The analysis of hand and thumb postures of preterm infants at the first postnatal day

Late intrauterine and early postnatal period is important for neurodevelopment in preterm infants, because of the rapid growth. Infant posture is associated with the development and coordination of musculoskeletal and neurologic systems. Infant posture is also one of the findings which shows neurodevelopment in preterm infant. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies on exchange hand and thumb posture, normal distribution and development in preterm infants. This study aims; evaluation of hand postures and defining features of the hand and thumb posture according to gestational age at first postnatal day of the preterm infants. In our study, 190 preterm infants who were born before the 37 weeks, hand and thumb were photographed after 30-60 minutes of breast milk or formula intake and any nutrition in a quiet environment (asleep period) and after stimulation with moro reflex (awake period). Two people evaluated images independently. Hand and thumb postures were classified. Both hands of the infants with smaller gestational age were open positions. It was found that the babies with incomplete and complete fisting stance had greater gestational age. The thumb position was placed by the side of other fingers in infants of smaller age. This difference was significant at right hand. When we classified the infants according to their gestational age; babies whose gestational ages were less than 29 weeks tend to have more symmetrical posture in both of their hands. These results showed that the infants, who were born at different gestational weeks and also different stages of neurodevelopment, had dissimilar characteristics of the hand postures. We believe that observing and recording hand and thumb postures are an important part of physical examination in preterm infants. Key words: Preterm newborns, hand posture, thumb posture, neurodevelopment, gestational age