Are you considering adopting a premature infant? Women having a normal pregnancy can delivery prematurely; but some types of drug abuse commonly cause premature birth. A new study indicates that the side effects of premature birth last long after a baby leaves the neonatal intensive care unit. Other studies have focused on the immediate risks of premature birth where this study focused on adult life of premature children. Premature birth is defined as delivery that occurs before 38 weeks of gestation. In... more

For decades now, according to a study in the May 2007, American Journal of Public Health, black infants have been four times more likely to be born before 28 weeks gestation, than white infants have. These extremely pre-term babies have a much greater risk of not surviving than babies carried longer, in fact pre-term birth accounts for one third of all infant deaths. This factor helps to explain... more