Participants Sixty-six participants were approached to participate in the study from both hospitals with no refusals. To avoid con-tamination between groups, the first group of infants recruited was assigned to the control group (n = 34) and the secondgroup was the intervention group (n = 32) which was recruited immediately after. Both groups were recruited within 6months. Power analysis for two independent groups based on the study by Field et al. (1987) found that 15 infants pergroup was sufficient to detect the effect of massage therapy on weight gain (p = .01, two-tail), Thus, a sample of 30 infantsin each group was more than adequate. Preterm infants were eligible for participation if they met the following criteria: (a)Gestational age (GA) is between 26 and 36 weeks assessed at delivery on the Dubowitz score, (b) Birth weight is between