Mom wasn't sure her premature baby would survive — then doctors brought a plastic grocery bag to save her
A simple medical intervention can be life-changing for a patient, even if it seems unconventional. In a similar way, a premature baby was put in a plastic grocery bag to keep her warm and that saved her life. The girl was born three months early because of certain complications and had to be kept in a plastic grocery bag to ensure that she didn't lose any weight. At the end, the mom was grateful that her baby girl survived and got healthier, per ABC News.
The girl's mom, Sharon Grant, named her daughter Pixie because she was really small. The girl had stopped developing in her mother's uterus. "My placenta wasn’t feeding her properly and the umbilical cord wasn't working well. If she stayed in me any longer than she wouldn't have survived," Grant revealed. She came up with her daughter's name on her way to the hospital for the delivery. Pixie was delivered at the Derriford Hospital in the UK through Cesarean section and the mom felt that she wouldn't be able to make it through the operation because her blood pressure was really high. "The birth was really stressful, I didn’t know if she was going to survive," the woman recounted.
"They let me put some music on in the operating theater…they got my blood pressure down [for the surgery] and that’s when they put her in a plastic bag to keep her warm," Grant revealed. The doctors explained that at just over 1 pound, Pixie was one of the tiniest infants they had ever looked after, but it was actually a standard procedure to put babies under 3.3 pounds in plastic bags to keep them warm. "For the last five to ten years, it has been widely acknowledged that treating babies by placing them into a clear plastic bag immediately after delivery is the best way to maintain a normal body temperature," Dr. Giles Richardson, Neonatology Consultant at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages Derriford, pointed out.
"The wet newborn infant's body and limbs are placed into the bag, under a heater, which creates a greenhouse effect and this is the most effective way of maintaining their temperature in the golden hour after birth," Dr. Richardson continued. The mom shared that the grocery bag trick worked well, as her daughter was thriving when she turned 5 months old. "She’s the happiest little baby. She’s just started to make little baby noises, kicks her feet around and enjoys looking around." At 5 months old, the girl weighed around 7.5lb (3.4kg), according to BBC. "She's doing really well. It's amazing because we couldn't even imagine her being there," the mom continued.
The use of plastic bags was first started in Zambia because doctors wanted to find an economical way to keep the infants warm. About the grocery bag, the mom told The Telegraph, "It was so random that they had her in the Tesco bag. It must have just been what the operating theater had at the time." The mom couldn't hold the baby for the first 18 days because she could lose weight every time she was handled. Pixie started gaining weight after 2 months and could go back home after 5 months of being born. "It was amazing that she survived, but it was truly traumatic," Grant remarked.