Physical therapy

On thursday the babies had their first PT session and the the physical therapist showed us a few different exercises we can do with the babies to help them with their head control and motor development. I like that we have someone coming to the house to work with them to help us monitor their development since it's hard to know what they should be doing at this point. The whole preemie thing and adjusted age is hard and makes trying to figure out what's age appropriate difficult. For now the therapist will come once a month unless I decide we want her to come two times a month. Once the babies are a little older and more active she'll come more often.

She gave us the following homework assignments:

1.) Tummy time- following a handout she gave us with different ways of doing it and we should shoot for at least 30 min a day (not all at once).

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2.) Side lying - face to face or lay a large toy in front of the baby to encourage her to notice her hands

3.) modified pull to sit - lay the baby on their back on your thighs while you are vertical and pull gently on their arms to bring her upright. Goal is to get the baby to bring their head forward. Only pull if you feel her pulling back. Gradually bring her closer to horizontal.

4.) Back lying - head in midline- on her back looking at you, cup the babies head to help her keep it centered. Then open your hand to se if she can keep her head in midline. Progress gradually to no support.

5.) Vertical carry - babies back to your chest, and one hand under the baby so they are sitting, with the other hand in front on the baby's chest with fingers to support her chin. Gradually decrease the amount of support she needs to hold her head upright. Walk around like this.
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So these are the few things we're suppose to work on when the babies are awake and alert. When she was here both babies just screamed through the entire session. Neither one of them liked being stretched and moved the way she was doing it.