[The preterm infant in the nursery?]

We evaluated 250 newborns, GA less than or equal to 37 weeks, admitted to the Nursery of the Pediatric Department of Padua, between 1.1.1990 and 31.7.1991. We considered particularly three groups of newborns with 35, 36 and 37 weeks gestation respectively. Other 80 fullterm newborns were included in the study as control group. The postnatal adaptation (table 1) is regular in 96.2% of the fullterm newborns, and in 62.9% of the 35 wks. Jaundice is the main cause of irregular postnatal adaptation in the preterm newborns (22.8% in the 35 wks group, and 16% of the control group). When we considered the feeding modalities (table 2), we found that only the 21.7% of the 36 wks group and the 11.4% of the 35 wks group were breast fed, against the 86.3% of the control group. The discharge from the Nursery was earlier (less than or equal to 4th day of life) in the term groups and later in the preterm, who often stay in the Nursery for a longer period because of their feeding, growth and postnatal adaptation problems. These results could be certainly improved introducing the rooming-in method, which at the moment is not fully applied in our Nursery.