Several of these researchers have examined infants’ immediate
responses to the tactile and kinesthetic or vestibular
components of the intervention programs. Morrow
and colleagues46 examined responses over 4 days to 15-
minute interventions that consisted of 5 minutes of massage followed by 5 minutes of kinesthetic stimulation (passive
range of motion of limbs) and then a further 5 minutes of
massage. During the first day, there were decreased TcPO2
levels during the first tactile period and during the kinesthetic
period. By the fourth day, there were no changes during
both the tactile and kinesthetic phases of the intervention. This finding is consistent with the finding by Tribotti32
reported earlier that suggests that infants are able to habituate
over time to tactile stimuli.White-Traut et al54 compared
preterm infants’ responses to 4 types of stimulation: tactile
only (T); auditory only (A); auditory, tactile, and visual
(ATV); and auditory, tactile, visual, and vestibular (ATVV).
Infants in the T group had a higher percentage of heart rates
greater than 180 beats per minute (bpm) (7.1%), compared
with infants in the ATVV group (4.5%). The authors concluded
that the findings suggested that the vestibular stimulation
provided at the end of the massage had a modulating
effect, and that tactile stimulation without such rocking
might lead to unacceptably high levels of arousal in some
infants. There is a need for further research to examine this
possibility