Massage is a wonderful and special gift that parents can share with their babies.
Baby massage is not a new phenomenon.
It is an ancient art used in many diverse cultures to help with a variety of physical and emotional needs and to promote relaxation. Babies crave skin contact.
Touch is a baby’s most developed sense at birth and parents can use it to communicate with their babies immediately. Everyone has the ability to touch and massage another. Parents do not need any qualifications to massage their babies. Massage is simply a method that helps to reinforce the natural power of touch.
Baby massage has well-established benefits for parents and babies. Integrating massage into the parent/child relationship offers another way for parents to get to know and understand their baby. It eases a baby’s transition from the womb into the world, can help to stimulate development and aids relaxation. Baby massage and yoga offer the opportunity to communicate to babies the emotions of love, security, comfort and support. It allows a greater understanding of a baby’s subtle non-verbal language and develops a parent’s ability to listen and observe her baby.
When a parent massages her baby, she lays down the foundations of trust and security which will aid the development of a happy and confident relationship. Teaching baby massage in a group also helps to bring parents together to share ideas and experiences and provide a sense of community which can often be lacking in modern society.
Our skin is a vital sensory organ. It is the first organ developed by a baby in the womb and it is made of the same embryonic tissue as our brains. The skin is as thirsty for sensory experience as the brain, yet the power of touch is often underrated. The effect of skin contact, or the lack of it, can have profound consequences on all the systems of our bodies.
The importance of touch for babies is now well-known but this has not always been the case. In the early 19th century in America, there was a high death rate in babies under the age of one raised in orphanages. This caused concern, especially as the babies were being provided with food, warmth and shelter.
What the babies lacked, however, was skin contact, or touch from their carers. The babies were only handled when absolutely necessary. The lack of touch and skin stimulation led to their nervous systems not developing properly and the babies became depressed, withdrawn and eventually died. The babies were categorised as having a condition called “marasmus”, a Greek term meaning “wasting away”. As humans, we behave very differently towards our young than many other mammals. For other mammals, touch and skin stimulation after birth has vital importance.
Dogs and cats lick their litter all over after birth. This is not just for cleaning but to stimulate their infants’ body systems so that they can start to work efficiently. Stimulation of the skin also helps the mother bond with her young by allowing her to impart her smell on them helping each to recognise the other. This process is vital for the mother in order for her to accept her young and therefore essential for the baby’s survival.
Although we do not behave in this way with our babies after birth, simple actions such as skin contact, positive gestures and eye contact are important in creating and encouraging bonds between parent and baby. Massage enables parents to give their babies the skin contact they crave.
“Human behaviours clearly show that touch is a basic behavioural need, much as breathing is a basic physical need, that the dependent infant is designed to grow and develop socially through contact, tactile behaviour, and throughout life to maintain contact with others. Furthermore, when the need for touch remains unsatisfied, abnormal behaviour will result”
(Montagu, Touching 1986)
This powerful quote illustrates the importance of touch to infants. Massage is a way to reinforce the power of touch and it has many benefits for infants and parents.
New studies are now being conducted to help support its practice. It can be difficult to appreciate the far-reaching benefits of massage for babies so we have summarised the four main benefits below:
Relief
Massage can bring relief to a number of conditions suffered by babies which can cause them to be uncomfortable during the first months of life and beyond. Relief from colic and wind is an important benefit of baby massage. Massage helps to tone the digestive tract, expel wind from the body, break down large air bubbles and speed myelination between the nerve cells in the stomach and the brain thus making the digestion of food and elimination of waste more efficient. Infant massage can also bring relief of teething pain by massaging the mouth and gums and ease colds and congestion by helping to drain the nasal passages of mucus. Ashley Montagu (Touching 1984) talks about the importance of touch for babies explaining that holding and rocking a baby both has physiological and emotional benefits. Touching increases a baby’s cardiac output, promotes respiration which encourages deeper breathing and helps the baby’s gastrointestinal function. In addition, the movement of rocking often helps in the digestion and absorption of food.
Relaxation
Massage is very important for aiding relaxation and reducing stress both for the parent and the baby. Our bodies naturally produce a group of hormones that help us to quickly raise blood pressure, increase heart rate and prepare muscles for movement when the body is under threat. When you massage a baby the baby’s body produces a hormone called oxytocin which belongs to a group of “feel-good hormones“. These hormones help to lower the levels of stress hormones in the body and therefore help to lower blood pressure, heart rate, improve appetite, etc. Massage is good for helping parents relax too. When a parent massages her baby, she also produces prolactin and oxytocin which helps her relax. Prolactin is an important hormone for women after birth as it helps build up a milk supply in the breast tissue and therefore it can be particularly useful to have in high levels when breastfeeding. In addition, a baby can learn to relax by watching its parent being relaxed during the massage. A daily massage can also help to increase a baby’s stimulation threshold helping to make him/her better able to cope with stimulating an environment and better able to process information.
Stimulation and Development
Stimulation of the skin is crucial to the development of all young not only human infants. Mammals lick their young when they are born and maintain close skin contact. Montagu’s book “Touching” provides numerous examples of studies undertaken on mammals showing that close physical contact and stimulation is essential for the survival of the infant and is important in ensuring that the mother accepts the responsibility of nurturing the baby. Several studies such as Rorke 1969 and Reinis 1980 suggest that stimulation of the skin speeds myelination of the nervous system. It has also been suggested that better “brain to body” communication can help to prevent colic and unsettledness caused by overstimulation by helping the nervous system to mature in order to cope with stimulus.
Bonding
“A baby is a question mark and his mother the answer he seeks. Sensitive to every new encounter, the newborn experiences life through the soft filter of the mother’s embrace, her milk, her lullabies. He recognises you by sight and by touch-you sense his needs and his separate self. Together you will learn”.
Deborah Jackson, Mother and Child
It is difficult to describe what a bond is. It is something that cannot easily be explained and is difficult to instantly create. Bonding is a process that takes place over time; there is not a split second in which to bond and if a bond is not made, the opportunity lost. Bonding is very important between mother (and father) and baby. Parents and babies are biologically designed to bond with each other after birth. This bond is important so that the mother accepts the baby and so that the baby’s needs are met. Examples of bonding can be found throughout the natural world in a vast number of species. Bonding is also important for mothers’ health after birth and it is thought that one factor involved in postnatal depression in new mothers could be the feeling that they have not bonded with their baby. Infant massage plays an important part in beginning, enhancing and continuing the bonding process. Many studies have been conducted on the way that parents and babies bond and a number of key factors have been identified in the process:
Eye Contact
Eye contact between mother and baby is very important because it helps the two to recognise each other and aids communication.
Sound of Voice
In an experiment conducted by Restak in 1986, a group of newborn’s were read a story through earphones by various people and their responses monitored. When they heard their mothers’ voice they sucked harder. They preferred their mothers’ voices to any other. Mother’s are also able to distinguish their babies cry from other babies as soon as only three days after birth.
Smell
Porter’s research in 1983 showed that after just two hours of exposure to their newborns, 80% of mothers could distinguish their babies’ clothes from other babies’ clothes by smell.
Oxytocin & Prolactin
When the mother has skin to skin contact with her baby this helps to release oxytocin and prolactin which help the uterus contract, builds milk supply and help the mother relax. As we have seen above oxytocin is known as the “love hormone” or “altruistic hormone” as it promotes feelings of nurturing and love towards each other.
Touch
All of the above factors are present during a session of baby massage making it the perfect environment in which to encourage or continue bonding.
It is a good idea to have an understanding of the many benefits of baby massage as a baby massage instructor to create nurturing and sacred spaces for parent and babies.
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About Blossom & Berry
Blossom & Berry offers expert training, support & resources on baby massage, yoga and parent and baby wellness for professionals & parents across the world.
Blossom & Berry training is designed to give you everything you need to succeed. It gives you a complete teaching practice and mentorship program in a box.
Our training is the most comprehensive teacher training and business package on the market with no restrictions on what you can do and no ongoing licence fees ever.
“I would love to invite you to join my network of over 1000 teachers across the world sharing the benefits of nurturing touch and connection with parents and babies.” Gayle Berry – Master trainer and international expert on baby massage and yoga, founder of Blossom & Berry.
Your success is our success and having a transformational and nurturing experience is key.