The Benefits of Infant Massage and Movement

MASSAGE

1. Promotes parent-infant bonding

2. Allows parents to synchronize their body rhythms to child's

3. Teaches non-verbal "cues" to and from infant

4. Helps calm anxious, tense infant

5. Speeds development of GI tract and lungs

6. Assists premature recovery

7. Eases muscular tension brought on by developing motor skills

8. Reduces colic and other GI tract ills

9. Soothes the body and relieves pain

10. Helps promote sleep

11. Decreases stress chemicals

12. Increases immunity

MOVEMENT

1. Increases internal function of blood flow, lung capacity, return of blood to the heart

2. Gentle stretching relaxes and releases the limbs

3. Relieves gas and constipation

4. Provides parent/baby with meaningful social interaction

5. Contributes to brain development

6. Promotes use of both sides of the body, encouraging muscular coordination

7. Facilitates motor skill development

8. Encourages baby's self esteem, confidence and pleasure in physical activity

9. Stimulates environmental awareness for baby: visual and tactile

Touch Research

Tiffany M. Field, Ph.D. is one of the leading researchers in the field of infant massage and touch therapy. She is the founder of the Touch Research Institute that is affiliated with the University of Miami School of Medicine. Her primary method of touch research is massage therapy. Dr. Field is giving the massage therapy profession scientific accreditation. Her research and documented results concerning pre-term infants has validated what parents intuitively know about infant massage. As massage therapists we owe her tremendous gratitude for her selfless efforts in researching our work

I recently had the incredible opportunity to participate in a three-day workshop at the Touch Research Institute. I learned a lot of information about how research is conducted. I also had the pleasure of going into the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital to massage a couple of preemies using the massage protocol used in the research studies. This was a very positive experience and a great opportunity to learn more about other studies being researched, as well as, collect research papers of completed studies.

The study I most often share when I teach an infant massage class is the published study, Tactile/Kinesthetic Stimulation Effects on Pre-term Neonates (Pediatrics Vol. 77 no 5 May 1986). The study reports that prater infants that received massage 3 times a day, 15 minutes each session for 10 days 1) gained 47% more weight 2) were more active and alert during sleep/wake behavior observations and 3) exhibited more organized and controlled behavior on the Braselton scale than the control infants. Finally, their hospital stay was 6 days shorter, saving approximately $ 10,000 per infant. One year later the massaged infants were still showing a weight advantage, and they also performed better on the Bailey Scales of Infant Development (Field, Safari, & Chamber, 1987).

A study with cocaine-exposed infants showed similar weight gain results, in addition to superior motor behavior. A study using HIV-exposed infants, the mothers of the infants were taught to massage their babies. The massaged infants showed a significantly greater weight increase, as well as, fewer stress behaviors.

In another study using full-term one to three month old infants of adolescent mothers, infants were given 15 minutes of either massage or rocking for 12 days over a six-week period. During the massage sessions, the massaged versus the rocked infants (a) spent more time in active alert and active awake states; (b) cried less; (c) had lower salivary cortisol levels, suggesting lower stress levels; and (d) spent less time in an active awake state after the massage session (as opposed to the rocking session), suggesting that massage may be more effective than rocking for inducing sleep (Field, Grizzle, Scafidi, Abrams, et al., 1996). The long term effects after the six weeks of massage showed the infants gained more weight, improved on emotionality, sociability, and soothability, had decreased stress hormones (cortisol) and increased serotonin levels. The infants in the above studies did not eat more food nor sleep more to conserve the calories. Thus, the massage stimulation was a direct positive determining factor in these results.

Animal Studies on Stimulation

Harry Harlow did one of the better-known experiments. His monkey study showed that touch was more important than food. Infant monkeys were given the choice of a wire mother figure with food or a soft, terrycloth mother without food chose the terrycloth mother. Similar results are found in human infants with "Failure to Thrive" syndrome, where given all the food they need, will continue to deteriorate without caring physical contact and emotional nurturance, as well as, proper medical intervention. . In one study (Hammett, 1921,1922), rats with their thyroid and parathyroid removed responded well to massage. In the control group, most died; those who survived were nervous, fearful, irritable and enraged. In the rats were gently massaged and spoken to several times a treatment group day. They were relaxed, not easily frightened, their nervous systems remained stable. Within 48 hours most of the control group died, while most of the massaged rats lived.

Cross-cultural studies also support the idea that infants should be held, massaged, and carried much more than they are in present-day Western cultures. Studies indicate that societies that closely nurture their infants are less aggressive and violent (Prescott, 1975, 1985).

Natural sensory stimulation speeds myelination of the brain/nervous system (Rorke, 1969; Reinis, 1980). The myelin sheath is a fatty covering around each nerve, like insulation around an electrical wire. It protects the nervous system and speeds the transmission of impulses from the brain to the rest of the body. The process of coating the nerves is not complete at birth; stimulation speeds this process. Enhanced brain-body communication may help prevent and/or relieve colic, which may be due in part to the immature functioning of the nervous system.

Studies with premature babies show that massage stimulates the respiratory, circulatory, and gastrointestinal systems, and that it enhances neurological development (Field, et al., 1990; Rausch, 1981, 1984; Rice, 1977). The research and studies show that the stimulation that massage provides for the infant is very important to ensure a healthier development.

A Newborn's 10 Commandments to Parents

Dear Mom and Dad,

I come to you a small immature being with my own style and personality. I am yours for only a short time, enjoy me.

1. Please take time to find out who I am, how I differ from you and how much I can bring to you.

2. Please feed me when I am hungry. I never knew hunger in your uterus, and clocks and time mean little to me.

3. Please hold, cuddle, kiss, touch, stroke, and croon to me. I was always held closely in your uterus and was never alone before.

4. Please don't be disappointed when I am not the perfect baby that you expected nor disappointed with yourselves that you are not the perfect parents.

5. Please don't expect too much from me as your newborn baby, or too much from yourselves as parents. Give us both 6 weeks as a birthday present, 6 weeks for me to grow, develop, mature and become stable and predictable, and 6 weeks for you to rest and relax and allow your body to get back to normal

6. Please forgive me if I cry a lot. Bear with me and in a short time, as I mature, I will spend less and less time crying and more time socializing.

7. Please watch me carefully and I can tell you those things that soothe, console and please me. I am not a tyrant who was sent to make your life miserable, but the only way I can tell you that I am not happy is with my cry.

8. Please remember that I am resilient and can withstand the many natural mistakes you will make with me. As long as you make them with love, you cannot ruin me.

9. Please take care of yourself and eat a balanced diet, rest, and exercise so that when we are together you have the health and strength to take care of me.

10. Please take care of your relationship with each other, for what good is a family bonding if there is no family to belong to?

Although I may have turned your life upside down, please realize that things will be back to normal before long.

Thank you

Your Loving Child