Effect of intervention on development of hip posture in very preterm babies

Abstract

Preterm babies are physiologically hypotonic, which causes their posture to be flattened when lying in the prone position. This flattened posture may persist beyond term. In a prospective, randomised, controlied, double blind trial of postural support carried out on 45 babies born at less than 33 weeks of gestation, we showed that infants positioned with specific hip support during the period of intensive care had significantly fewer features of flattened posture at the age equivalent to term.