Benefits of Baby Massage
Far from being only a technique for bonding with your baby, baby massage is increasingly respected for the range of benefits that it brings babies and their families. Baby massage is intended to be enjoyable for both baby and parent and is unique in the way that it offers an extensive range of physical, social and emotional benefits.
Baby massage is understood to help baby and their parent(s) get to know each other. Through massage, parents and children can grow to know each other and when a parent’s touch offers familiarity, this can increase security and comfort for a little one. Human touch is incredibly important for infants and there is considerable evidence to show the far-reaching benefits of touch and massage for all babies, but particularly premature babies. Low birth weight and pre-term babies who are massaged are often shown to gain weight more quickly than those who are not.
Baby massage can also benefit communication. As they respond to their parent’s touch, many babies express what they do or do not like and many parents report incredible insight into their child’s preferences through baby massage.
One of the most important benefits of baby massage is its potential to help a baby feel safe and loved. Human touch is incredibly important in conveying love and safety and when babies and their parents are not able to communicate through spoken language, baby massage offers an excellent medium for love, safety and security to be shared.
On a more physical level, baby massage helps to stimulate the immune, digestive and circulatory systems. In this way, massage helps to strengthen and promote the healthy functioning of these physiological systems.
There is also evidence to show that baby massage enhances a child’s development on a number of levels. In particular, massage helps to encourage movement and coordination which are of course important in childhood and adult life.
Baby massage is widely acknowledged for its capacity to help parents and their baby to develop trust and confidence in each other. When a baby knows that it can trust, depend and have confidence in his or her parent(s), a feeling of security naturally follows and bonds between parents and baby is encouraged.
Baby massage has been proven to improve sleep patterns and is effective in helping infants settle into deep sleep. Both relaxation and stimulation are simultaneously enhanced when babies are massaged – with or without the use of baby massage oil, however research has shown that massage is more beneficial with the use of oil.
Another benefit of baby massage is its ability to relieve congestion, colic, constipation and wind and assist with reflux. Baby massage offers an excellent, natural alternative to medications and artificial substances that may be used to treat these conditions.
For mothers, there is some evidence to show that baby massage can assist with post natal depression. An often hidden but incredibly difficult and serious problem, baby massage helps to increase parent/child bonding and potentially helps to decrease the severity of post natal depression.
Massage is also recognised as a positive complimentary therapy for Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Down’s Syndrome. Many parents of children with additional needs testify that massage is an activity that they can enjoy with their child at home and a therapy that enhances any physiotherapy or occupational therapy that the child may also be receiving.
It is of course the decision of the parent as to whether or not they massage their baby. Regardless of the parent’s decision, being touched, held and stroked are known to be vital for a baby’s emotional development.