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 that touch is important to infant health. In fact, touch plays a much more important role in human development than scientists first imagined.
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.
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.