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Introduction to Infant Massage

COMMUNICATING THROUGH TOUCH
INTRODUCING THE POWER OF TOUCH:
INFANT MASSAGE FOR PARENTS AND OTHER CAREGIVERS
By Dr. Elaine Fogel Schneider, Ph.D., CIMI, CCC-SLP, ADTR

Although parents may come from broad backgrounds with cultural differences,
every parent has something in common. Every parent wants to get close to his
or her baby. Parents want to be the persons their children come to rely on,
confide in, and go to in time of need. Parents want to have the best
communication possible with their children, and that communication starts
from birth.

Although most people think that communication requires words, there is
another form of communication that doesn't require words at all. This form of
communication requires the sense of touch, as touching is the first
communication a baby receives. And the ancient art of infant massage is one
such way of using tactile and kinesthetic senses for developing a relationship
with your infant.

Through infant massage your baby begins to know that s/he is loved and
wanted. Trust develops from this caring relationship, beginning the language
system between your infant and you, the parent/caregiver. How you hold your
baby, how you caress your baby, how you look into your infant's eyes, and
how your infant looks back into your eyes lays the foundation for your infant's
growth and development. During massage, the brain is stimulated, enhancing
brain development, and emotionally positive relationships are formed,
establishing a strong mental health foundation that will last a lifetime.

The child who is loved, respected and honored through nurturing touch, infant
massage, grows physiologically, emotionally, and spiritually more healthy in a
loving relationship. The child who is left alone without being touched eventually
dies due to the lack of tactile stimulation. The dynamic of parent-infant
interaction is the most important foundation upon which a child learns about
him/herself, and about trust and respect. It is this first relationship that
influences the way relationships are perceived. Infant massage is a natural way
that you can learn about parenting, and infants can learn about being loved and
honored.

"Being touched and caressed, being massaged is food for the infant. Food as
necessary as minerals, vitamins and proteins" said Frederick Leboyer, M.D.,
the first physician to dispute Western society's beliefs about awareness in the
newborn.

Touch is vital for the development of attachment behavior and for early social
development of the young child, in that both your infant and you have the
capacity to elicit and respond to behaviors in mutually pleasurable ways. The
original infant-parent tie is very important for infants-and society-because it is
from this original attachment and bonding that all subsequent attachments will
follow. Two conditions that enhance development of bonding are your ability to
be sensitive in understanding and responding to your infant's cues, and the
amount and nature of the interaction between you and your child. It is through
infant massage that bonding may be deepened.

Social interaction is significant for your well-being, essential for your child's
development during the first three years of life, and paramount thereafter.
Babies are social creatures who learn from their interactions with others.
Expanding children's repertoire of interactive behaviors can assist them in
influencing their world, and deepening their quality of life and the your lives, too.

The focus of infant massage is not solely on your baby, but on the reciprocal
interaction between your infant and you. Infant massage is not done to your
infant, it is done with your infant. The massage technique is not merely
manipulative, it is rather a warm and communicative interaction. It is a
technique that allows you to engage and relax your infant in a mutually
pleasurable interaction. Infant massage can be done at any time of the day
when your baby is in a quiet alert state. It can be done while you are changing
a diaper, after bath time and before your baby is going to sleep. There is no
specific time of day that is better. Your routine and the routine of your child can
dictate the best time.

Elaine Fogel Schneider, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ADTR, CIMI, holds a doctorate in
psychology, and masters' in the fields of speech/language pathology and
dance/movement therapy. Schneider is a certified infant massage instructor,
and the founder and executive director of First Nurturing Touch Communication,
a nonprofit educational corporation that assists families in developing safe and
nurturing relationships, and Baby Steps, a family-focused early intervention
program that introduces families to the world of touch and the importance of
bonding and attachment, as they learn to see their child first and their child's
disability second.

(c) 2001 Community Therapies
This document is from Community Therapies
Web site - www.communitytherapies.com
Reprint in whole or in part, without written permission
from Community Therapies, is prohibited.
Email: drelainefschneider@hotmail.com