The Importance of Touch
Published Nov 14, 2007
Making time to bond with your child is extremely important.
The relationships between infant and parents, forms the foundations for the child's future relationships, not only on global levels but also personal and intimate levels.
The way in which a parent and child bond has a life long effect
They way in which parent and child bonds also has both physical and emotional effects on the child's development.
In circumstances where the bonding process is delayed or broken, such as pre-term births, post-natal depression, or even adoption, Infant Massage is able to re-establish the bond. Infant Massage is able to assist the bonding process so successfully because it is able to utilize the four main elements of bonding.
The importance of touch is greatly underrated in today's ever increasingly gadget and technology driven environment. All humans need touch and regular physical contact, however the need is greatly increased in infants and children. Studies have shown that even when infants have sufficient food and drink, if they are lacking in touch they can experience the failure to thrive studies. This is best seen in third world orphanages where there are inadequate carer numbers to ensure that each child is held at least once a day.
The benefits of regular massage extend far beyond enhancing the bonding process between child and parent. Benefits of Infant Massage include
- Helps tone muscles and aids growth
- Strengthens the immune system
- Increases circulation
- Increases infants body awareness
- Increases oxygen and nutrient flow to the cells
- Helps encourage midline orientation
- Provides quality time for working parents
- Increases the parents ability to help relax their child in times of stress
- Relaxing and fun for parents
- Enables parents to be more receptive to their babies
- Relief of discomfort
- May assist with sleep problems, in terms of length and depth of sleep
- Assists with nerve development which can aid digestion and respiration
Bonding is about developing a closeness through mutual love, respect, and trust. All of which are found in a daily massage.The common perception on bonding is that it is a natural and instinctive process. To a certain extent this is the case. However bonding with their child does not come naturally to every parent. All parents should make time every day to actively bond with their child/ren. Infant Massage provides the perfect opportunity for this to occur.
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