Scots mum of baby born weighing 892g praises 'hero' doctors as he prepares to start nursery

A Scots mum has praised "hero" doctors as her son, who weighed just 892 grams at birth, is set to start nursery for the first time.

Ayyub Iqbal was born 25 weeks premature at Glasgow Children's Hospital in 2021 and now three years later he is about to embark on nursery school.

Mum and dad, Sara Rehman and Muhammad Iqbal, welcomed Ayyub into the world July, 11 2021 when he weighed less than a kilogram.

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It has been a long journey for the three-year-old and now 26-year-old stay-at-home mum Sara believes Ayyub may have autism as well.

Sara and Muhammad, a gas/heating engineer, from Glasgow, also praised the medical staff at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital.

Speaking about giving birth, mum-of-three Sara said: "It was so quick and I did not expect to be in that situation at all.

"The nurses and the doctors at that point were so good at reassuring us quite a lot - although it didn't stop us from worrying after having him so early.

"We were told in the NICU that it's two steps forward and ten steps back, which was a constant worry for us and we had a lot of anxiety and anger because we couldn't understand why things were the way they were."

Babies who are born prematurely have a 30% increased chance of being diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those born full-term.

ASD is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.

Touching on Ayyub's potential autism diagnosis, Sara said: "In terms of general health, we do think he has autism. But the doctors always made us aware he may have learning difficulties growing up and unfortunately, he is struggling a bit in terms of sensory and everything else that comes with potentially being autistic.

"He'll be starting nursery at the start of September, which is scary but we're looking forward to it.

Ayyub also had retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) surgery when he was in NICU, which means his eye vessels weren't fully attached.

Sara added: "Since we left NICU we were constantly returning to the hospital every three to four weeks for his eyes, and we have checkups every three months to check up on his general health, his milestones and things.
"All the nurses, the hospital, the staff, and the neonatal team have been incredible. Without their help, support and advice I don't know where we'd be. They are heroes.

"The neonatal staff at the Queen Elizabeth have been the most supportive and loving nurses that we could have ever asked for to care for our wee boy, they done absolutely everything for us in terms of looking after Ayyub, giving us updates on how he was through the night.

While Ayyub was in the NICU, his family benefitted from a variety of Glasgow Children's Hospital charity-funded services.

Sara said: "If it wasn’t for the amazing help, care, advice and support I received from the staff at the children's hospital, I don’t know how we would have managed. I still think about every nurse and doctor who helped us through the most difficult time of our lives."

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