(As written for Robyn, a provider network for fertility to early parenthood)
What if I told you that infant massage therapy is the most underutilized tool of moms today in America, addressing over 30 conditions and having the ability to save families hundreds or thousands of dollars?
Infant massage has been around for thousands of years but is still relatively new in America. Infant massage techniques have been practiced in the East, in Africa, and in South and Central America for many generations, including in my family, because it’s effective and powerful. For example, in India, a midwife will come to the home to massage and bathe mom and baby for three months. Three months! It’s a postpartum practice that benefits both the baby and the family. So much research has been done in America about the benefits of baby massage, and millions of families around the world can vouch for its power. Massaging can save a family up to $1300 in well baby pediatric visits in America!
So, why is infant massage still not mainstream in America? Part of the reason is that in the United States, we see preventative care or wellness (i.e. hiring a massage therapist) as luxuries instead of necessities. The services are often not covered by insurance and most people are more comfortable taking a risk and paying for disease and chronic conditions later rather than investing in wellness practices to prevent disease and chronic conditions.
Dr. Tiffany Field, educator and director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, has been a leading voice in helping us understand the critical need of loving and nurturing touch in our families.
Here are some things we’ve learned:
- Touch is the first sense we develop in utero
- Touch is the last sense that leaves our bodies when we die
- Touch is the ONLY sense we cannot live without
- America is considered a touch deprived country
- Covid-19 has created a skin hunger as a result of lack of touch that will have far reaching consequences.
Babies understand themselves and the world around them through touch. Baby massage is even provided by caregivers to premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), shown to reduce pain from the various interventions and shorten the time of their stay. A baby’s skin can be massaged as soon as the umbilical cord falls off until…forever. And, it’s never too late to start!
There are so many short term and long terms benefits of infant massage including but not limited to:
- Improved sleep patterns
- Decrease in gas/colic
- Improved digestion
- Improved flexibility/mobility
- Increased nonverbal and verbal communication
- Improved circulation
- Decreased pain and stress
- Improved muscle tone and development
- Increased parent/child bonding
- Alleviation of growing pains
- Increased physical growth
- Relief of teething
- Doubled tummy time
- Increased brain growth
- Improved immunity
- Improved breastfeeding
- Increased bonding in the family
- Decreased postpartum depression
- Increase in pre-language skills
If you make baby massage a part of your family’s lifestyle, you will not only see an immediate impact throughout the first year, but you’ll see an impact during your young children’s toddler and preschooler years, their adolescence and teen years, their relationships with others, and how they handle stress well into adulthood and beyond. It’s going to save more time and money and outlast other things you invest in for your child’s well-being, whether product or service. Incorporating infant massage is like an investment in lifelong therapy, and you and your family will reap the physical, physiological, emotional, social, and mental benefits for many years to come.
If you’re ready to start, here are a few tips on how to do infant massage successfully:
- Context and cues matter. Pay attention to baby’s mood, time of day, and environment before trying to massage your baby.
- An oil massage rather than a lotion massage is recommended – use organic carrier oils instead of lotion so you know exactly what ingredients are included.
- Massage baby in a warm place free of distractions. The bed, carpeted floors or a soft surface on the changing table are great.
- Massage can be done in the morning or evening but, when done before bedtime, baby will release melatonin, which helps with sleep!
- Incorporate eye contact and other languages, singing, or soft music into baby’s massage experience for an enriching experience.
