Treating low birth weight in the NICU

Neonatologist Philippe Friedlich, MD, explains what is defined as low-birth weight for newborn babies and how doctors will most often recommend treating a baby with a low birth-weight
Low Birth-Weight Treatment For Babies In The NICU
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Treating low birth weight in the NICU

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Your doctors, your obstetricians, or your pediatricians may talk to you about the possibility that your baby may be of low birth-weight. Babies that are born below 2.5 kilos, or around 6 pounds, sometimes are "low birth-weight." They are not yet ready to go home because low birth-weight infants have needs that often need to be supervised before they can be discharged home. It doesn't mean that your baby is premature. it just means that for whatever reason that you may want to discuss with your doctor, your baby is still too small in weight to be discharged immediately from the hospital. And in many centers those babies will be observed until it is deemed that it is safe for your baby to go home.

Neonatologist Philippe Friedlich, MD, explains what is defined as low-birth weight for newborn babies and how doctors will most often recommend treating a baby with a low birth-weight

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Philippe Friedlich, MD

Neonatologist

Philippe Friedlich, MD, MS Epi, MBA is the Associate Director and Division Chief of the Center for Fetal and Neonatal Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, as well as the Medical Director of the hospital’s Newborn & Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU). Dr. Friedlich is a professor of Pediatrics and Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.   

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Transcription: 
Your doctors, your obstetricians, or your pediatricians may talk to you about the possibility that your baby may be of low birth-weight. Babies that are born below 2.5 kilos, or around 6 pounds, sometimes are "low birth-weight." They are not yet ready to go home because low birth-weight infants have needs that often need to be supervised before they can be discharged home. It doesn't mean that your baby is premature. it just means that for whatever reason that you may want to discuss with your doctor, your baby is still too small in weight to be discharged immediately from the hospital. And in many centers those babies will be observed until it is deemed that it is safe for your baby to go home.