come out in favor of unconditional parental presence, “but some services have remained deaf to these recommendations”, deplores the SOS Préma association.
- In France, the overall prematurity rate (birth before the 37th week of amenorrhea) is 7% and the severe prematurity rate (birth before the 33rd week of amenorrhea) is 1.4%.
Having a premature baby is hard enough, but delivering a premature baby in times of Covid-19 is a test of strength. At 36, Elodie is traumatized. “I’ve been through hell” says this official. “I cried every day of the hospitalization, I lost 10 kilos, and I think about it all the time”.
“I had no more toothpaste, no more shower gel, no more clean laundry”
On March 2, she gave birth to a 32-week-old baby boy by caesarean section, just before the first confinement. She will then spend two months in her hospital room with her baby, without being able to see her spouse and her first child, who was just over two years old at the time. She will not be allowed to walk in the corridors of the hospital. “We weren’t given any time to adapt. I had no more toothpaste, no more shower gel, no more clean laundry,” says the young mother, whose even access to meals was chaotic. “The hardest part was managing my baby’s prematurity on my own, which was not well. My partner was considered a simple visitor, and did not attend any of the medical appointments. The fathers did not “only had visitation rights for babies at the end of their life. I introduced his little brother to my eldest after two months, in the emergency car park”. While her hospital creates a covid-19 unit, the care for her cesarean section is postponed, as are the physiotherapy and speech therapy care of her little boy.
The health crisis has brought the SOS Préma association to denounce the restrictions on parents’ access to neonatology services, because “These measures go against the interests of the child and his family”. The SFN (French Society of Neonatology) and the government have come out in favor of unconditional parental presence, “but some services have remained deaf to these recommendations”, laments the association.
“I find myself only being able to see my baby 4 hours a day”
“Since September 30, you have taken the decision to apply restrictive measures in your hospital. I find myself a mother becoming a visitor. I find myself having to request authorization to see my child. I find myself having to establish a schedule in advance with the parents of the baby who share the same cubicle as ours. I find myself only being able to see my baby 4 hours a day. I find myself looking at the time when I am next to him because I know that I have to leave room for the other parents. I find myself coming to the hospital alone without my spouse because you have forbidden the presence of both parents”says Mrs. BS in a letter addressed to the director of the hospital where her child, born very premature, is cared for.
Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin… Based on numerous scientific studies, the French Society of Neonatology recommends the continuous presence of both parents with premature babies, in order to promote their development, a better parent-child bond and reduce the time of hospitalization.
In a grandstand at Parisian-Today in FranceCharlotte Bouvard, founder and director of SOS Préma, and Audrey Reynaud, head of scientific affairs, already denounced the separation of parents and babies during the pandemic on April 12. “Premature babies, deep in their incubators, seem to be the easy victims of our primary fears: parents are vectors of contamination. Since then, neonatologists have, one after the other, introduced restrictions on access to parents. They can no longer come in pairs, only a few hours a day and, sometimes, not at all”, then wrote the two women.
What prematurity rates in France?
In France, every year, 700,000 women give birth to a child. The overall prematurity rate (birth before 37and week of amenorrhea) is 7% and the rate of severe prematurity (birth before the 33rd week of amenorrhea) is 1.4%. After a birth at 26 weeks of amenorrhea, 75% of newborns will live, of which 80% will have no sequelae. Following a birth at 28 weeks of amenorrhea, the baby’s chances of living increase to 85% and the hope of90% absence of sequelae.
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