The Early Stimulation Of Premature Babies
The early stimulation of premature babies is very important for their development. However, it is important to adjust the age, ie. to count according to the child’s estimated birthday, rather than the day the child was actually born. It helps you see where your child really is in their development.
Premature babies have usually spent the first months of their lives in the hospital. They also work with children who would not even have been born yet.
Do you want to know why the early stimulation of premature babies is so important and what benefits it can have? We tell more in the article below.
What does a premature birth mean?
A child born before the 37th week of pregnancy is classified as premature. There are also those who are born before the 30th week, or whose weight is less than 1.5 kg.
These babies are the ones who demand the most from the early stimulation we are talking about today. Their condition is more complicated because not all of their organs have matured yet.
What does premature stimulation of premature babies mean?
Early stimulation is a set of activities, exercises and methods intended for premature babies. You can use them on children who have developmental delays and those who do not. They involve play and aim to strengthen and develop their potential.
Early stimulation means helping and following the little ones in their development. However, this never means forcing something they are not ready for. For example, an average 6-month-old baby can sit on its own. So what you do is follow and guide premature babies to sit properly and offer extra help.
The importance of the early stimulation of premature babies
Babies born prematurely are forced to mature and develop outside the womb. As a result, they often experience a delay in their development, maturity and growth. It is therefore important to understand the difference between their chronological age and their corrected age. The former refers to the age according to their date of birth, while the latter refers to the age according to their estimated date of birth. A child’s corrected age is what one needs to think about to promote their development.
Early stimulation has several remarkably great benefits for the development of premature babies. Below are some examples:
- The massage that is part of early stimulation helps the little ones to improve their weight, size, irritability and social ability.
- Early stimulation allows us to detect any developmental disorders or future learning difficulties as early as possible.
- Improved quality of life: Early stimulation gives children the best possible development for their central nervous system.
- In addition , it prevents cognitive, social and motor changes.
- Early stimulation also improves and strengthens the bond between parent and child.
Early stimulation largely promotes the mental, social and physical abilities of premature babies.
Exercises for premature babies
It is important to work with all the premature developmental areas of all premature babies and do so in coordination with the people involved in the baby’s life.
The exercises focus on the four different development areas:
Cognitive development
Tell tales with different tones on the voice, imitate animal sounds, etc. Music is also very important for cognitive development. In fact, studies have proven this.
Sensorimotor development
These exercises focus on maximizing the physical, communicative and mental abilities of premature babies. At the same time, they also aim to increase the capacity of the central nervous system. Here, play is a common way to stimulate.
Language development
Turn towards your child and make clear movements with the mouth, nose, eyebrows, eyes, etc. In this way , your child learns to recognize different facial expressions. Everything you can think of, like sticking out your tongue, inflating your cheeks and singing…
Affective and emotional development
Here, parents play a very important role. Physical contact with premature babies is important and parents need to give their little ones lots of hugs and affection. Interactions via eye contact, smiles, using their names often and clearly, etc. are also important.
Summary of premature stimulation of premature babies…
As your children grow, you adapt the exercises to their own maturity and development. It is important to always remember that each child develops and matures at his or her own pace, and we must respect that. You should never force anything, especially in the case of premature babies, as their development will generally be slower.
So now you know all about the importance and benefits of the early stimulation of premature babies. In addition, you also know what types of exercises are involved.
