My twins were born four and a half weeks early, so I guess that qualifies as eight month babies.
Mark was 6 pounds 2oz and never had any sign of problems. Steven was 5 pounds 4 oz. He didn't really have any problems but the pediatrician considered him borderline premature, and when he went home they told me to bring him back three days later so they could check him for jaundice because he was showing signs of it.
Many moms would worry about this but I have cared for a lot of babies and I know even full term babies often show signs of jaundice. It is caused by the fact that a new baby's liver is busy clearing out a lot of extra red blood cells right after birth. The bilirubin from the cells builds up in the tissues and too heavy a concentration can cause brain damage. In the nursery we put them under a bili light. Being exposed to sunlight seems to help with the processing of the extra blood cells and helps the body cope with the jaundice. In my case, I made sure Steven was in the sunlight from the window as much as I could and when I took him back a few days later he was given a clean bill of health.
Babies born early can and often do have problems, of course, but they are usually born earlier than eight months. In the last month, most of what is going on is that the baby is putting on fat so that you get the traditional round, fat baby. A baby born a few weeks early is generally fully developed, but tends to be skinnier than a full term one, and thereby has somewhat less fuel in reserve, which isn't usually a problem in the modern world. If you're looking for problems you want about seven months or so. Then you can look at immature lungs, immature organs in general, and the danger of cerebral palsy, of course.
Of course *any* baby, even a full term one, can seem healthy at first and develop problems later. They don't have to be premature, so if you're looking to have a baby develop problems in a story, you don't have to use prematurity for a reason, although you could.
Nan
