Diapers and pacifiers look as though they were made for dolls. Feedings are measured in half teaspoons. As director of this unit, Dr. Campbell faces the delicate task of answering the questions of new parents who inevitably want to know what the future will bring. Some advocates for parents of premature children say that if doctors were more forthright, parents might make different choices about whether to rescue their babies. These minor disabilities, of course, can keep children from living independently, or ever having a social life or being able to function in society.
Doctors say they do routinely hold discussions with parents on whether to withhold care.
But they also say that making predictions is difficult. It also depends on socioeconomics. The Reyes family is a case in point. Jacqueline Reyes is a single mother of two boys who lives in the Soundview section of the Bronx. He still wears diapers and cannot sit by himself.