Healthy Erlangen quadruplets discharged from hospital
The thrilled parents and treatment team from Uniklinikum Erlangen agree: “It could hardly have gone any better!”
In April 2025, two months before their due date, quadruplets were born in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Uniklinikum Erlangen (director: Prof. Dr. Matthias W. Beckmann). When they were born, the children weighed between 1,130 and 1,300 grams. The two girls and two boys, who have all more than doubled in weight, are now at home and coped well with their first immunizations in mid June. The parents from Lauf a.d. Pegnitz thanked everyone involved for the excellent care they received during the pregnancy and after the birth. The doctors and nursing staff in the Department of Neonatology at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (director: Prof. Dr. Joachim Wölfe) at Uniklinikum Erlangen are also thrilled with the happy outcome. After all, it is by no means par for the course that premature multiples can be discharged from hospital fit and healthy after just a few weeks.
“A birth of quadruplets is really a very rare occurrence,” confirms Prof. Dr. Holm Schneider, senior physician at the Department of Pediatrics at Uniklinikum Erlangen, who advised the expectant mother from the tenth week of her pregnancy and has already accompanied several families with quadruplets. In Germany, only one set of quadruplets is born per year, often long before their due date. The risk of a premature birth that can entail serious complications and lasting negative consequences for the children’s health rises according to the number of fetuses in the womb. “In order to avoid premature births, other hospitals sometimes carry out a procedure to reduce the number of fetuses in the womb during the first third of pregnancy, a very problematic procedure from ethical, medical and psychosocial points of view,” explains Prof. Schneider, hinting at the intensity of the consultation he held with the married couple from Lauf who were forwarded from the prenatal diagnostics practice Prof. Dr. Florian Faschingbauer. Early on in the pregnancy, both doctors encouraged the expectant mother to keep all four babies. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Uniklinikum Erlangen specializes in caring for risk pregnancies such as these for as long as possible without putting either the pregnant mother or her unborn children at risk.
On the day the quadruplets were born at the beginning of April, the birth ran smoothly thanks to the well-established team from obstetrics and neonatology. The C-section performed by senior physician Prof. Dr. Susanne Cupisti and head of department Prof. Beckmann only took a few minutes. Four neonatologists were on hand to ensure the best possible care for the premature babies in the labor ward. “After the birth, the siblings were moved to the intensive care ward for several weeks, where they not only received medical care, but were also lovingly looked after by nursing staff,” reports Prof. Dr. Heiko Reutter, head of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine. Soon, the two little girls and two little boys each shared a cot and started to make their needs known to their parents and nursing staff by blinking and with increasingly loud cries. When the time approached for them to be sent home at the beginning of June, everyone agreed: “It could hardly have gone any better!” Tears of joy were shed when it was time to say goodbye. After a few days at home in Lauf a.d. Pegnitz, the babies and their family came back to Uniklinikum Erlangen for the children to receive their first standard immunizations. The parents shared that there is never a dull moment at home any more, and that it is a wonderful experience.
Further information:
Prof. Dr. Holm Schneider
Phone:+49 9131 85 33118
holm.schneider@uk-erlangen.de
Prof. Dr. Heiko Reutter
Phone:+49 9131 85 33118
heiko.reutter@uk-erlangen.de