Massage provides a special time to communicate with each other and to show love, respect and compassion. Parents also become more aware of and learn to understand and respond to their babies cues.
Promotes Bonding and Attachment
Massage provides an opportunity for closeness, play, touch and it conveys nurturing and love. Massage also provides a time for parent and infant to bond through eye contact, touch, voice, smell and movement.
Promotes Confidence
Parents report feeling more confident in their ability to care for their baby.
Improves Sleep
Massage and touch often helps babies sleep better and more soundly, therefore parents and caregivers may sleep better too.
Improves relaxation and decreases stress
When the baby is relaxed, parents feel relaxed and they feel less stressed and less anxiety.
Benefits mom with postpartum depression
Moms with postpartum depression feel more attached to their baby and they feel more confident in their ability to provide for and care for their baby. Research has shown that moms with postpartum depression who touch or massage their babies regularly felt better sooner.
Research shows there is enhanced neurological development and all of the physiological systems are stimulated.
Improved Digestion
There is an enhanced secretion of digestive hormones and massage makes the digestive system more efficient. Massaging your baby also helps to improve functioning of their gastrointestinal tract and it relieves discomfort from constipation and gas.
Improves behaviour
Babies who are massaged are better organized and they sleep better at night because touch is very settling. They also relate better to parent and caregiver interactions.
Promotes self-esteem
Through massage babies learn about their body and learn which parts of their body are most sensitive and which parts of their body need more relaxing.
Improves respiration
Helps increase oxygen and nutrient flow to cells, therefore babies with asthma benefit from massage.
Improves relaxation and decreases stress
Massage reduces the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, therefore relaxation is increased and stress is decreased.
Other benefits
+ Enhances the immune system
+ Improves muscle tone
+ Increases blood circulation
+ Assists in the healing process: Healing of the umbilical cord, circumcision, forceps or vacuum delivery.
+ Grapeseed oil
+ Coconut oil
+ Olive oil
+ Almond oil