Effect of Massage and Foot Reflexology on Newborns' Sleep

Purpose: Newborns undergo biochemical and physiological changes involving all their systems in the first days of their lives and may experience difficulties in adapting to extrauterine life for various reasons. Leaving the warm, dark, quiet, calm, fluid-filled mother's womb of newborns whose systems are not yet mature and placing them in the intensive care unit with many stimuli creates intense stress and negatively affects the sleep-wake pattern required for growth-development and neurodevelopment. It is intensive for the development of newborns' neurosensory systems. They have sleep requirements. It is known that the brain activity of newborns during the intrauterine period is similar to REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep activity, they sleep more than adults, and they spend most of their sleep in the REM sleep period. For this reason, our research will be conducted to examine the effects of massage and foot reflexology applied to preterm newborns on sleep. Design and Methods: This randomized experimental study was carried out on 108 preterm newborns with gestational weeks between 30-37, hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of a city hospital. The researcher was applied massage (n:36) and foot reflexology (n:36) to the newborns for 15 minutes, twice a day for 2 days. No intervention other than routine clinical practices was applied to the control group (n:36). The 24-hour sleep of the newborns included in the study was monitored with a sleep-wakefulness measuring device before the application and on the day the naps end, and was recorded in the newborn follow-up form. Statistical analysis was performed using percentages, means, median, variance and Kruskal Wallis, Wilcoxon tests test.