The Effect of the Physiotherapy Program Applied in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Preterm babies have to stay in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) because they cannot complete intrauterine development and have difficulty maintaining their vital functions.

In very low birth weight babies, feeding may not be started at the desired time due to medical problems. Total parenteral nutrition should be started in order to prevent growth retardation in the baby who cannot receive adequate enteral nutrition in the first days. The infant who tolerates enteral feeding should also be transitioned to full enteral feeding as soon as possible. Early enteral nutrition and intensive early parenteral nutrition reduce growth retardation and improve the infant's mental developmental scores. The frequent occurrence of feeding intolerance in preterm infants with very low birth weight, especially extremely low birth weight, and the risk of NEC, which is a serious cause of mortality and morbidity in these infants, prevent reaching the desired nutritional goals. Therefore, the optimum initiation time and rate of increase of enteral feeding are still uncertain for these infants. The main purpose of preterm nutrition should be to minimize the problems that may occur in the short and long term. The aim of our study is to examine the effects of the physiotherapy program applied in the NICU on motor performance, behavior, transition time to full enteral feeding and feeding performance in preterm infants.

Inclusion criteria

• Born 30 weeks or younger of gestational age, Body weight below 1500 g, The baby's vital signs are stable.

Exclusion criteria

• Infants undergo surgery, Taking antibiotics or phototherapy, Having a genetic syndrome • Having other medical conditions that may affect physiotherapy practices, such as multiple congenital anomalies, tracheoesophageal fistula, diaphragmatic hernia, congenital heart malformation, and/or necrotizing enterocolitis, The baby is intubated.