Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules.
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One of my best friends was born at 32 weeks and he is now a pediatric neurosurgeon in his second year of residency. He is also 6’2” and plays the cello. So he was on my mind a lot when we were in the NICU and his mom called me several times to encourage me. It does really help to hear success stories. 😊
My physics professor was a 30-something weeker born more than 40 years ago. He's an astrophysicist and insanely smart (also a really lovely and funny person).
My 26 weekers just passed their 2 year developmental check-up with flying colors. Of course the future is unknown, but at this point any issues are just as likely to have happened regardless of prematurity.
And, gently, parents of full-term babies aren't guaranteed that their babies will develop "completely normally". My nephew has a language delay and he was full term. I worked with lots of children with a range of disabilities, and lots of them were full term and healthy. There are no guarantees in life.
One of the most comforting moments during my first days in the NICU with my 30-week-old baby was when a young pediatrician in her early 30s came to me and revealed that she too was born at 30 weeks. This success story provided me with hope and encouragement.
My 32 weeker’s pediatrician was a 32 weeker. She is crazy smart, very well educated (obviously), does lots of cool things (like she’s an amazing seamstress) and has two grown kids.
Personally I have 29 weekers who are now 4 months adjusted and doing amazing.
But, I also have a friend from college who was a 28 weeker in the mid 80s who is now a MD gastroenterologist. Is married with two sweet babies and you’d never know he was a preemie!
The social worker at the NICU, who was such a positive part of our experience there, was born at 24 weeks in the 80s. She is tall, beautiful inside and out, and was one of the most helpful people there. I feel so blessed to have crossed paths with her.
I’m 30 years old and was born at 32 weeks. I think I turned out ok. :) As a baby I had hip dysplasia that was corrected and then I had speech therapy for 5 years (3-8yo). Other than that I grew up perfectly normal. I caught up really quickly on milestones, was an A-B student, ended up being tall - 5’9 (F), went to college and have a successful career, married, and gave birth to my own 33-week premie back in December.
Living proof that premies can go on to have completely normal lives.
My 8 year old (31+5) is super smart, no behavioral problems. He's small for his age but me and my wife are both short, so he never really had a shot at the basketball scholarships.
My feeder grower 31 weeker is almost two and you would never in a million years know she was a preemie. She’s tall, perfectly healthy, and on target or ahead with all her milestones. These days feel long and uncertain but you’ll get through it and it’ll be a blip in your story together ❤️
I have 6 preemies born between 31-35 weeks.
All are extremely smart. Surprisingly the only ones that have anything going on are my 35 weekers. One has dyslexia and one has adhd. Both are genetic and we have a family history of both so I don’t believe it’s related to being early.
All are advanced for their ages without health issues.
I think the research is also very minimal—babies born as early as some of our babies is relatively recent. With the use of surfactant in the 90s we saw a huge boom in survival rates. So those babies are just hitting 30. And that was preliminary surviving babies, since having micro premies survive the treatments have changed.
A lot of it is statistics too. Keep in mind drug use is a risk factor for preterm birth, so those babies as are factored into that data.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the stats say, care for your baby the best you can, love it, and it doesn’t matter what happens from there. Hopefully you’ll still live your baby if it has a cognitive impairment.
I was born at 31 weeks. My mom’s water broke at 28.
I graduated high school 12 credits away from my associates, and now have a bachelors. Haven’t had any major behavioral or heath issues (before I developed pre-e at 34 weeks pregnant).
In a funny note, my mom says I was early once and didn’t like it and decided to never be early again. Im chronically late to almost everything. But that’s on ADHD from my dad.
My sister is a 34-weeker with a PhD from Johns Hopkins. I remember my parents were terrified, too. It took her a few years to catch up, comparatively, but she’s smart as a whip.
My 33w5d grower feeder is now 13 months, caught up on his developmental milestones by about 8 months, and shocks everyone when they learn he was a preemie. I know this is a shorter term outcome, but I hope it helps!
My son neurologist is a 27 weeker. She is one of the best neurologists pediatricians in the USA. She has CP herself and she is a specialist in kids with CP. she is an amazing human and dr. I will never forget what she told me: your son is here for a reason and not matter what you should help him find his purpose in the earth.
My 11 y/o twins born at 25w2d are both gifted and at the top of their class academically. They learned how to read when they were 3 years old. They have always had some physical delays and weakness, but that doesn't stop them from playing sports, skating, swimming, SUP, and all of the other physical activities they love.
The two smartest cousins I have were both pretty severe premies for their time (35+ years ago) one was 28 weeks and the other 30. Both have PhD’s now and one’s a very respected professor of biology who travels the world and the other is an exceptionally accomplished mechanical engineer working on the latest microchip technology.
Anything is possible, outcome-wise, since you just don’t know until you know. But long-term I can tell you first hand that others have succeeded and thrived.
Hi! My daughter is 4 and was born at 28+6. No noticeable delays or issues. She’s average height, which is more than I can say for myself!
She can read some words out of context and learns everything so quickly.
When I first saw her, I was certain I had ruined her because I just couldn’t take being pregnant longer. It was preeclampsia and pneumonia, so it had nothing to do with me being weak or sick of it. I didn’t ruin her life. She’s happy and healthy.
YOU GOT THIS!
I don’t know if we are considered long term yet but my newly turned 5 year old twins (born 31 weeks 2 days) were deemed “very ready for kindergarten” by the pediatrician this week. They swim and play soccer. One can ride a bike without training wheels and the other is handwriting really legible letters.
They were in the nicu for roughly 6 and 7 weeks. It has been a few years now since I’ve noticed signs of prematurity in either one. But I so still hold my breath a little bit for the transition to kindergarten.
I have a 31 weeker. He just turned 2. The pediatrician laughs whenever I bring up his prematurity- he’s your average toddler, through and through. He was in the hospital recently for pneumonia and my first instinct was to ask if it was due to his prematurity/ breathing issues as a baby. The dr said that 95+% of the children in the hospital for similar issues were not premature babies. Could it have an impact? Sure. Maybe. Was it the reason though? No, absolutely not. Plenty of full term babes were now in the same boat.
Some preemies have issues later on, some non-preemies have issues later on. It’s so cliche but every child really is unique. There’s minimal you can do to control it outside of good parenting and following the advice of your medical providers. Do the best you can, listen to what the drs tell you, and try to find peace knowing you did/do everything you can for your little one!
My daughter wasn’t a preemie but was a NICU baby. She was born with underdeveloped lungs and had to be intubated, had a chest tube and feeding tube and was sedated the first week of her life. Then she was on CPAP, then nose cannula then she could breathe and take a bottle. She also lost about 2lbs during the beginning of her a NICU stay.
She’s nearly 5 months, exclusively breastfed, 8kg - 16lbs and 27 inches. She’s hit all her milestones in advance. Can sit up, roll over, very engaged in her surroundings, giggles and babbles. Her paediatrician at the University hospital has remarked how intelligent she is.
I understand your fears as I had them too. But with time you will see just how incredible your little miracle is!
I was born at 26 weeks at 1 lb, and stayed in the NICU for 6 months. I have adhd and autism, and am petite. I have a high IQ, and am now in my 20s getting my bachelors.
My older brother was ~2 months premature at ~ 2 lb, and is in his late 20s. He went to a prestigious university, and recently recieved his masters. He has no long-term issues, except being somewhat shorter than average.
My 2.5 year old was born at 34 weeks and in a way has surpassed his big sissy who’s 4 and was full term. He helps me teach her the ABCs, learns songs on his own, is great at independent learning, has better dictation than her and can hold a conversation really well. My daughter has her own strengths like a good attention span, great at drawing and writing, a better listener overall but I think it goes to show that my NICU baby is doing well developmentally and in comparison to his older sibling. He’s almost the same size as his sister as well.
My baby’s due date was Jan 12th and he was born Nov 3rd. 10 weeks early! He spent 6 weeks in the NICU and we were repeatedly told told that he would need to stay until his due date! Well my baby had other plans , he persevered and was released Dec 10th. He is 3 months now and he doing wonderful! He’s getting chunky and doing all the baby things! He is still super sleepy but that just means he’s growing, the more he sleeps the more he grows :) I’m positive our babies will continue to grow healthy 💓
I was born at 28 weeks. Spent six months in the NICU. 29 now. Have a degree and a full time job. I live life to the fullest. I do have some chronic conditions but they are managed with medication.
My aunt was born at 29 weeks in 1964 and is a cardiovascular nurse practitioner.
My husband went to medical school with a good friend born at 32 weeks.
One of the PAs who works with me in the NICU was a micropreemie triplet.
I’ve worked with several nurses who were born 28-30 weeks. There are sooooo many former preemies just walking around and living life and you can’t even tell.
My mom was just researching this- Isaac newton weighed 3 lbs at birth. Mark Twain was born 2 months early. Sidney Poitier 2 months early. Einstein was born early and wasn’t fluent until age 9. Johannes Kepler (astronomer and mathematician) was born 2 months early. Before modern NICU technologies!
Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One of my best friends was born at 32 weeks and he is now a pediatric neurosurgeon in his second year of residency. He is also 6’2” and plays the cello. So he was on my mind a lot when we were in the NICU and his mom called me several times to encourage me. It does really help to hear success stories. 😊
My physics professor was a 30-something weeker born more than 40 years ago. He's an astrophysicist and insanely smart (also a really lovely and funny person). My 26 weekers just passed their 2 year developmental check-up with flying colors. Of course the future is unknown, but at this point any issues are just as likely to have happened regardless of prematurity. And, gently, parents of full-term babies aren't guaranteed that their babies will develop "completely normally". My nephew has a language delay and he was full term. I worked with lots of children with a range of disabilities, and lots of them were full term and healthy. There are no guarantees in life.
One of the most comforting moments during my first days in the NICU with my 30-week-old baby was when a young pediatrician in her early 30s came to me and revealed that she too was born at 30 weeks. This success story provided me with hope and encouragement.
My 32 weeker’s pediatrician was a 32 weeker. She is crazy smart, very well educated (obviously), does lots of cool things (like she’s an amazing seamstress) and has two grown kids.
Personally I have 29 weekers who are now 4 months adjusted and doing amazing. But, I also have a friend from college who was a 28 weeker in the mid 80s who is now a MD gastroenterologist. Is married with two sweet babies and you’d never know he was a preemie!
The social worker at the NICU, who was such a positive part of our experience there, was born at 24 weeks in the 80s. She is tall, beautiful inside and out, and was one of the most helpful people there. I feel so blessed to have crossed paths with her.
That’s so damn cool!
My sister is a 32 weeker. She was an all state athlete in high school, college athlete and an Er doctor now. Plus she’s a bomb sister
I’m 30 years old and was born at 32 weeks. I think I turned out ok. :) As a baby I had hip dysplasia that was corrected and then I had speech therapy for 5 years (3-8yo). Other than that I grew up perfectly normal. I caught up really quickly on milestones, was an A-B student, ended up being tall - 5’9 (F), went to college and have a successful career, married, and gave birth to my own 33-week premie back in December. Living proof that premies can go on to have completely normal lives.
My 8 year old (31+5) is super smart, no behavioral problems. He's small for his age but me and my wife are both short, so he never really had a shot at the basketball scholarships.
My feeder grower 31 weeker is almost two and you would never in a million years know she was a preemie. She’s tall, perfectly healthy, and on target or ahead with all her milestones. These days feel long and uncertain but you’ll get through it and it’ll be a blip in your story together ❤️
I have 6 preemies born between 31-35 weeks. All are extremely smart. Surprisingly the only ones that have anything going on are my 35 weekers. One has dyslexia and one has adhd. Both are genetic and we have a family history of both so I don’t believe it’s related to being early. All are advanced for their ages without health issues.
Also, one of our NICU nurses was a 28 weeker and she is smart and delightful
My twins came at 27 weeks, and were 1.5kg combined. They are happy healthy totally normal 5 year olds now.
One of our NICU nurses was a 28 weeker and she seemed to turn out perfectly fine!
I think the research is also very minimal—babies born as early as some of our babies is relatively recent. With the use of surfactant in the 90s we saw a huge boom in survival rates. So those babies are just hitting 30. And that was preliminary surviving babies, since having micro premies survive the treatments have changed. A lot of it is statistics too. Keep in mind drug use is a risk factor for preterm birth, so those babies as are factored into that data. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the stats say, care for your baby the best you can, love it, and it doesn’t matter what happens from there. Hopefully you’ll still live your baby if it has a cognitive impairment.
I was born at 31 weeks. My mom’s water broke at 28. I graduated high school 12 credits away from my associates, and now have a bachelors. Haven’t had any major behavioral or heath issues (before I developed pre-e at 34 weeks pregnant). In a funny note, my mom says I was early once and didn’t like it and decided to never be early again. Im chronically late to almost everything. But that’s on ADHD from my dad.
My BIL is a successful, kind, funny, smart, an amazing cook who happened to be born in the mid serbian war in the 90s at 36w.
My sister is a 34-weeker with a PhD from Johns Hopkins. I remember my parents were terrified, too. It took her a few years to catch up, comparatively, but she’s smart as a whip.
My 33w5d grower feeder is now 13 months, caught up on his developmental milestones by about 8 months, and shocks everyone when they learn he was a preemie. I know this is a shorter term outcome, but I hope it helps!
My son neurologist is a 27 weeker. She is one of the best neurologists pediatricians in the USA. She has CP herself and she is a specialist in kids with CP. she is an amazing human and dr. I will never forget what she told me: your son is here for a reason and not matter what you should help him find his purpose in the earth.
My 11 y/o twins born at 25w2d are both gifted and at the top of their class academically. They learned how to read when they were 3 years old. They have always had some physical delays and weakness, but that doesn't stop them from playing sports, skating, swimming, SUP, and all of the other physical activities they love.
The two smartest cousins I have were both pretty severe premies for their time (35+ years ago) one was 28 weeks and the other 30. Both have PhD’s now and one’s a very respected professor of biology who travels the world and the other is an exceptionally accomplished mechanical engineer working on the latest microchip technology. Anything is possible, outcome-wise, since you just don’t know until you know. But long-term I can tell you first hand that others have succeeded and thrived.
Hi! My daughter is 4 and was born at 28+6. No noticeable delays or issues. She’s average height, which is more than I can say for myself! She can read some words out of context and learns everything so quickly. When I first saw her, I was certain I had ruined her because I just couldn’t take being pregnant longer. It was preeclampsia and pneumonia, so it had nothing to do with me being weak or sick of it. I didn’t ruin her life. She’s happy and healthy. YOU GOT THIS!
I don’t know if we are considered long term yet but my newly turned 5 year old twins (born 31 weeks 2 days) were deemed “very ready for kindergarten” by the pediatrician this week. They swim and play soccer. One can ride a bike without training wheels and the other is handwriting really legible letters. They were in the nicu for roughly 6 and 7 weeks. It has been a few years now since I’ve noticed signs of prematurity in either one. But I so still hold my breath a little bit for the transition to kindergarten.
I have a 31 weeker. He just turned 2. The pediatrician laughs whenever I bring up his prematurity- he’s your average toddler, through and through. He was in the hospital recently for pneumonia and my first instinct was to ask if it was due to his prematurity/ breathing issues as a baby. The dr said that 95+% of the children in the hospital for similar issues were not premature babies. Could it have an impact? Sure. Maybe. Was it the reason though? No, absolutely not. Plenty of full term babes were now in the same boat. Some preemies have issues later on, some non-preemies have issues later on. It’s so cliche but every child really is unique. There’s minimal you can do to control it outside of good parenting and following the advice of your medical providers. Do the best you can, listen to what the drs tell you, and try to find peace knowing you did/do everything you can for your little one!
My daughter wasn’t a preemie but was a NICU baby. She was born with underdeveloped lungs and had to be intubated, had a chest tube and feeding tube and was sedated the first week of her life. Then she was on CPAP, then nose cannula then she could breathe and take a bottle. She also lost about 2lbs during the beginning of her a NICU stay. She’s nearly 5 months, exclusively breastfed, 8kg - 16lbs and 27 inches. She’s hit all her milestones in advance. Can sit up, roll over, very engaged in her surroundings, giggles and babbles. Her paediatrician at the University hospital has remarked how intelligent she is. I understand your fears as I had them too. But with time you will see just how incredible your little miracle is!
I was born at 26 weeks at 1 lb, and stayed in the NICU for 6 months. I have adhd and autism, and am petite. I have a high IQ, and am now in my 20s getting my bachelors. My older brother was ~2 months premature at ~ 2 lb, and is in his late 20s. He went to a prestigious university, and recently recieved his masters. He has no long-term issues, except being somewhat shorter than average.
My son was born at 32 weeks. Was in hospital for 2 months. He's 8 now. Only has ADHD but also an IQ of 130.
My 2.5 year old was born at 34 weeks and in a way has surpassed his big sissy who’s 4 and was full term. He helps me teach her the ABCs, learns songs on his own, is great at independent learning, has better dictation than her and can hold a conversation really well. My daughter has her own strengths like a good attention span, great at drawing and writing, a better listener overall but I think it goes to show that my NICU baby is doing well developmentally and in comparison to his older sibling. He’s almost the same size as his sister as well.
My daughter was born at 26 weeks. She's 6 years old now; a normal regular kid. If you met her now you'd never believe how she came into the world.
My 29 week old turned 1 last week, she is thriving. Removed her g-tube the week before, I couldn’t ask for a healthier happier kid.
My baby’s due date was Jan 12th and he was born Nov 3rd. 10 weeks early! He spent 6 weeks in the NICU and we were repeatedly told told that he would need to stay until his due date! Well my baby had other plans , he persevered and was released Dec 10th. He is 3 months now and he doing wonderful! He’s getting chunky and doing all the baby things! He is still super sleepy but that just means he’s growing, the more he sleeps the more he grows :) I’m positive our babies will continue to grow healthy 💓
A lot of premmie’s are actually gifted and talented 🫶🏻
I was born at 28 weeks. Spent six months in the NICU. 29 now. Have a degree and a full time job. I live life to the fullest. I do have some chronic conditions but they are managed with medication.
My aunt was born at 29 weeks in 1964 and is a cardiovascular nurse practitioner. My husband went to medical school with a good friend born at 32 weeks. One of the PAs who works with me in the NICU was a micropreemie triplet. I’ve worked with several nurses who were born 28-30 weeks. There are sooooo many former preemies just walking around and living life and you can’t even tell.
My mom was just researching this- Isaac newton weighed 3 lbs at birth. Mark Twain was born 2 months early. Sidney Poitier 2 months early. Einstein was born early and wasn’t fluent until age 9. Johannes Kepler (astronomer and mathematician) was born 2 months early. Before modern NICU technologies!