Post NICU – Physiotherapy #2 @4 months corrected age

She is actually 7 months chronologically (counting from the day she was ACTUALLY born.)

Things tend to get a bit more complicated because there is indeed a quite big of a difference between a 4-month-old and a 7-month-old baby’s development. That is where baby specific development comes in. Physiotherapy checks are becoming more important because your 7-month-old preemie might be differently developing (for better or worse) than some else’s 7-month-old premature baby.

In the 2nd session, our physiotherapist checked D. from the aspects below:

Physical development

Neck and back strength: She checked her on tummy position to see if she is comfortable holding her had up. At this stage with all the tummy time given D., D. did a great job.

Rolling over: D. was rolling over but only to her left side. However, this was not an alarming situation according to our physiotherapist. We were given some exercises to initiate the movement to the other side so D. gets herself familiar with the other side too. When lying on the back, I started putting my finger on her right hip and give it a super gentle push to initiate the movement. She started rolling to her right side in a months’ time.

Sitting: At this stage, our physiotherapist did not really look for a perfect sitting situation. What she checked was whether she was able to keep her head up in the sitting situation. D. was able to keep her head up so she said next step would be to learn how to sit. She gave us some exercises to get her used to the sitting situation. Especially for sitting, it is very important that your baby is ready for sitting. Babies who got exposed to sitting position before they are ready, it might be stressful for their body which impacts physical development negatively.

Push through elbows on tummy position (first movement that initiates crawling): D. was trying to push her hands but she was not actually able to do it. This was perfectly fine. We were suggested to do tummy time on a rougher/firmer surface. (We were doing mostly on the bed.) We then moved our tummy time to our playmat and made a big difference.

Holding a toy at hand: She was given a toy and the physiotherapist checked what she did with it: not holding at all, throwing it, showing no interest, playing with it etc. With this exercise, I actually realized she was very much interested in playing with colorful toys. I then introduced a few colorful toys to her at home.

Language development:

Babbling: D. was not a very big on babbling and D. did not babble at all during the session. She did it here and there at this stage but not a lot. (She is a very talkative toddler now😊)

Social development: Babies at this stage are expected to smile spontaneously/purposefully when seeing mom / dad. D. had the best smile at this stage. Smiling to her a lot definitely helped.

Cognitive (learning and problem solving) development:

Recognizing different people: It was me and her daddy in the house all the time. She also got introduced to people back home like a month ago. I was confident with her recognition of different people.

She lets you know when she is happy / sad: At this stage, she was letting me know that she wanted to be held by me if something is not making her happy.

Reaching for toys (hand and eye coordination): I have seen her doing this for the first time in our physio session. On tummy position, our physiotherapist placed a few toys in front of her and she actually made a move towards them. I repeated the same at home. We also did another exercise to reinforce hand eye movement together. I would hold a toy at hand close to her and wait for her to reach for it.

Homework might seem like too much. However, physical exercises are only for 10-15 minutes a day. I would repeat it for a few times during the day though if I thought she was up for it or in the mood. I felt the other ones (social, language and cognitive ones) are a part of the daily routine. I talked to her like I would with any other person. We went through cards and made stories up. I explained her everything slowly. I turned on some music and danced with her, laughed with her. I opened my arms and waited for her to make a move. Then gave her a big hug. Looked at her in the eyes and told her I loved her deeply.