"Basically meconium is the intestinal secretion which is there in the unborn baby’s intestine. So what happens is even when the baby is born and still in the mother’s womb, this can start secretions and some epithelial cells are already there inside. This meconium is already in the unborn baby’s intestine and sometimes if the unborn baby goes into some kind of distress like if there is lack of oxygen called as hypoxia or there is asphyxia or there is complication of placenta like abruption of placenta or cord prolapse. So this causes a sudden deterioration in the baby’s condition and the unborn baby goes into a condition called as fetal distress. So what the happening of the fetal distress the intestine starts moving very fast, their anal sphincters open up and they sometimes pass this meconium even before the get delivered. So this meconium comes out of the amniotic fluid which surrounds the baby in the mother’s womb and since we all know baby is having swallowing and sucking motion, they aspirate this meconium along with the amniotic fluid and this goes into the baby’s lung. So once this meconium goes into the baby’s lung, this condition is called as meconium aspiration syndrome. So this usually happens in baby’s who are having some kind of a distress called as asphyxia and very rarely if the mother is having some kind of infection, the babies tend to pass meconium inside the mother’s womb. So meconium aspiration syndrome has a very wide spectrum. So the severity varies from very mild kind of diseases, wherein the baby will have just some mild respiratory distress and some oxygen requirement and to the other side it can be very serious in the form of severe respiratory distress and breathing trouble and babies are sometimes unable to breathe, develop pneumonia, infection and may require ventilation. So the spectrum is very wide and we have to be very watchful. So we have to take proper history, we have to ask the obstetrician how was the colour of the amniotic fluid, if we know yes, it was already a meconium stained amniotic fluid and the baby is having distress, then we know yes, the baby has aspirated meconium and has gone into a condition called as meconium aspiration syndrome and sometimes it is very serious condition, requires an ICU care, ventilation therapies and IV antibiotics also"

"Once the meconium, goes to the lungs, it can damage the newborn baby’s lungs and they go into a condition called as meconium aspiration syndrome, which is manifested as a fast breathing, that is they will be breathing very hard. They will be respiratory distress, means there will be retraction in the chest and the other common symptoms the baby can face is the same meconium can go into the stomach and they develop something called as meconium gastritis, and if we feed the baby, because of the gastritis, they start vomiting. These are the two main kind of symptoms that can happen because of meconium aspiration and the amount of aspiration is significant, it can be fatal also. We have to be very cautious and have to monitor these babies. Always admit in NICU and requires proper investigations in the form of chest x-rays and certain blood tests and if required ventilation therapy also because the severe variety of meconium aspiration can be fatal also. So management of preterm babies requires a proper level 3 NICU’s . So we always chose a particular hospital with facility of level 3 NICU with proper 24*7 availability of trained doctors and trained sisters"

"The best nutrition to a premature baby is always mother’s milk. So we can always breast feed the premature baby. The only problem with premature baby is sometimes they don’t have a very good sucking, swallowing reflex. So if the baby who is mature enough like 34 to 36 weeks and higher, we can directly start breast feeding and most of these babies do well and this remains the number one choice for premature baby but if the baby is less premature like less than 33 weeks, or for some other reason if the baby’s sucking reflex is not good, then the mother’s milk is the best milk. What we offer is we can always express the mother’s milk and we can give either through spoon feed or sometimes through bottle feed also. So they can get mother’s milk and that remains the best possible nutrition for these premature babies. Some of these premature babies, there will be requirement for proteins and some other nutrients is still higher. So what we do is we take out mothers milk and we add some extra portion and extra nutrition in the form of human milk fortifiers and then we can feed these babies with spoon or modular feeding so that still there is no need to give formula products to these babies and it is absolutely safe. There is no side effect of giving mother's milk and it is freely available, free of cost, at the right temperature and at the right time and it is always modulated as per the requirement of the baby’s. So for a premature baby, the number one choice is always mother’s own milk"

"Babies born at 7th or 8th month of gestation are called as preterm babies and they have a very specific requirement for their survival. They require an infection free area, a noise free area, warm area. So the need for incubator is very much for these preterm babies. Incubator is basically a closed chamber, where we can modulate the temperature and humidity of these chambers so that the baby feels that they are still in the mother’s womb, which is very important for their growth and development and also it prevents infection to these babies and NICU, as we all know, is neonatal ICU, where we have the trained nurses, and trained doctors round the clock available who takes special care of these premature babies. So yes, we require very well developed NICU and good incubators for proper management of the premature babies who are born before their proper developmental age that is before that is 40 weeks. So premature babies born before their 40 weeks completion is called as premature babies which requires specialized care in their level 3 NICU. So NICU is a place where we have to give proper care with the availability of trained nurses, round the clock availability of resident doctors and they require an infection free environment, proper warmth, which is possible only in an incubator. So once we keep in this incubator, babies get proper warmth, infection free area and they grow well. Definitely presence of good level 3 NICU adds to their survival. At Cloudnine Hospital Vashi, we have a level 3 NICU, where we have facilities of ventilators, CPAP machines, and incubators where we can manage preterm babies as low as 24 to 25 weeks of gestation, and so far we have managed many babies and the survival rates are pretty good as compared to the well developed NICU’s in any western countries"