Protective apathy, a hypothesis about the behavioral organization and its relation to clinical and physiologic status of the preterm infant during the newborn period.

This article describes the behavioral organization and its change in relation to physiologic and clinical variables in a group of infants whose birthweight was less than 1.5 kg and who were experiencing and recovering from acute cardiorespiratory illness. The authors used the Brazelton Premature Sale, which was designed for use with a wide range of gestational ages (27 to 35 weeks). Examinations began 1 week after birth and were obtained serially during the initial recovery period of these infants.