The incidence of premature babies has been stable or even increased over time. The phenomenon brings with it the possibility of neurological, sensorial, respiratory, cognitive or psychomotor consequences for the child, both in the short and the medium term. These consequences also are a concern to child psychiatrists and psychologists, as it is currently known that the progress of a premature baby and the appearance or otherwise of problems depend largely on the family environment, above all how the mother interacts with her child in the first months of its life. Doctor Fernando González defended his PhD thesis at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), entitled Development and early relations of premature children. A comparative study with a control population of two-year olds.
The research for this thesis involved the participation of 90 prematurely born babies with very low weight (less than 1.500 grams), without medium or severe consequences, and of their mothers. Their results were compared with 96 healthy new-borns, together with their mothers. The aim was to evaluate the mental development of the babies after two years (key moment in their maturing) and, above all, to contribute to knowledge about the environmental factors surrounding them; especially those involving mother-infant relationships.
Link between stress and psychomotor development
In this sense, the degree of stress of the mother appears to be a key factor. Mr González concluded that the children studied (premature or otherwise) and whose mothers showed high levels of stress during the first year of life, have lower rates of psychomotor development, besides having greater risk of suffering sleep disorders at two years. Precisely, the thesis bears out that mothers of premature babies have greater stress, showing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
As regards specific characteristics, it was shown that prematurely born babies have, at two years of age (corrected), a cognitive and psychomotor development within normality. Nevertheless, the values of the mental development rate are lower in the group of prematurely born babies than in the healthy group. Moreover, prematurely born babies show psychofunctional disorders (especially refusing to eat) and externalised behaviour (tantrums, oppositionism, aggressivity).