Neonatologist at Doctors Medical Center Answers Questions on Preemies and Sleep

Caring for a premature baby is not the same as caring for a full-term infant, and one of the major differences is how much sleep premature babies need. If you’ve been wondering this yourself, well then, the very abridged answer is that preemies need to sleep a lot — almost all day actually.

A preemie is defined as a baby who is born between 20 and 37 weeks. Having a pre-term baby is undoubtedly challenging and emotional, and it can be especially daunting because parents who assumed they were prepared for infanthood need to learn a new set of guidelines after leaving the NICU.

Timothy Yao, M.D., Neonatologist at Doctors Medical Center, answered questions on this topic for Romper.com. To read the full article, click here.