First class...

M. and I had our first class together. This one is a four-week class on infant massage. Some of the benefits are that the massage techniques help a baby sleep and also work to conquer indigestion and fussiness. My mom and I tried some of the leg massages on Madeleine after we got home, and she seemed to love it.

My favorite part is the bonding. I loved rubbing the balls of her little feet, toes and leg muscles and watching her grow calmer with each stroke. Massage also takes our skin-to-skin contact beyond the rapid-fire diaper changes (and the tender -- yet busy -- moments of breastfeeding) and allows us both to just enjoy each other's touch. During the brief massages, I have time to marvel at her growth and process all the little changes taking place on her wee body -- the increasing pudginess in her cheeks and neck, the growth of her eyelashes, the extended time her eyes seem to be able to focus, the new cooing sounds she makes. And what a joy to feel her soft newborn skin in my hands!

An added bonus is that the massages calm me, too, to take a few minutes to connect with my baby during these days that turn out to be incredibly busy and quite tiring.


Next week: tummy massages.


From askdrsears.com

WHY MASSAGE
Besides the fact that it is just plain fun to touch your baby, infant massage helps babies grow and develop better. Other cultures highly value touch to help babies grow. In some Eastern societies a mother is reprimanded if she doesn't give her baby a daily massage. One of the most exciting areas of research is the connection between touch and growth. Touched babies thrive, and here's why.

Touch stimulates growth-promoting substances
Healthcare providers have long known that babies who are touched a lot grow better, and now there is research to back up this observation. There seems to be a biological connection between stroking, massaging, and grooming infants and their growth. Touch stimulates growth-promoting hormones and increases the enzymes that make the cells of the vital organs more responsive to the growth-promoting effects of these hormones. For example, premature infants in a "grower nursery," where they can gain needed weight, showed 47 percent more weight gain when they received extra touch.

Animal researchers have recognized the connection between a mother animal's licking her offspring and how well her babies grow. When newborn pups were deprived of their mother's frequent licking (equivalent to infant massage), the level of growth hormone decreased, and the pups stopped growing. Even injecting growth hormone into the untouched pups would not cause them to grow. Only when the mother animal's touching and licking were restarted did the pups resume their growth.

...Touch promotes brain growth
Not only is touch good for the body, it's good for the mind. Studies show that newborns receiving extra touch display enhanced neurological development. Why this smart connection? Researchers believe that touch promotes the growth of myelin, the insulating material around nerves that makes nerve impulses travel faster.

Touch improves digestion
Babies receiving extra touch show enhanced secretion of digestive hormones. Researchers believe that this is another reason that touched infants grow better. It seems that touch makes the babies' digestive system more efficient. Babies with colic caused by the irritable colon syndrome may have less trouble in the colon when massaged frequently.

Touch improves behavior
Research shows babies receiving extra touch become better organized. They sleep better at night, fuss less during the day, and relate better to caregivers' interactions. Touch settles babies. Massage can be a wonderful tool for helping your baby go to sleep at night.

Touch promotes baby's self-esteem
Being on the receiving end of loving hands helps babies develop a feel for their body parts by learning which areas of the body are most sensitive and which need relaxing. Being touched gives value to a person, like an adult feeling "touched" by the remarks of a friend.

Touch helps parents
A daily massage helps you to get in touch with your whole baby, to read her body language, and to learn her cues. Giving your baby the right touch is just one more step up the ladder of learning about your baby. Infant massage is especially valuable for the parent and infant who had a slow start – for example, when separated by a medical complication. Massage helps parent and baby reconnect. For the slow-start mother who doesn't feel naturally "motherly" toward her newborn, massage is the extra spark to ignite the fire. Likewise for the slow-to-warm-up baby, massage helps break down the barrier so that the uncuddly baby begins to enjoy being touched – and the parents get used to touching their baby.

Several employed mothers in our practice use an evening infant massage as a tool to help them reconnect with their baby after being away for the day. This special touch enables them to tune into baby and tune out their work as they reenter home life.

For dads who are novices at caring for babies, massage is a hands-on course in baby handling. Also, it's important for baby to get used to dad's touch as well as mom's. Babies thrive on different strokes.

High-need babies have tense muscles that need help relaxing. Every baby needs lots of touching. High-need babies need more (of course!). There is no touch more soothing than that of skin on skin, although for some babies, skin- to-skin contact can actually be stimulating, so you have to proceed with caution. Infants who spend time in neonatal intensive care units after birth tend to have a high need for pleasant touch, since so much of the touching they experienced in the hospital was painful. Some very sensitive high-need babies – dubbed "uncuddly babies" – actually pull away from being touched because they find it threatening or overstimulating. In this case, a routine of careful, gentle touches can gradually accustom this baby to being handled and will help him eventually enjoy touching.

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