THE EFFECT OF TUB BATHING ON WEIGHT GAIN IN PRETERM INFANTS: RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Weight is the most sensitive growth criterion, and it is a way to survey the total health. Improvement in care procedures of preterm infants in addition to decreasing the cost of care, it can result in the reduction of complications in neonatal period. With regarding to the importance of growth and development, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tub bathing on weight gain of preterm neonates.
This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial. 132 preterm infants with a gestational age of 32-37 weeks were randomly divided into two treatment and control groups. The infants of treatment group were bathed three times in the interval of one day inside the bathtub while the control group received routine skin care. In both treatment and control groups, the weight outcome measured daily and these data were registered in the checklist. The data were analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Less than 0.05 P value was considered statistically significant.
The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between both groups in terms of the changes of weights in preterm infants (P>0.05).
According to the results of the study, an increase of weight gain of preterm infants after bathing in all three measurement times was observed comparing to the control group, so it is recommended to use bathing of newborns, especially tub bathing, in the care giving program of the infants hospitalized in newborn's wards and NICUs.