Small Intestine Disorders—Premature Babies

Also called: Preemies

Almost 1 of every 10 infants born in the United States are premature, or preemies. A premature birth is when a baby is born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks.

Important growth and development happen throughout pregnancy – especially in the final months and weeks. Because they are born too early, preemies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop. Problems that a baby born too early may have include

• Breathing problems
• Feeding difficulties
• Cerebral palsy
• Developmental delay
• Vision problems
• Hearing problems

Preemies need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. They stay there until their organ systems can work on their own.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Apnea of prematurity (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Intraventricular hemorrhage of the newborn (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Necrotizing enterocolitis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Neonatal weight gain and nutrition (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Osteopenia – premature infants (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Premature infant (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Preterm labor (Medical Encyclopedia)

Your small intestine is the longest part of your digestive system – about twenty feet long! It connects your stomach to your large intestine (or colon) and folds many times to fit inside your abdomen. Your small intestine does most of the digesting of the foods you eat. It has three areas called the duodenum, the ileum, and the jejunum.

Problems with the small intestine can include:

• Bleeding
• Celiac disease
• Crohn’s disease
• Infections
• Intestinal cancer
• Intestinal obstruction
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Ulcers, such as peptic ulcer

Treatment of disorders of the small intestine depends on the cause.

• Duodenal atresia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• EGD – esophagogastroduodenoscopy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• EGD discharge (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Enteritis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Enteroscopy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Meckel’s diverticulectomy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Small bowel bacterial overgrowth (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Small bowel resection (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Upper GI and small bowel series (Medical Encyclopedia)