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.
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.
Massage can also help when the baby has
been separated from mom or dad due to the
infant being in the hospital or NICU unit
due to medical complications or early
birth.
Infant massage can help the giver and the
baby to reconnect after being away from
each other on a daily basis too. Like when
the mom or dad works and then returns home.
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.
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A daily massage upon return can help the
two reconnect and relieve tension for both
of them. Massage can help lessen the fears
of handling a new baby for the
inexperienced parent or caregiver.
Touch helps to get both of you in tuned to
each other. Babies learn to respond to
different strokes and they will soon learn
to recognize daddy's touch from mommy's
touch.
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