Early intervention for premature babies - here’s why…

Premature babies are babies who were born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Having a baby who is born prematurely is a very overwhelming experience, especially when the baby has a prolonged NICU stay. As occupational therapists our role is to support parents during the baby’s NICU stay by empowering them to be able to read their baby’s sensory cues and help them to be able to regulate and calm their baby. Furthermore, the OT plays a role in promoting optimal development of the child while they are admitted in the NICU, as well as creating a neurodevelopmentally supportive environment within the NICU.

Premature babies are exposed to the world outside of the womb at an earlier stage while their sensory systems are still supposed to be developing in-utero. The “outside world” is very rich in sensory experiences, especially within a NICU environment (bright lights, noises from machines, lots of handling by nurses and doctors) and this is very different to the world that they are used to inside the womb. As occupational therapists our role is to help these babies make sense of their new sensory-rich world and help them to stay calm and regulated as much as possible in this new environment.

Many research studies have focused on prematurity and the majority of these studies found that babies who were born prematurely are at a higher risk of having sensory modulation disorders, somatosensory processing difficulties and sensory based motor processing difficulties when compared to their peers born full term (Niutanen et al., 2019). Thus, it is important for premature babies to be continuously followed up from infancy up to school age by an occupational therapist.

Early intervention is key as research shows that neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of an experience) is higher in younger children and as a result more changes can be facilitated when problems are picked up early on. It is therefore recommended to start occupational therapy screening and intervention when the baby is very young and not to wait until the child is older. Occupational therapy in an out-patient setting can be started as soon as the baby has been discharged from hospital. Physiotherapists and speech therapists also have a role to play when following up premature infants for motor and language development.

Now that we understand that early intervention is key, let us all promote and advocate for routine follow up for premature infants.

Reference:

Niutanen U, Harra T, Lano A, Metsäranta M. Systematic review of sensory processing in preterm children reveals abnormal sensory modulation, somatosensory processing and sensory-based motor processing. Foundation Acta Paediatrica. 2020;109:45-55.