Ergo Therapy for Premature Children – Challenges and Recommendations of the Specialist

In the past year, families of premature children using services at the Early Intervention Center had the opportunity to consult and receive support from our ergotherapist Vladislava Doncheva, both through online consultations and live at Karin’s home or at the family’s home.

Vladislava Doncheva is a rehabilitator, ergo therapist, early childhood development consultant at the Early Intervention Center of Karin Dom. Here is what Vladi shared on the World Prematurity Day – November 17, about the need for ergo therapy for premature children and their families:

A premature baby is defined as a baby born before 37 weeks of gestation. Every family with a premature baby has their own story, with unique circumstances specific to their situation. Some babies are raised for weeks in neonatal units, where they are subjected to various types of stimulation that are not present in the intrauterine environment, such as bright lights, high noise levels from the equipment in the unit, excessive touching and frequent painful interventions, and others. Premature babies are deprived of various sensations typical of a full-term baby, such as tactile-vestibular stimulation, which a full-term baby would otherwise receive in utero as a result of the mother’s movements. This reality can have lasting effects on the developing brain and reflect the natural development of the sensory systems and hence all areas of development of the young infant and child.

The challenges for the family of a premature baby do not end at discharge from the neonatal unit but continue at home. Ergo therapy aims to promote a child’s independence and self-esteem in physical, emotional and psychosocial development and can help parents through more information and support:

• How to organize the home environment according to the needs of the young child, both after discharge from the hospital and at a later stage.
• To teach parents how to position the baby in his bed or in another nursery area when awake, where the child spends most of his daily life.
• To receive support for the feeding position (of the mother and the baby) regardless of whether the baby is breastfed or formula fed.
• To help the family understand how best to organize and regulate the stimuli coming from the environment, whether sound, light or touch, which may have an impact on the behavior and development of the premature baby.
• To be informed and supported on how to stimulate the main stages of child development.
• To improve children’s skills needed to perform daily activities – eating, dressing, including playing and learning.

Dear parents, Karin Dom’s Early Intervention team will conduct free consultations for premature or low birth weight children up to 2 years of age. The specialists who will be involved in the consultations are: rehabilitator, speech therapist, psychologist, social worker, occupational therapist, breastfeeding specialist. Given the situation at this stage, consultations can be conducted online with a direct video link, live at Karin Dom or at the family’s home.

To participate in the free consultations, it is necessary to fill out the form HERE and we will contact you for further details.

🚒In order to be close to the most vulnerable, we also launched the initiative Karin Dom on Wheels – supports premature children – see the locations where you can meet our Early Intervention team and get more information on tracking the development of the premature baby. More about Karin Dom on Wheels see here! Karin Dom’s initiative is being held on the occasion of the World Day of Premature Children and aims at prevention and early diagnosis in the conditions of an epidemiological situation.