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?
Because of the risk of infection and the fragility of their immune systems, historically, premature babies were touched as minimally as possible. It was also thought that touching the baby too much would place unnecessary strain on their heart and lungs.
However, knowledge of the positive effects of touch has certainly grown so that a return to the knowledge and practices of early civilisations is evident, whereby touch and particularly the physical closeness between a baby and its mother, is prioritised.
Ways for premature infants to be touched:
Although premature babies may be very vulnerable and need specialised and intensive care that involves them being attached to machines and equipment, there are a variety of ways that touch can be experienced. These include:
- Kangaroo care – In kangaroo care, the baby is held in an upright position in constant skin to skin contact with their parent’s chest. This position has been found to be particularly effective in countries that are characterised by poor socio-economic circumstances. In Bogota, Colombia, a decline in the mortality rate, from seventy per cent to thirty per cent, was observed.
- Infant massage – Just as full term infants often respond well to baby massage, some research has shown that premature babies who are massaged at least three times a day, gain significantly more weight, display better patterns in terms of feeding and sleeping and are discharged from hospital sooner than premature infants who are not massaged.
Premature babies who are massaged are also understood to have better sleep states as a result of decreased levels of stress hormones.
Baby massage oil can enhance the experience of the massage for parent and child, but particularly for premature infants, the use of a massage oil should be discussed with a health professional. Infant massage courses can help parents to feel more confident in delivering baby massage and provide them with recognised infant massage techniques.
For both premature and full term infants, those that are massaged will commonly be more active, and gain weight more quickly.
- Co-bedded twins – For twins or other multiple birth children that are born prematurely and even for those who are not, being placed in the same bed as their sibling(s) rather than being separated most often leads to them more effectively managing the stress of being in hospital and the various procedures to which they are subjected.
Touch has incredibly positive and far reaching benefits for all babies, but is particularly important for premature babies. Premature infants frequently gain weight at a more rapid rate and become stronger more quickly when they are nurtured with comforting touch, particularly the touch of their parents.