--- title: Preemies: What the Fight to Save Preterm Babies Looked Like in 1939 description: Seventy-five years ago, LIFE magazine took a look at the steps taken at Boston's Lying-In Hospital (est. 1832) to care for premature babies. canonical: https://time.com/3879903/what-the-battle-to-save-preemies-looked-like-75-years-ago/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-21T01:45:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:42.075Z og:title: Preemies: What the Fight to Save Preterm Babies Looked Like in 1939 og:description: Seventy-five years ago, LIFE magazine took a look at the steps taken at Boston's Lying-In Hospital (est. 1832) to care for premature babies. og:url: https://time.com/3879903/what-the-battle-to-save-preemies-looked-like-75-years-ago/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4046198d5a79fec3/69884b8da988ca9eec6b211a/140326-premature-babies-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Premature Babies 1939 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Preemies: What the Fight to Save Preterm Babies Looked Like in 1939 twitter:description: Seventy-five years ago, LIFE magazine took a look at the steps taken at Boston's Lying-In Hospital (est. 1832) to care for premature babies. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4046198d5a79fec3/69884b8da988ca9eec6b211a/140326-premature-babies-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What the Battle to Save Preemies Looked Like 75 Years Ago > Sponsored content. 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"Ten-minute-old baby swathed in cotton batting."Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 21, 2014 1:45 AM UTC According to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pretermbirth.htm), 1 out of every 8 infants born in the United States each year — that’s nearly 500,000 births — is a preterm baby. These preterm births, defined as occurring prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy, account for more than a third of all infant deaths in the U.S.; cost the American health care system tens of billions of dollars annually; and are “a leading cause of long-term neurological disabilities in children.” The battle to save preterm babies, meanwhile, rages on — with new theories of care and new technologies brought to bear on this wrenching and, for so many parents, frightening medical complication. [\[MORE on LightBox: “Meeting Baby David: Elinor Carucci’s Powerful Portraits of Preemies”\]](http://lightbox.time.com/2014/05/22/preterm-baby-photos/#1) Seventy-five years ago, LIFE magazine took a look at the steps taken in one facility, the Boston Lying-In Hospital (founded in 1832), to care for premature babies. Yes, the machinery seen in these photos is, in large part, vastly different than what one sees nowadays in any hospital in virtually any industrialize nation on earth. But the hands-on care, the dedication of the nurses and doctors and the sheer scale of the effort to save the lives of these tiny babies will be familiar to anyone who has spent time in “preterm birth” wards.  Caption from LIFE. "Incubator Rooms' save premature babies' lives." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Seven-months baby gets back massage to belch." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Ten-minute-old baby swathed in cotton batting." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "The Hess bed is the premature baby's equivalent of an oxygen tent. Weak babies are placed in this container, given pure air and oxygen which facilitates breathing." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photo from story on premature babies, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Three-pound babies are fed by placing rubber tube down their throats, pouring milk through a funnel into the tube. Such feeding conserves the baby's strength." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "A medicine dropper is used to feed babies who are too weak to suck a nipple." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Combination bottle-dropper with both a bulb and a nipple teaches baby to nurse." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Fully developed, the premature babies drink from regular bottles containing either mother's milk or formula milk. Nurses always wear masks over mouth and nose." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photo from story on premature babies, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Nurse with premature baby, Boston, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Nurse with premature baby, Boston, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photo from story on premature babies, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photo from story on premature babies, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Mothers of premature babies are never allowed inside the nursery, can spend one hour a day fondly gazing at their infants in their cots through a glass partition." Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photo from story on premature babies, 1939. Hansel Mieth—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images   LIFE magazine, March 13, 1939. LIFE  LIFE magazine, March 13, 1939. LIFE  LIFE magazine, March 13, 1939. 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