When your baby finally arrives and is placed in your arms, it is a very special moment, marking the beginning of a period filled with joy and love for both parents and children, with the power of touch for babies being a simple yet powerful act as you hold your baby close, skin-to-skin.
This gentle touch fosters a bond that is unbreakable between you and your child. It also helps to lay the foundation for future health and development. The power of touch for babies is more than just an emotional connection. It has numerous physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits. These can last a lifetime.
How Touches Benefit Your Baby?
There are 5 ways in which touch is important for you and your child and some helpful ways of doing it.
1. A Calming Effect
A gentle touch can instantly calm your baby down, help him to relax, and reduce his crying. Babies who have grown up in a relatively snug environment for nine months enjoy being held, cuddled or rocked. The physical contact will also help to reduce stress in mums, allowing them to relax, become more open to recognizing their baby’s signals, and allow the bonding to begin right away.
2. Feeling Secure
Touch plays a huge role in helping your baby feel secure and safe. When you connect with your baby and respond to her cues by recognizing them, your child will develop a secure connection. This attachment can have a huge impact on their life later, such as being able to form fulfilling relationships and feeling confident. Physical contact, such as cuddling and touching, can help your baby feel safe and secure. It also helps her develop and grow.
3. Get to Know You
Massage can be a great way to build a connection with your child and to spend time together. It is also calming to both mother and baby. After bathing your baby, rub a soothing and gentle massage oil on their skin. Cetaphil Baby Massage Oil is a good choice. This gentle, quiet massage will calm and relax your baby. It will also nourish her skin, and help to lock in moisture.
4. Brain Development
Studies reveal that physical contact between parents and their newborns is important for healthy brain development. Slow caressing and touch have been shown to improve the brain’s abilities to maintain a healthy self-image and develop a sense of ownership of the body. Other research shows that early touch encourages the brain of your baby to respond to affection. This is important for future development. This process is aided by cuddling, stroking, and gently caressing your child. She will feel relaxed and comfortable in a nurturing, safe environment.
5. Sleeping is Good
Babies can find it difficult to adjust to a new environment, feel relaxed, and be ready to sleep. Your baby will feel calmer and more relaxed if you hold, cuddle, and snuggle her. Prepare a warm, lovely bath. Gently wash your baby using Cetaphil Moisturising Bath and Wash. It’s perfect for newborns. With a third of lotion and soothing Aloe vera, this product will gently cleanse their skin, and help them relax before they slip into bed.
Your Baby’s Touch is Vital!
It is the most natural thing for a new mother to touch her baby. Feeling the baby’s soft skin and counting their tiny fingers and toes is a natural gesture. This is a natural and positive feeling. After giving birth, you’re told to touch your baby with your skin. Your partner is also encouraged to do this as much as possible. It is important that your baby feels your breath and can feel your heart. This helps parents and babies bond.
You may want to attend a baby yoga or massage class as your baby grows. Both classes will help you and your baby to bond more. These classes also teach your baby how to distinguish between ‘the same’ and a ‘different’ feeling, which helps them develop their fifth sense. Massage can help calm down your baby and be incorporated into a routine before bedtime. It is a relaxing, gentle way to prepare them for sleep. Touch is important not just for babies, but also for children of any age. Touch your child by hugging them or holding their hand. It will help your child feel loved and secure.
You can help your baby feel sensations on the skin of their body by placing them on their stomach for a few minutes before bathing (remember last week when I spoke about ‘Tummy time?). Gently stroke the back, arms, and leg of your baby with your hands. You can pat them all over gently or use your fingertips to tap on them.
Use something velvety and soft to enhance your baby’s sense of touch. This can be done with a piece of corduroy or a comforter.
As your baby begins to reach out and touch, she will notice the difference in the texture of the mother’s skin as compared to the father’s. A father’s may be rougher or hairier, while a mother’s is much softer. Faces will become a fascination for your baby. When they see a familiar face, your baby may smile or gurgle.
This game will help your baby get ready for when you have to leave them for work or other outings. This game prepares your baby for the time you will have to leave him or her for work, other outings, etc. By showing your baby that they can’t see you right now, but that you will be returning, you help them understand that you are coming back. This helps to calm your baby down and distracts them from missing their mummy or daddie.
What to do with your baby in issue 5 of the month 5:
- Imitate your baby’s sounds.
- Introduce your baby’s voice to family and friends to help them learn to recognize it.
- Give your baby lots of things to mouth.
- Make sure your home is safe for children to explore.
- Check your baby’s hearing.
- After bathing your baby, give them a gentle massage!
In Issue 5 of the Growing Child Programme, you can read more about these topics. This was a very interesting and enjoyable article. I hope you found it to be so. No matter how much you know about your baby, you can still learn new things. Next week Mary will look at travel tips. Take care until then and be safe.
The Power of Touch in Babies
Touch plays a vital role in the emotional and physical growth of babies. Touch can help babies bond with their parents, support growth and feel connected to the world
Love is a Loving Touch
Regularly held and touched babies gain more weight, have stronger immune systems, learn to crawl and walk faster, sleep better, and cry less. Children who receive a lot of physical affection display more task-oriented behavior, less solitary play, and less aggression in school. In later life, they also attain higher educational qualifications.
Touch Deprivation
Many studies (e.g. Bowlby, 1995 and 1999; Fridlund, 2012, Meaney, et.al., 2013) have shown that children who are deprived of parental touch can become difficult. Around one out of ten infants will experience neglect. A significant number of clinic referrals are for emotional disturbances, hyperactivity and conduct disorders that can be linked to a lack positive touch during early infancy. (NSPCC 2017). In older children, eating disorders and subdued behaviors may be symptoms.
Parents are hesitant to make physical contact with their children due to fears of sexual abuse. Early Years Practitioners are also faced with dilemmas about appropriate affection due to fear of misinterpretation. Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (GOV.UK 2017) encourages practitioners pto rovide appropriate comfort. Touch therapy is now incorporated into many schools and institutions’ care practices. This acknowledges the benefits of touch on children’s health, learning, and growth.
Research
Early touch is essential for healthy development, according to research. In studies with young monkeys, it was found that physical touch was more important than milk. They preferred to cling on to a comforting, soft mother figure.
These monkeys struggle with mating and parenthood when they lack comfort. Adult violence is higher in societies that do not show physical affection to infants. Children who receive plenty of touch show better motor and cognitive development, and are less fussy.
For brain development, physical contact is crucial. Early sensory deprivation in childhood can cause neurological problems, autistic behaviors, and increased substance abuse risk in adulthood. Children raised in orphanages with no physical contact also suffered from stunted development and abnormal cortisol, with less than half of them reaching puberty. Infants who were left in cots, despite being given adequate nutrition and hygiene, had 20% smaller brains than those who were held and cuddled.
Babies’ Sense of Touch
Touch is the first sense that develops in utero. In just 3 weeks after conception, a fetus’ primitive nervous system develops. It links skin receptors with tube-like cells near the tip of embryonic development. These cells then grow and mature into the spinal cord and brain cells. The fetus is sensitive to touch at all body parts by the 16th week.
Around the 25th week of pregnancy, nearly all of the nerve pathways that carry pain signals have been established. The sense of touch becomes highly developed at full term. It’s no wonder that it is so important in the formation of the bond between parent and baby.
As we age, touch is the last sense to diminish. The elderly need touch just as much as when they were younger. They may feel isolated, lonely, and unfulfilled without it. Touch stimulation is essential for communication, healthy brain functioning, and hormonal balance in the body as well as physical and emotional well-being. Being loved is also a part of it.
