Internally Peer Reviewed Good health habits can help you avoid having a low birth weight baby, but nothing can ensure a perfect birth. A low birth weight baby may be born too soon, or for some reason the baby may not gain enough weight before he or she is born, says Dr. Herman Hein, professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and staff physician at UI Hospitals and Clinics.
Premature babies are the most common low birth weight babies.
The placenta is an organ that attaches to the uterus. The umbilical cord provides a link between the placenta and the baby. Nourishment and waste products are transported through the cord between mother and baby. Babies born prematurely must have help breathing, Hein says. The pediatrician may also use a medication, called Surfactant, to replace the substance in the lungs that the baby cannot produce because the lungs are immature.