Around 50,000 babies are born prematurely each year in the UK Despite all the medical advances which have been developed to enable babies to be born safely, early delivery is still a major problem.
Experts agree that the total number of babies being born early is not going down and that the cost to society is huge.
Babies born before 37 weeks of gestation account for around 8% of births in the UK.
Premature birth is the single biggest killer of babies under one year old, and babies born early can often spend months in special care or go on to develop life-long health conditions.
Finding treatments to help prevent premature birth could improve the life chances of the nearly 50,000 babies born early in the UK each year.
But many just do not survive.
Louise's first baby Louis lived for just two days. He was born at 24 weeks, weighing 1lb 12oz. There was little they could do for him when he was born.
"I constantly thought I was going to miscarry, because I was bleeding a lot. But this might have been a sign of infection, which could have affected him too."
Less than a year later, Louise gave birth to Lydia who was born 11 days early. She says it was all thanks to the vigilance of doctors at the 20-week scan.
"They could see that I was dilating already and needed to get an internal scan. But doctors are not normally looking for that sort of thing unless you've got a history of a premature birth."
Prof Andrew Shennan St Thomas' Hospital“Before, we waited for women to go into labour then we tried to firefight, which was very unsatisfactory”
Louise, who lives in Leicestershire, had a stitch in her cervix two days later followed by regular scans and swabs during the remainder of her pregnancy to check for further problems.
She is now the proud mother of three healthy daughters - Lydia, Jodie and Cara - who were all born by caesarean section, weighing around 8lbs, all with the aid of a stitch to prevent premature arrival.
"If it wasn't for the premature baby clinic at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Lydia wouldn't be here now."
Premature birth occurs for a number of reasons, including the placenta not functioning properly, a weak cervix which starts to open too early and cysts or fibroids in the womb, which leave the baby short of space.
Infections, blood-related conditions and diabetes and pre-eclampsia can also bring about premature birth.
A history of premature birth and being pregnant with twins or triplets can also increase the risk.
Detecting which women are going to deliver early is crucial in reversing the trend of increasing premature births.
Around two-thirds of premature births are spontaneous, typically with the mother going into labour before the baby is due.
Andrew Shennan, professor of obstetrics at St Tho
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