Baby Massage
Baby massage, along with breastfeeding, is the most fulfilling form of nurturing you can give your child - with an added advantage: baby massage builds a bond of love and caring that both parents can experience.
Massage provides so many benefits. It aids digestion, relieves colic, eases tension, regulates breathing, and spurs growth. It offers your infant not just the comfort and stimulus of touch, but a full range of enriching sensual experiences... eye contact, a soothing voice, a familiar scent.
The Magic of Touch Massage has immense physiological benefits. It starts in the womb, where the baby is kept warm and nourished, and is massaged continually. At birth, placed on his mother's belly, he feels her warmth, hears the familiar heartbeat, finds the breast and suckles contentedly. Cuddled and caressed as an infant, his level of growth hormone increases and the myelin coating protecting his motor nerves thickens. Without the stimulus and self-reinforcement of touch and despite the release of growth hormone, he stops growing.
Massage improves the function of a baby's brain, heart and liver. It improves blood flow, strengthens gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, lessens symptoms of gas and colic, and reduces muscle tension. Massage especially benefits children with special needs. Premature babies, for example, who receive massage therapy show less stress, average 47% more weight gain per day, and are released from hospital an average of six days sooner. (Dr. Tiffany Fields, Touch Research Institute, Miami, FL)
The benefits of massage
don't end in infancy. Bulimia and other eating disorders suffered by adolescents
and young people can be countered with massage, providing them with comfort,
reassurance and a better self-image. Massage aids those suffering from
depression, anxiety, hypertension and poor sleep patterns. In old age,
massage counters the sense of loneliness and isolation, and can delay
the onset of senility.
