Discusses the history and benefits of infant massage.
Infant massaging is usually performed by nurses on newborns, especially premature babies. This paper examines the history of massaging infants and then shows how more and more parents are moving towards this practice as a regular part of their bonding experience with their child. The paper looks at the benefits of infant massaging and explains several techniques.
“Massage is beginning to receive wide acceptance in hospital nurseries, and has become an important part of neonatal care along with other strategies designed to soothe the newborn, such as controlling noise levels, avoiding bright lights, and positioning the babies in ways comfortable to them. This can include swaddling, or wrapping the baby tightly in a blanket (Mainous, 2002). All of it together does constitute a kind of respect for the needs of the newborn baby just brought into a world that is harsh and startlingly different than the womb.”