Safe discharge of the late preterm infant

Late preterm infants are infants who are premature, but often mature enough to be managed in settings and with treatment plans appropriate for term newborns. They are arbitrarily defined as infants born at gestational ages of 34, 35 and 36 weeks. Late preterm infants have more problems with adaptation than term infants, and may require neonatal intensive care and prolonged admission. However, those who do not may, appropriately, be triaged to mother-baby care in a low-risk nursery setting. Special attention must be offered to the late preterm infant in ensuring adequate thermal homeostasis and the establishment of successful feeding before discharge. In particular, care must be taken to ensure that these babies do not experience severe late hyperbilirubinemia, which characteristically occurs in the breastfeeding late preterm infant at four to five days of age and is not always predictable by routine bilirubin screening before 48 h of age. Discharge of a late preterm infant places particular demands on the community; accessible facilities for retesting, re-evaluation and readmission must be made available by the discharging institution.