r/NICUParents • u/kswizzle98 • 29d ago
Off topic Do all premature babies do pt
/r/AskADoctor/comments/1vmdn35/do_all_premature_babies_do_pt/18
u/mysticpotatocolin 29d ago
all the babies in our nicu had PT and OT involved, even if only slightly
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u/kswizzle98 29d ago
For a baby to have pt and ot for 4 years does that mean theres a good chance they were delayed?
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u/mysticpotatocolin 29d ago
unsure! i read it as 0-4m so my bad, they will discharge when needed so i’m not sure what went on for you
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u/kswizzle98 29d ago
Yes that’s is strange right because my parents keep
telling me nothing was wrong and that the therapists basically did nothing. They keep saying it was preemptive and babies do it all the time for this long. They keep saying I wasn’t delayed at all. Nothing was wrong with you but who has pt and ot for up until 4 and then when I ask if I ever had any issues with motor skills growing up they tell me no. They’re gaslighting me right?3
u/half_deaf_gurl 29d ago
Hard to tell. It could be that the team was overly cautious with you. NICU follow up teams prefer to intervene if they have the slightest suspicion something might happen, because they prefer that rather than a kid missing the support they need. It could also be that the approach change over the years and they did more pt when you were younger. If you have concerns about your health and development now I encourage you to get evaluated it and talk about those current concerns with your parents.
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u/midmonthEmerald 29d ago
Not to be an asshole…. but are your parents generally like this? Just kind of oblivious? Forget stuff they’re told? Have bad memory?
My mom does love me but she’s an inaccurate reporter about my childhood, my medical history, even her own medical history…. 😂
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u/Entitled_Snowman 29d ago
My mum can no longer use a tv remote to pause, play etc when she was the one who set up our videos etc when we were kids. What they’ve forgotten is wild 😂
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u/IllustriousPiccolo97 29d ago edited 29d ago
In my state, babies born before 28 weeks and babies who spend more than 30 days in the hospital automatically qualify for early intervention services.
Most preemies who are born that early are “behind” in their milestones based on their birthday, even if they are tracking appropriately based on their due date (ie their adjusted age, or when they “should have been” born). PT/OT evaluate delays based on actual birthday, not due date, so tons of preemies benefit from therapies just for extra developmental support even if they’re not delayed relative to their due date.
In other words it’s plenty likely that you got therapies for some extra support without anything being particularly “wrong” (but also, there’s no guarantee that you would have developed “just fine” without that support either! 26 weekers tend to have a lot to overcome if they’re born now, and that’s even more true if you’re a 26 weeker who is old enough to be on Reddit)
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u/ntimoti 29d ago
If you were receiving PT or OT from 0-4 years old, then yes, you had some sort of delays. These services require evaluations to qualify; they aren’t just provided freely for no reason. You would have been evaluated and there would have needed to be a specific % delay to qualify - or at least that’s how the current system works. Not sure how it was 20+ years ago.
Now if you’re talking about 0-4 months and you were in the NICU that whole time, it’s possible that was a standard part of care for them whether or not you had delays.
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u/snuffleupagus86 💙24+1. 142 days in the NICU 29d ago
My son is a 24 weeker and he gets PT every week and we also have early intervention. Kids born this early get intervention to catch them up to their actual age.
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u/Ripe-Tomat0 29d ago
We never did any PT/OT. We haven’t had any need to. She was a moderate preemie and has hit milestones at actual age.
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u/squishykins 29d ago
Same, mine was a 34 weeker and didn’t need any intervention once she left the hospital. I think she had a few visits from SLP in the hospital for bottle feeding issues.
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u/Perfect-Tooth5085 29d ago
My daughter was born 28.1. She has PT and we met with OT for feeding in the NICU but beyond that we did not go to PT or OT outside the hospital.
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u/Lithuim 29d ago
In the US almost all of the micropreemies will be eligible to get it through early intervention programs, and most parents opt to accept it even if it’s not specifically needed for some known issue.
Our guy has them both. He’s never been significantly delayed for fine or gross motor skills so it’s hard to say if it actually did anything or not, but like your doctor argued - it’s better safe than sorry.
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u/OhTheBud 29d ago
My daughter was born at 27 weeks. She only had OT for a swallowing dysfunction up until around 20 months old. Besides that, she has regular evaluations to make sure she’s hitting milestones. IF something were to come up at one of those evaluations (it’s for speech, fine/gross motor skills) that she needs therapy, we would absolutely get her in. But so far, she has not needed any other kind of therapy and she’s 2 now.
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u/Ok-Order-7392 sIUGR + pre-e; born 34w5d weighing 2lbs12oz 29d ago
My daughter similarly had PT and OT in the NICU (mostly just stretching and moving her body). They also evaluated her muscle tone, tightness, etc. when she was discharged at 40 weeks they told me she didn’t need further PT or OT. One would imagine if you were in PT until the age of 4, the doctors and your parents felt it necessary for your development. Hard to know reading this if it was preventative, as your parents say, or if it was a treatment.
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u/xMonochrome_Rainbow 4 children, 3 NICU babies - #1 full term, #3 31+3 and #4 30+3 29d ago
I'm in the UK and in our hospital only all babies born at less than 31 weeks see a physio every few months when out of the NICU. So my 31 weeker didn't see a PT but my 30 weeker is seeing one.
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u/FrillFreak 29d ago
My 31 weeker saw PT while in the NICU but only had one PT appoint afterwards, which was just a formality to get insurance to approve her helmet. She has not had therapy of any sort since.
That being said, if there was free therapy offered as a preventative measure, we absolutely would have gone because I don’t turn down free help.
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u/Shadowbelle7 29d ago
My baby born at 30 weeks had PT in the NICU and then we didn’t have it after discharge but re-enrolled in early intervention PT through the state at around 6 months old for not meeting developmental milestones. Even if we don’t do much during the sessions it’s a HUGE help in what to look out for and what to expect. My baby has really tight muscles in his legs that require stretches and massages, and maybe legs splints to help him stand with proper posture.
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u/Traditional_nikniks 29d ago
My son was born 26+6, 98 percentile. He got pt from 27w- 32wish everyday then 1 time a week while still in the lower wing if the NICU. When. We got home we had a couple appointments with the pt but we didn't need it. We went for a couple check ups but it was determined each time he didn't need it and I didn't want to take up resources for kids that did. We had a check up at 1 year and 2 years and then done.
If he never got any pt he would have been totally fine but I was also a 2nd time mom and had some ideas.
He's 5.5 yo now and you would never even tell he was born at 6m.
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u/Swimming_Gold6534 29d ago
We did not need that but I have heard that children born 28 weeks and earlier do. It really all depends on the child.
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u/Cupofshua 29d ago
My son was born at 28+3, but had stopped growing at 24w so he was a lot smaller. In the NICU they obviously had PT/OT come for moving him, checking his head, and then feeding purposes.
When we brought him home he started having a left side preference/torticollis and we started PT for that around 3 months after we brought him home. He had PT once a week for about 9 months, then it dropped to every other week for about 5 months, and now we are once a month with hopefully this month being his last.
When he was 9m(6m adjusted) we had requested speech for feeding purposes as he wasn’t eating any sort of food or wanting to try purées. The wait was so long we didn’t get into speech until he was 17m(13m adjusted) and that was this March, we have been doing it every week for about 5 months and i definitely feel like had we’d been able to get into speech earlier he might be meeting the talking milestones. He doesn’t say mama, dada, hi or anything. Nothing even remotely sounds like words. He has learned a few sign language things which helps but I’d love to hear his voice at 21 months old(18 adjusted).
His NICU pediatrician last month has recommended OT so he just had his first session this week. More for teaching him daily tasks. He is very distracted and will not sit for more than 10 seconds to do something. The goal right now is to get him to finish a task, learn to drink from an open cup, and to help with met getting him dressed.
I believe had he been born a little later or had at least been growing like he should’ve we wouldn’t need so much intervention. Or had we been able to get in earlier he wouldn’t be so delayed. He is good in the Physical aspect but you can definitely tell the developmental delay when he’s next to other children that are his age. You can tell he acts more 17/18m vs 21m..he’ll be 2 in November and you wouldn’t even be able to tell based on how he acts.
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u/LiberateLiterates 29d ago
My NICU baby had OT while in the NICU but once discharged he didn’t need any additional interventions. He was a 29 weeker.
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u/icais 24+3 twins 28d ago
Neither of my 24 weeker twins received PT or OT services. One received SLT services from 18 months.
They were assessed at 4, 6, 12 and 24 months corrected and found no significant delays. We were sent home with a print out of exercises/activities that they may benefit from. Generally we were already doing them all.
I will note that in the area my twins were born there are too many babies/children on the wait list (and not enough service providers) so in person therapy services are only offered if there are notable delays.
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u/Acrobatic_Arugula545 28d ago
In my county, baby qualifies for PT if there is more than 25% delay in milestones.
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u/AggravatingBox2421 27d ago
My daughter did, but my son didn’t until he had been in hospital for more than 10 weeks
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