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The development of head position preference in preterm infants beyond term 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 growth retardation (IUGR) and the degree of prematurity on both aspects of development from 35 weeks postmenstrual age to 18 weeks corrected age in 35 preterm infants without overt neurological abnormalities and whose gestational ages ranged from 27 to 34 weeks. Our data reveal that, during the preterm period, infants born after pregnancies of 32 weeks or less showed a lack of right-sided preferences for head turning after release from midline but not for the subsequent maintenance of a position. IUGR did not seem to affect either preference. After term age a right-sided preference diminished while a head midline position increased. The latter was not significantly delayed in relation to birth before 32 weeks gestation or IUGR. However, when infants were classified on the basis of neurological differences as reflected in a (mildly) abnormal movement quality, a delay in the attainment of a midline posture was observed, which suggests it is related to a suboptimal neurological condition. This delay, however, was also accounted for by the side-to-side flattening of the skull.