The Therapeutic Benefits of Touch
As more and more parents are discovering, infant massage is one of the best and most effective ways of comforting and bonding with a baby. Not only is touch very important in helping to create the bond of love and trust that exists between a parent and their child, baby massage also can assist with a range of medical conditions and can even improve the mental state of a mother experiencing postnatal depression.
Here we look at five facts pertaining to the therapeutic benefits of touch:
1: Infant massage can help to establish better sleeping and settling habits
A growing body of research shows that of the many benefits of baby massage, the benefit that is often most valued by parents is the improvement that can result in a child’s sleeping habits. By the parent administering particular infant massage techniques, the baby can be settled more effectively and assisted to relax as they approach sleep time.
All About Baby Massage Oil
With ever-increasing interest in the benefits and advantages of infant massage, many parents realise the importance of learning proper baby massage techniques. When people learn about baby massage and become better educated in how to provide nurturing touch most effectively, the use of baby massage oil quickly becomes a factor to consider.
The fact is that there are many advantages of using an oil when massaging your baby. Understandably, parents want to ensure that the oil they use is suitable and will not cause an adverse reaction for their baby. Because parents want to know that the products they use are safe and nurturing for their baby, here we have compiled a list of eight things to know about baby massage oils:
How to Soothe an Upset Baby
The reality is that all babies cry and they cry for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes babies cry for reasons that are immediately obvious and other times they cry for no apparent reason at all.
As adults, it is important for us to remember that babies cry because they are unable to talk and have no other way of expressing their needs and desires. Essentially, crying is the only method available to a baby to let us know that something is not right and they need our help.
Babies have different cries for different reasons:
The better you get to know your baby the better you will understand their different cries. In fact, mothers in particular are usually able to interpret their babies’ cries in ways that others simply cannot and research shows that babies cry in different ways for different problems.
3 Tips from Experienced Mums
There is no guide book or instruction manual that is given to you when you enter the exciting, wonderful but also very challenging world of motherhood. It seems true that every child is different and that just when the mothers feel that they have mastered routines and understood their child’s specific needs, these routines and needs change.
Motherhood brings moments of unparalleled joy and love so great that you may have never before recognised as possible. It is also a time of incredible learning and adjustment as your own life changes markedly and your child’s world becomes your world.
With these things in mind, it can be very helpful to have some tips from women who have ‘been there’ before you. Of course, there is no prescriptive treatment or ‘cure all’ response that provides an answer to every challenge or query that a Mum’s face. However, the following tips from experienced mothers are likely to help:
4 Things that Babies Love
Many parents would agree that there is nothing like being with your baby and observing joy pass across their face. There is a huge range of things and activities that delight babies and help to strengthen the bonds between parents and their children. In fact, many of these activities are just as enjoyable for parents as they are for children and those that have a calming or soothing effect can help to relax all people involved.
So, what are some of the things that babies love most?
1: Baby massage
Just as most adults find massage relaxing and enjoyable, babies often love the nurturing touch of their parents. Baby massage is growing in popularity and is increasingly well respected for its therapeutic benefits in treating conditions such as colic and wind. Of course, a baby does not have to be ill or experiencing discomfort to enjoy infant massage.
3 Relaxation Techniques to Which Babies Respond
In order to soothe and comfort their babies, many parents search for effective baby relaxation techniques. The good news is that there is a variety of relaxation techniques which can be enjoyed and are beneficial to both babies and their parents.
Here we take a look at three of these relaxation techniques:
1: Baby massage
There is abundant evidence to show the positive benefits of touch for bonding and attachment and, more particularly, baby massage offers a very effective way for touch to be imparted.
Parents can undertake infant massage courses in order to learn the most nurturing and correct infant massage techniques and acquire knowledge to help them understand how infant massage directly benefits their baby. Infant massage is also known to provide a range of significant benefits for parents and when a parent learns how to massage their baby, they will readily appreciate and understand the ways that they too are positively influenced.
How Touch Nurtures Premature Babies
Touch is widely understood to be beneficial for infants and children and contemporary research emphasises the benefits of touch for babies that are born prematurely. Just as much as other babies, premature infants tend to respond well to the comforting touch of their parents and this nurturing touch is now recognised for the possibilities it holds for the stimulation of growth, increase in weight and expression of comfort.
As a child grows, whether born prematurely or not, baby massage is acknowledged as helping to strengthen parent and child bonds and foster the child’s physical, social and emotional development.
Has this always been the case?
6 Facts About Touch and Bonding
Babies are adorable, lovable and sweet not only by nature but because they need to be touched in order to thrive and achieve an optimal state of well-being. An ever-increasing body of evidence illuminates the importance of parents touching their baby and this is especially pertinent to the bonding that occurs between a mother and her newborn baby in the baby’s very first moments of life.
The bonding that occurs between a parent and their child is a process that should continue and grow in the days, weeks, months and years that see the child grow from an infant to a toddler, child, adolescent and beyond. Touch is widely understood to be fundamentally beneficial to the development and strengthening of this bond and the development of the child’s confidence and self-esteem; baby massage (taught by professionals) is one of the most significant ways for this touch to be delivered.
4 Wonderful Things to Do with Your Baby
As parents, we all want to do the best that we can for our babies and children. Many of us are acutely aware that the experiences that are had during childhood can shape their life and so we want to make sure that our children experience positivity, warmth and security.
Particularly when the enormity and significance of this responsibility is considered, numerous parents are constantly seeking things to do with their babies and children. To help all parents, we have compiled a list of four wonderful things to do with and for your baby.
1: Massage your baby
5 Commonly Asked Questions About Baby Massage
Awareness of the benefits of baby massage is growing and although most people have a general idea of what the practice entails, they are not always confident that it is right for them or their baby. It then follows that there are a number of questions that are most commonly asked about baby massage and here we present five of these questions with their answers.
1: At what age should I start to massage my baby?
There really are no rules about when to begin massaging your baby. A baby can be massaged from birth and there is an emerging body of evidence to show the positive results that can occur when children are massaged from very early in life.
It is also well understood that the power of touch and gentle massage delivers a positive effect for premature babies.
The best advice is to undertake your baby massage training when both you and your baby are ready.
IMIS is endorsed by
2010 Copyright IMIS NSW Pty Ltd