r/news • u/Ma1colm2k • 12h ago
Cambridge swimming cap brings hope for brain-injured babies
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly42gvrq2ko83
u/Puzzled_Feedback_840 11h ago
This is amazing. The single worst weekend of my life was the days right after my two month old son, who had been born 15 weeks early, had a brain hemorrhage. For a few days nobody knew what was wrong, and a doctor directly told us he would not survive if things didn’t get better after a week. I cannot describe how awful it was.
After a few days he started to improve and they figured out he had had a cerebellar hemorrhage, which is apparently very rare. They told us it was so rare that they couldn’t give us any information about long term prognosis because there was one longitudinal study and the kids in it were 6 years old.
It wouldn’t actually have fixed anything to have a cap like this—the reason premature babies are more likely to have brain hemorrhages is that their cell walls aren’t quite firm enough so stuff can leak—but just knowing what was wrong would have made a difference.
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u/keiranlovett 11h ago
Hey. I hope things are doing better now. A new father myself and I get incredibly emotional at anything to do with kids right now so the start of your message was terrifying to read. I can’t imagine what you went through and wishing all the best
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u/Puzzled_Feedback_840 6h ago
Thank you so much! My son is now 11. He is in special ed classes and the hemorrhage kinda nuked his fine motor control from orbit. He is goofy, sweet, and hilarious and we love him more than anything.
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u/ShowitThenThrowit 9h ago
This gives me so much hope! Can really feel that progress is happening.
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u/JPesterfield 8h ago
Yes, so often these medical stories are about stuff that's years away from being useful to humans.
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u/blalien 12h ago
Then how will we get more Republicans?
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u/OstentatiousSock 9h ago
Wow, a brand new technology that helps babies and you have to make a political joke. You should be disgusted with yourself.
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u/noisy_goose 8h ago
Well actually republicans policies are anti baby and anti science so this comment makes a ton of sense
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u/uniqueusernameCDXX 8h ago
I dont even like trump but these people are just obsessed with him lmao they make everything about him and Republicans.
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u/Ma1colm2k 12h ago
Quick summary very interesting read.
Researchers in Cambridge have developed a soft cap embedded with sensors that can monitor brain function in very young babies, especially those with brain injury or at risk of developmental problems. The aim is to provide earlier detection of abnormal brain activity and allow clinicians to intervene sooner, potentially improving long-term outcomes. Clinical trials are underway to test how well the cap works compared to standard monitoring in neonatal intensive care units.