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Septuplets: 1 month old and doing fine
Latest developments:
December 19, 1997
- 'Breathing comfortably on their own'
- Parents helping with care
- 'They spend most of their time sleeping'
Web posted at: 6:07 p.m. EST (2307 GMT)DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- The world's only septuplets turned a month old Friday and are progressing satisfactorily toward a possible release from the hospital in late January, according to one of their doctors.
Dr. Robert Shaw of Blank Children's Hospital said at a press conference Friday that the septuplets have followed "a very common course for premature infants" and that "they have not done anything atypical for babies their age and size."
Dr. Shaw updates the McCaughey septuplets' progress
Shaw said that all of the infants "have graduated from various forms of ventilator support and are now breathing comfortably on their own."
He said the four boys and three girls born to Bobbi McCaughey, 29, and her husband Kenny, 27, of Carlisle, Iowa, are gaining weight at the rate of 1/2-ounce to 2/3-of an ounce a day on two daily feedings which combine breast milk and formula.
Shaw said their progress was due, in part, to a continuing modification of their surroundings. "Temperature, light and sound have been tailored to meet each baby's needs," Shaw said.
Parents helping with care
McCaugheys
In response to a question, however, Shaw said that the septuplets' cribs had not been pushed close together, as had been reported. But he said that they have experienced "closeness" when being held by their parents or other relatives.
Shaw said the McGaugheys are allowed to visit the twins at any time and have participated in such routines as giving them sponge baths and helping with their feeding.
Shaw said the babies weigh between 3 pounds and 4 pounds 3 ounces. The babies, born after just 30 weeks of pregnancy and delivered by Caesarean section, weighed from 2 pounds, 5 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces at birth.
Despite the babies' progress, however, Shaw said it is unlikely that they will all be released at the same time. It has been speculated that the infants would go home in late January.
He said signs that the babies are ready to go home include "maintain their body temperatures, remembering to breathe, take their feedings dependably and demonstrating ongoing weight gain."
That they might not all reach those developmental milestones together, he said, was "an expression of their individuality, not a negative."
'They spend most of their time sleeping'
Asked if the babies were showing any signs of distinct personalities, Shaw said his team was seeing "glimpses" of personality.
"Please understand," he said, "they spend most of their time sleeping."
Asked to be more specific, he said, the babies are more active and aware when it is feeding time.
Shaw said they have also shown "significant improvement" in their ability to swallow. Initially, the septuplets were fed by tubes through their noses.
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Related stories:
- McCaughey septuplets get an agent - December 10, 1997
- Septuplets improve; mother visits babies frequently - November 29, 1997
- McCaughey septuplets all breathing on their own - November 28, 1997
- Three more septuplets upgraded to fair condition - November 26, 1997
- Second septuplet upgraded as mother gives interview - November 25, 1997
- Septuplets' mom goes home - November 23, 1997
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