"Impact of Kangaroo Mother Care Plus Massage Therapy on Growth of Preterm Low Birth Weight Infants at Discharge"

Primary phase of the transition from the fetal to post-natal period is the most important, vulnerable and stressful phase in human life. Hence, care methods that facilitate better adaptation of neonates with early post¬natal environment have an important role in growth of newborns. Attachment is a unique relationship between the parents and their infants that begins during pregnancy when fetus grows in uterus and continues to the postnatal period with the relationship of mother and baby. This reciprocal parent-infant relationship is an essential element of the attachment process that helps relaxation of both mother and the infant. Kangaroo mother care has facilitated infant growth and decreased morbidities and hospital stay. Adding massage therapy may potentiate the kangaroo mother care benefits and better growth in preterm low birth weight infants admitted in neonatal intensive care unit. However, there is a very few published studies from Bangladesh regarding this. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether kangaroo mother care plus massage therapy is associated with better growth of preterm low birth weight infants.

This study will be conducted in the department of Neonatology in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University over a period of eighteen months. After detailed history taking and thorough general and systemic examination the newborn will enter in to intervention or control group after taking informed written consent. Randomization will be done by random allocation software (version 2.0 developed by Mahmood Saghaei, Iran). Patient will be enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thereafter control group will receive standard kangaroo mother care and intervention group will get massage therapy along with kangaroo mother care, up to discharge both group will be meticulously monitored by the investigator. Data will be collected by structured questionnaire and analysis will be done by The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25.