Infant massage is easy to learn and do. There are long- and short-term benefits to babies and caregivers. Let’s start with the benefits to your baby.
Studies show that infant massage affects a baby’s physical health by helping them:
- Ease into restful sleep
- Feel calmer with lower levels of stress hormones
- Relax their muscles
- Breathe healthfully
- Digest food better
- Experience less constipation
- Benefit from healthier circulation and stronger immunity to disease
- Increase physical self-awareness
- Tone their muscles
- Gain weight
- Produce growth hormones
The positive physical contact between caregiver and child makes a baby feel valued and loved, which contributes to the development of their self-esteem and self-confidence. Research shows that babies who are massaged cry less often and are soothed more easily.
Infants who are massaged also smile sooner and more frequently, have longer attention spans, greater curiosity, and enhanced verbal development.
Massage can relieve teething pain and pain from medical interventions as well. It is especially beneficial to babies with low birth weight, children with disabilities, and babies born prematurely.
Caregivers benefit from massaging their infants, too. Benefits to caregivers include:
- Relaxation
- Increased sensitivity to their baby’s cues
- More confidence in their role
- Stronger attachment to their baby
If you’re ready to give infant massage a try, attend a class on the first Tuesday of each month from 1 to 2 p.m. at Sanford Children’s CHILD Services, 5015 S. Western Ave., Suite 120, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Call (605) 312-8390 to register.
A certified infant massage instructor will lead you through a series of strokes and stretches with your baby and send instructions home with you to reap these benefits day after day.
Learn more
- What’s your baby’s temperament? Knowing can help parents
- Reading the signs: Decoding your baby’s cues
- Baby hand and finger skills come with practice
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Posted In Children's, Family Medicine, Parenting, Sioux Falls
