The Health Benefits Of Giving Infants Massage Therapy

The Health Benefits Of Giving Infants Massage. Therapy Research has shown that skin-to-skin touch between mom and baby or dad and baby can benefit both. They can learn to communicate without using words.

New parents can bond better with their new family member when they practice holding their new baby to their unclothed chest. New babies always smell so good and feel so soft. Babies receive real benefit from feeling your warm skin and hearing the reassuring sound of your heartbeat.

Infant massage helps babies to grow and develop better. There has been some exciting research done in the area of touch and it's connection to proper growth. Touch stimulates the growth-promoting hormones and increases the enzymes that make the cells of the vital organs.

Premature babies who are touched and held show more weight gain then those who are left in incubators receiving little human touch or stimulation. In some eastern cultures young mothers are reprimanded if they do not give their babies massages every day, so revered is the practice of infant massage.

Many books have been written on the topic of human babies who suffer from lack of human touch, fail to thrive. Touch is good for your body and for your brain. Studies have been conducted that show that those who received plenty of human touch during infancy display enhanced neurological development.

Researchers have drawn a connection between touch and the growth hormone "myelin" - which is the insulating material that surrounds nerves. This material makes nerve impulses move faster. Touch has also been shown to improve digestion.

When babies are touched often they secret more digestive hormones allowing for better digestion.

Babies who have colic may benefit from massage to calm a irritated colon.

Baby massage can promote better sleeping patterns and lead to less fussiness during the day. Most babies who fuss and cry a lot may scare off adults and lead to being picked up and cuddled less often.

Adults need to understand that touch to babies can soothe them and bring about a more calm disposition. The same thing happens when an adult is upset and someone reaches out and touches your arm, or gives you a quick squeeze.

That instant touch is felt, you feel an immense relief, a connection that says, they care about me. The fussy baby feels the same sense of relief over someone caring about them.

Quick Facts About Massage Therapy The medical benefits Of Massage Therapy. The Hormonal System Massage can measurably alter the levels of certain hormones circulating in the body. Cortisol, known as a 'stress hormone', is reduced by a massage. Meanwhile a good massage raises the levels of dopamine and seratonin circulating around the body. Dopamine and seratonin make you feel good � they relax your heart, they reduce your sensitivity to pain, and they reduce blood pressure. In the longer term, low levels of dopamine and seratonin are associated with depression. That doesn't mean massage can cure depression, but it does highlight the link between having a backrub and feeling good. So, here is one mechanism by which massage makes you feel good. It isn't clear why massage has these effects on the hormones, but that doesn't stop it being a good thing.

Baby massage teaches a baby about their body parts. They can learn which parts are sensitive and which parts being touched can relax them.

Massage teaches a baby that they have self-worth and are of value to those around them. Massage can especially help when he parent and infant have had a slow start in the bonding department due to the parent being absent, ill or otherwise unable to care for or be with the infant during the first hours or days of life. 

Theraputic Massage Terms and Facts. Improved medical care, healthy living, and long-term demographic changes mean that the elderly make up an ever-increasing segment of our population. They can benefit from massage as much as, if not more than, anybody else. And, especially as the 'baby boomer' generation reaches retirement age, they are very open to the possibility of massage. Massage can benefit many people simply by offering physical contact, something which many of us are deprived of in the rest of our lives. This is doubly true for the elderly, who may feel very physically isolated.