First, I want to give a quick update on my 35-weeker who is now about 5 weeks old. Unfortunately, he's been like most preemies and has had a very eventful little life so far. Just in the past month we been through - NICU, Refulx, Trush, and now hernias!
That's right - Hernias. He currently has an inguinal (groin) hernia as well as an umbilical hernia. My other son had both of these as well. Luckily, umbilical hernias are very common and are not much of a concern as they repair themselves over time. Inguinal hernias, however, require surgical repair. so, next tuesday our little 5 week old preemie will be going under the knife. Not fun.
Since I've had 2 preemies with a total of 4 hernias a did some quick research on preemies and hernia and came up with the following information:
- More common in boys
- More common in Preemies
- 3-5% of all newborns develop hernias
- 5-10% of males will have them
