| Abstract: | ![]()
This study aimed at evaluating possible effects of massage interventions on developmental progress in the infants born with low birth weight (LBW). Forty infants (17 boys, 23 girls) who were born in St. Petersburg in 2000 through 2002 and met a conventional definition of LBW (<2500 g at birth) entered the study. Of these, 36 (17 boys, 19 girls) were born both light and pre‐term (gestational age ≤36 weeks), and 4 (2 boys, 2 girls) were born light but at term. The control group consisted of an equal number of infants matched to cases for gender, gestational age, weight at birth, date of birth and geographical distribution. The infants from the case group were assigned to the massage intervention therapy at the age of two months. Infant Development Inventory (IDI) was used to check infant’s developmental progress in five areas: social, self‐help, gross motor, fine motor and language skills. The findings were that LBW infants who received massage intervention had advanced skills in all five areas at the age three through eight months. Revealed associations between massage and certain features of advanced behavioural outcomes remained significant after adjustment was made for major potential confounders. Massage can be undertaken to stimulate development in the infants born with LBW. |
