Baby massage may seem superfluous or silly to some people, but it’s popularity is growing in the U.S. and it has actually been practiced for centuries in many cultures around the world. But, does it have any significant health benefits? You might be surprised at how much it does. In fact, touch plays a much more important role in human development than scientists first imagined.

Consider these facts:

• Skin is by far the largest of all of our sense organs.
• It develops early in utero – at less than 8 weeks, when the fetus is less than an inch long, the sense of touch is already highly developed – before there are eyes or ears.
• Between the pulsing of the amniotic fluid and the contracting and expansion of the walls of the womb, the uterine environment is a space of constant massage.
• When a baby is born, his vision is still fuzzy, but touch is a primary way he can interact with the world for the first few months.

Just from these basic biological facts, it becomes clearer that touch must be important for infant development. But, to what extent? Here’s a snapshot of the myriad medical benefits researchers have discovered over the years.

• In 1986. Dr. Tiffany Fieldand her colleagues gave preterm infants a 15-minute massage, three times per day, for ten days resulting in 21-47% greater weight gain than standard care alone. Those infants were also discharged six days earlier on average than control infants, saving approximately $10,000 in hospital costs per infant. Since then, they’ve also found:
  • Infants who experienced massage therapy cried less and had lower cortisol levels, suggesting lower stress.
  • Touch stimulation can positively affect physiological, behavioral, and social development among infants.
  • Young children with eczema who received daily massage from their parents saw symptoms decrease.

• Dr. Kathryn Barnard at the University of Washington found that infants who were held more showed superior cognitive development as long as eight years later.

• Research by Theodore Wacks, a psychologist at Purdue, showed that infants who experienced more skin-to-skin contact had an advantage in mental development in the first six months of life.

 
It turns out infant touch benefits pretty much all systems of the body – nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, endocrine – the impacts are profound.

And, the benefits aren’t just for babies. You can probably guess that parents sleep better when babies sleep better (which they do with infant touch). And, it reduces parental stress levels, too! Field found that mothers who do infant massage report lower levels of depression, they seem to be more sensitive to their baby’s cues and the babies are more responsive to the mother through the whole first three months.

Still question whether touch is as important as eating and sleeping? Consider one more landmark study.

In the 1960s, Dr. Harry Harlow separated infant monkeys from their mothers at six to twelve hours after birth and substituted “surrogate” mothers made either of heavy wire mesh or of wood covered with cloth. Both mothers were the same size, but the wire mother had no soft surfaces and was equipped with a bottle from which the baby could “nurse”while the other mother was cuddly, covered with foam rubber and soft terry cloth, but had no food. Despite the fact that only one surrogate mother could feed them, the infants still spent more time cuddling with the cloth mother. (They also found that the monkeys“raised” by wire mesh moms were very aggressive as adults.) These results led researchers to believe closeness and affection are as imperative to healthy development as food.

In today’s busy world, it’s all-too-common for parents to give a child a pacifier or put them in front of a video screen to keep them calm and quiet. But, those convenient moments of calm may be having subtle impacts on your child’s development. Take time to slow down. Take time to touch. Take time to cuddle. They aren’t babies for long and your investment of time and touch is a priceless investment in their health and well-being.

Any parent of multiple children can tell you that keeping track of their family’s medical history can be a challenge!  Every time I am asked for a child’s birthdate, I have to pause and think, let alone their most recent weight and height!  Back when I had one child, I could rattle off every state from the previous six months.  Now?  I know how big each of them was at birth…and that’s about it!

Technology simplifies keeping track of each family member’s personal health records. Just this morning I was filling out a form for a new doctor’s visit and I was able to refer to our electronic records to fill out my little one’s most recent height and weight.  These days it seems that your entire life can be accessed from your mobile device and it only makes sense that your family’s health information should be just as accessible, especially in emergency situations. If you have more than one child, it can be difficult, for even the most diligent of moms, to keep track of each child’s detailed record of immunizations, allergies, etc. How many times have you looked at a bottle of acetaminophen and tried to remember if your child gets one teaspoon or one and a half teaspoons?

There are a few categories of health related apps that I would like to highlight:

1. Medical Records
   If you do a search on TheiPhoneMom.com for the terms “medical” or “health”, you will come up with numerous results.  Most recently, we reviewed Microsoft Health Vault and Family Med Track.  Both of these apps allow you to store a complete medical history for multiple family members including medications, immunizations, health conditions, allergies and more.  They each have unique functions, so be sure to read up on all that they can do.  Medical record apps really allow you to have your full family medical history at your fingertips at all times making doctor’s visits much easier.   My Kid’s Healthfeatures a great display to keep track of milestones in weight, height, head circumference as well as vaccinations, appointment, allergies and illnesses.
2. Illness/Symptom Guides
   Do you ever obsess over your children’s symptoms?  A few days after one of my children’s friends had her appendix removed, one of my children had a stomachache. Who did I turn to?  Dr. Google!  Googling every symptom is not recommended by doctors as you can either miss important things that need treatment, or work yourself up into a panic over a simple virus. One great app for checking symptoms is the Merck Manual: Home Edition. It’s written simply and has been put together by hundreds of medical experts. iTriage is another symptom tracker app that was created by two emergency room physicians in order to help you figure out what you might be dealing with and where you should go to seek help. You can even connect this to your Microsoft Health Vault account.  Finally, for an emergency situation Medlert 911+works as an emergency response app, connecting you quickly with those you have designated as your emergency contacts.
3. CPR and First Aid
   I am a strong believer in a hands-on CPR and first aid course for anyone who lives with or works with children.  In an emergency, it is helpful to be trained so that your response is automatic.  Some babies tend to gag and choke when eating solids and if you know how to quickly flip them over your arm and pat their back, you will be much more confident in facing these challenges!  I have two apps in my “to be reviewed” folder that are waiting on a full write up. First Aid by American Red Crossis a comprehensive guide that takes you step by step through first aid and CPR responses to emergency situations.   Pocket CPR focuses on CPR only and includes a training program that allows you to see if your rhythm is correct.
4. Role Playing Games
   Finally, for any kids who are apprehensive of doctors, role playing games can help prepare them for their next visit. Play Hospital is a cute game that walks kids through each step of a doctor visit.

It’s a simple fact: Motherhood is very, very messy.  It’s filled with vomit and diapers, juice stains and snotty noses, wet sheets and crayon on the walls. There are seemingly insurmountable piles of play things – from dough and stuffed animals, to itty bitty Legos™ that you inevitably wind up stepping on, over and over. Not to mention the messy tantrums, in public and private, and meltdowns too numerous to count. Being a parent isn’t a Hallmark moment, it’s a marathon. And just because you aren’t all smiles and sunshine with a sparkly clean home all – or even most – of the time, does not mean you’re a bad parent.

Still, moms are particularly hard on themselves and this inexplicable syndrome persists across generations. We feel guilty when our child doesn’t devour our kale and salmon dinner and instead eats frozen french fries and burgers. We admonish ourselves for losing our patience as our kids throw teary, fist-pumping fits in the mall. We beat ourselves up for each and every minor infraction – real or imagined – that we make along this bumpy, unpredictable journey.

You know what? We all need to lighten up.

If your life is messy, you’re perfectly normal – celebrate it. Laugh at it. Embrace it. Flow with it and forgive yourself. We each do the best we can with the resources that we have at the moment – whether that means our physical and environmental tools (such as information and finances), or our emotional stores (think patience).

Being part of a community of parents is one of the ways we can begin to acknowledge the challenges of motherhood. It is the ultimate reality show. Seeing, knowing, feeling, and sensing that you are not the only one who has piles of dirty laundry or a hard time getting yourself into the shower is reaffirming.

Parenting challenges you and stretches you. It should – and it ain’t always pretty. Knowing that you are not alone (and are not crazy) gives you the inner strength to continue. And having the opportunity to share your travails with other parents helps us all put things in perspective.

At Holistic Moms, we welcome parents from all walks of life and strive to create a supportive environment where we can connect, share, and learn. We honor the mess and the ups and downs. It is all part of the journey.

Today, take a deep breath, smile, and know you’re not alone. And, if the sink stinks with dirty dishes, trust that it has nothing to do with your parenting skills and your kids will thrive regardless.

Learn more about finding balance and holistic parenting and connect with like-minded parents at the 9th Annual Natural Living Conference on October 13th in Chicago. You can also join in events online and off-line all month long as part of Holistic Moms Network’s celebration of Holistic Living Month. Join us!

Recently, we heard from a mom who was struggling to learn about what ingredients were used in her daughter’s diaper. She had contacted the major manufacturer and the response was close to this:  “we can’t share the ingredients because it’s a trade secret, but if your doctor sends us a letter outlining your child’s allergies, we can let you know if there’s anything that might trigger a reaction.”

Huh??

With an increasing population of children with conditions like allergies, chemical sensitivities, behavioral disorders, and celiac disease how can this still be the case? If you use a product and your child has a severe reaction and needs immediate medical attention, how can health professionals adequately respond if they don’t know what exactly the child may have been exposed to?

In addition to the potential immediate, acute reactions, what about the growing population of parents trying to avoid toxic chemicals?

We’ve had ingredients labels on food and pharmaceuticals for decades (though even those aren’t always as transparent as we’d like – thus, the need for things like labels to let us know if there’s ‘pink slime’ in our meat  or genetically modified organisms in our food.) But, what about everything else we surround ourselves with?

What do you think? Do you have a right-to-know?

One thing we feel passionately about is United States chemical regulatory reformation.  Right now, please get involved by learning more and signing the petition telling Congress to take action on the Safe Chemicals Act! Please sign & share!

Being a guy doesn’t mean I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. It just means pulling teeth to show it off.  Even with Valentine’s day coming once a year I think it’s important that we remember that Date Night isn’t just once a year.  Last week, my Sister baby sat (which is a win/win – 1. its free 2. she gets to play with Marc for a bit) but even if you need to pay a sitter it’s well worth it.

We live in Union Square and lately NYC has been freezing… we walk just a block to the W Hotel – where the Todd English’s Olives is located in the lobby.  If you’ve never been RUN don’t walk over there one night and drink you’re self silly.  The cocktail menu is wonderful, yes the martinis are $12 but in Manhattan that’s pretty much going rate.

My wife loves the dirty martinis or the lychee martini. I love the super tart passion fruit cocktail.  After sitting the W Hotel’s Lobby living room for a round, we asked to move to a table to enjoy some lite bites from the Olives Menu.  The food was great just what we both had wanted. The prices once again weren’t out of line for a Manhattan restaurant either – I know that people usually think of hotel food and think chicken fingers and fries – this isn’t the case at Olives.

I’m starting to get off topic here, while this date night was awesome…it’s still the principle of having a date night.  We often forget to take care of ourselves, once we have a child.  I think it’s great that we all put our children first, because we shouldn’t be selfish at this point.  But that doesn’t mean we should just forget about the bond that brings us together as parents.  We need this adult time together, we need to remember we love each other, we need to laugh, and we sometimes just need a drink.