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Premature Infant Stimulation

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It is known that then stimulation of infants during the first few months is important for proper development to take place. Following, we will review the importance of both a stimulating environment and the need for physical stimulation provided by caregivers.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on physical, mother-infant, interaction, but studies have shown that inanimate stimulation is as important as social stimulation. Yarrow, Rubenstein, Pedersen, and Jankowski (1972) examined the importance of stimulation from caregiver interaction and the natural environment. The emphasis of their work was to study the impact of "disadvantaged" environments on infant development. What their work did show was that the environment of the infant was just …show more content…

When we look at infants in orphanages in Romania, we find children that are deprived of the complex physical contact normally received by other children that have a dedicated caregiver. These children show serious intellectual deficits, and although they show improvement later, they never catch up to their peers who were raised in more traditional environments (Berk, 2014). When we look at premature infants, who spend a large amount of their time in incubators, we find that they show slower gains in mass and motor function then their peers. Now, when premature infants are given 15 minutes of mechanosensory stimulation, three times a day for ten days, they show an increase in weight along with more time awake and active. They also would show more improvement than their unstimulated peers based on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (Ardiel & Rankin, 2010)
The effects of stimulation on infant development cannot be understated. The more research that has gone into the importance of this the more emphasis is placed on attempting to correct sensory deprivation. In hospital NICUs we see more interaction with children that are born premature. We are also seeing a greater emphasis on placing orphaned children into homes where they can benefit from direct caregiver contact and have a more stimulating environment to explore. Now, more than in the past, we see the need

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