THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEAD POSITION PREFERENCE IN PRETERM INFANTS BEYONDTERM AGE

Healthy full-term infants show a developmental trend in head position from an initial right-sided preference to one with the head in midline around the age of 12 weeks. We studied the effects of intrauterine gr owth retardation (IUGR) and the degree of prematurity on both aspects of development from 35 weeks postmenstrual age to 18 weeks corrected a ge in 35 preterm infants without overt neurological abnormalities and whose gestational ages ranged from 27 to 34 weeks. Our data reveal tha t, during the preterm period, infants born after pregnancies of 32 wee ks or less showed a lack of right-sided preferences for head turning a fter release from midline but not for the subsequent maintenance of a position. IUGR did not seem to affect either preference. After term ag e a right-sided preference diminished while a head midline position in creased. The latter was not significantly delayed in relation to birth before 32 weeks gestation or IUGR. However, when infants were classif ied on the basis of neurological differences as reflected in a (mildly ) abnormal movement quality, a delay in the attainment of a midline po sture was observed, which suggests it is related to a suboptimal neuro logical condition. This delay, however, was also accounted for by the side-to-side flattening of the skull. (C) 1994 John Wiley and Sons, In c.