November 17th is World Premature Birth Day. On the eve of this year's World Premature Birth Day, the National Children's Medical Center and the Follow-up Center of Children's Hospital of Fudan University were established, marking that Fudan Children's Hospital has achieved a "full-cycle protection" in the care of premature infants and critically ill newborns, moving from successful treatment to long-term health management.
Lele (a pseudonym), a premature baby, was discharged from the hospital on December 27th last year. With a gestational age of only 22 weeks and 2 days and a birth weight of just 450 grams, she set a new record for the smallest surviving gestational age premature baby in Shanghai. After meticulous treatment by the Neonatal Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Fudan Children's Hospital, she was successfully returned to her family. On the day the follow-up center was inaugurated on November 15, 2025, Lele returned to the hospital with her parents to participate in activities and receive regular follow-ups from the medical team. Currently, Lele has corrected her gestational age by one year, and all her indicators are basically normal. Her encouraging growth process fully demonstrates the tenacious vitality of premature infants.
When a child is just born, he or she is so tiny and fragile that we hardly dare to touch him or her. Under the meticulous care of the pediatric medical staff at Fudan University, the child has grown up day by day and is now able to stand here confidently and perform his talents. We will always remember this kindness. At the event site, another parent of a premature baby "graduate" emotionally shared their family's upbringing journey. Their words were filled with gratitude and pride, making everyone present feel the power of love and the significance of persistence.
According to the introduction, the Neonatal Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Fudan Pediatrics has successfully treated a large number of extremely and very low birth weight infants with the superb skills and rich experience of its medical team. Since 2024, it has successfully treated nearly 470 premature infants with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks, and the success rate of treating extremely low birth weight infants has reached 97.5%. As a national Children's Medical Center, Fudan Children's Hospital has always been at the forefront in the treatment and health management of premature infants and critically ill newborns. It boasts the only standalone neonatal building in the country, equipped with professional neonatal intensive care units, comfortable family care wards, high-standard breast milk banks, and warm mother-and-baby rooms. The newly established follow-up center is located on the first floor of the Neonatal Building.
The new follow-up center fully integrates the advantages and resources of multiple disciplines such as neonatology, rehabilitation, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, nutrition, neurology, and respiratory medicine. By establishing a systematic long-term follow-up file, it provides personalized assessment and intervention guidance, and continuously pays attention to the core health indicators of the baby after discharge, such as physical development, nutritional status, and neuropsychological behavior. Long-term health management focusing on "full-cycle protection".
In addition, the follow-up center, in terms of environmental design and spatial layout, whether it is color selection or area division, every detail focuses on the psychological needs of children and the emotional experience of families, highlighting the spatial and service-oriented concepts of building a child-friendly hospital. When parents and their babies enter the follow-up center, it feels as if they have stepped into a dreamy "forest concert". The colorful murals and lifelike animal images, such as cute babies sleeping soundless in the arms of elephants curled up with their trunks and theme paintings incorporating the "kangaroo care" concept, have transformed the originally plain walls into a brand-new look, making the waiting area seem like a fairy tale stage.
On the wall of the long corridor in the waiting area, there is a row of growth videos recording the "graduates" of premature babies, quietly telling the touching story of their "life turnaround", warming and lighting up the hopes of the anxious parents in the waiting area. Parents who bring their babies back for follow-up visits can complete a series of follow-up needs such as expert consultation, rehabilitation assessment, eye development examination, and blood tests in one stop here. The seamless collaboration of the multi-disciplinary team builds a safe, warm and promising haven for each premature baby. The "full-cycle protection" of long-term health management demonstrates the warmth and power of medicine and humanity.
It is understood that the follow-up center will also set up parent classes, where experts from the neonatal department, the psychological department and medical social workers will jointly provide professional science popularization for the families of the affected children. The content will cover breastfeeding skills, methods for parents to adjust their psychology, social support and stress reduction strategies, etc., aiming to help parents better cope with the challenges of raising children.
At the Premature Baby Day theme event held on the 15th, Dong Kuiran, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Fudan Children's Hospital, Tong Jun, the director of the Office of Shanghai Children's Foundation, Ye Fangying, the vice president of Beiqin China, and the medical team of the Neonatal Diagnosis and Treatment Center, along with 48 premature baby "graduates" from 38 families and their families, participated together.
Wang Yi, the president of Children's Hospital of Fudan University, said that as a national Children's Medical Center, the hospital has made many breakthroughs in the treatment of extremely premature infants. Behind each successful treatment is not only the high level and deep accumulation of critical care for newborns, but also the joint protection of multi-disciplinary team collaboration, precise diagnosis and treatment, and full-cycle humanistic care. Behind the transition from successful treatment to "full-cycle protection" for long-term health management lies not only the provision of comprehensive and meticulous medical and health care services to safeguard the healthy growth of every life, but also the call for all sectors of society to jointly pay attention to the premature infant group and work together to draw a new blueprint that is child-friendly and friendly to childbirth.