Adjusted Age & Premature development

Having a baby is an exciting and often nerve-wracking, time for any parent. And when your baby is born premature, the experience can be even more daunting. One of the many challenges preemies and their families face is understanding adjusted age and premature development.

How do you know what to do or what to ask your pediatrician? What does this mean for your baby’s motor skills and overall development? Today I will cover all of this and more.

What is Adjusted Age?

Adjusted age is a way to measure a child's developmental progress based on their due date rather than their actual birthday.  Premature adjusted age refers to any baby born under 37 weeks because these babies will receive extra credit when looking at milestones and developmental expectations.

If a baby is born 8 weeks early at 32 weeks, we still pretend they were born on their due date when looking at milestone skills. So while your baby may be two months old chronologically, we need to pretend that the two-month mark is actually day zero when looking at their milestones. You should expect an 8-week premature baby who is 2 months old to have the same skills as a newborn baby who is just born.

Babies who are born prematurely still need the time for their brain, body, and senses to develop the skills that they are supposed to have. They need time and respect to catch up on what they missed in utero.

Standard practice is to continue to adjust for prematurity up until 2 years of age. This is across all domains of development- cognitive, physical, social-emotional, gross motor skills, fine motor development, etc. We want to adjust for their age and give them the extra credit they deserve.

 Open Conversation is Key

When it comes to your premature baby, the key is to have open conversations with your pediatrician to ensure you are on the same page.

When you look at many developmental testing and screening tools for babies, it may often be off-target for a premature baby. This is not cause for alarm, but rather a chance to communicate with your pediatrician and ensure they are making adjustments for your baby's age.

It is also important to keep this in mind when having conversations with friends and neighbors. Many people may expect your baby to be hitting specific milestones due to their age, however, if your baby was born prematurely it is completely normal that they are not quite where other babies their age are.

Knowing the language to use when talking with others as well as the appropriate expectations to have for you and your preemie will make navigating the first few years much easier.

Above all, remember that you are doing an amazing job!