5 Reasons Babies Benefit from Massage
If you haven’t heard of the benefits of massaging your newborn baby, it’s high time you did. Baby massage is growing in popularity as a method of increasing the health and decreasing the pains and stresses associated with newborns. By using baby massage oils and learning the techniques of baby massage, you too can achieve these valuable results. In this article, we’ll look at five reasons that your baby can benefit from baby massage. Remember, however, that baby massage is not intuitive or something you can learn on your own; you need to be taught the proper techniques in order to ensure you do not harm your infant.
Relief of pain and discomfort
Your infant can suffer many physical problems during the early stages of their life, from trapped wind in their abdominal area (commonly known as ‘colic’) to digestive problems such as constipation and congestion of the chest and sinuses. Massaging your baby helps speed up the nervous system, leading to quicker release of intestinal gas, smoother and more efficient digestion and drainage of the sinuses. As a result, learning how to massage your baby safely and effectively is crucial to the health of your child.
Strengthening of the immune system
A child’s immune system isn’t developed like an adult’s is; in fact, the baby’s capacity to fight infection is not effective until the age of about six months. While antibodies passed on by the mother during pregnancy stick around to fight off disease and infection during these early months, it’s still important that your infant’s immune system develops as quickly and efficiently as possible. Baby massage has been shown to boost the immune system in the same way that it boosts many other physiological processes.
Decreased stress
As we’ve already discussed, the effects baby massage can have on your infant are remarkable, resulting in better relief of pain and discomfort and a strengthening of the immune system. This all works to eliminate stress in your child. While there are any number of reasons your infant may be crying, by minimising the effects of some of the reasons — such as tiredness, pain and discomfort — your child will be healthier, less stressed and cry less often, making your role as a parent a whole lot easier.
Enhances motor development
Because baby massage stimulates the nervous system, infants have been shown to achieve a greater awareness of their bodies as a result. The flow-on effects of this are numerous; your child’s coordination, for example, will be boosted significantly and from an earlier age. Areas of physical growth such as flexibility and muscle control are also important beneficiaries of baby massage. Overall, learning how to massage your baby can result in rapid motor developments that may have been slower otherwise.
Strengthening of parent-newborn bond
Aside from the physical benefits of baby massage, the technique has also been shown to help strengthen the bond between baby and parent. It does this by promoting physical closeness between parent and infant and, in addition, the decrease in the infant’s stress levels has a flow-on effect of decreasing stress levels in the adult. This leads to an overall decrease in mental and emotional problems for both, resulting in a stronger bond between the two.