On the night of Friday to Saturday, the National Assembly voted in favor of extended paternity leave for the fathers of premature babies. This device will allow them to stay with their newborn during the hospitalization period.
On the night of Friday 26 to Saturday 27 October, the National Assembly voted unanimously in favor of the government amendment which plans to extend paternity leave for the births of premature babies.
This device, which should be definitively adopted by the end of December, will be adapted to all social security schemes “in order to ensure strict equity between the insured”. This leave will be offered in situations where the child’s arrival in the world requires hospitalization. Its duration should be fixed by decree.
“The terms of compensation will be the same as that of the current paternity leave, i.e. payment of a daily allowance for all employees and self-employed workers and the allocation of a replacement allowance for farmers,” said Health Minister Agnès Buzyn.
Three degrees of early births
Each year, more than 60,000 babies are premature, i.e. nearly 8% of births in France (785,000 in 2016). We speak of premature babies when a newborn is born before 37 weeks of amenorrhea, that is to say before the 37th week following the first day of the last menstrual period. This period of time corresponds to approximately 8 and a half months of pregnancy.
There are three levels of early birth: moderate prematurity (birth between the 34th and 37th week of amenorrhea), severe prematurity (between the 28th and 33rd week) and very severe prematurity (before the 28th week).
When they come into the world too early, babies are born with an immature organism, that is to say that some of their organs such as the lungs, the brain, the arterial canal or the digestive system are not fully developed. .
Premature babies need their parents
Medical assistance is then necessary for the infant to adapt to his new environment. From birth, the baby is placed in an incubator and under respiratory assistance for a more or less long period, which varies according to its level of prematurity.
Infants born prematurely have a greater risk of developing cognitive disorders or social difficulties. However, these complications can be avoided with early interactions between parent and baby.
For parents too, the birth of a premature baby is a difficult and stressful time. Sometimes the baby will have to stay in the incubator for several weeks before they can go home. It is therefore essential that they spend as much time as possible with their newborn (ideally seeing him every day) in order to establish contact as soon as possible.
Skin-to-skin, that is, contact of the parent against the bare-skinned child, has been proven to help parents establish a bond with the child. A study published in 2015 showed that children who benefited from this method are less aggressive, impulsive, hyperactive or stressed as adults.
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