Touch Deprivation in Infancy: The Value of Infant Massage

Studies in rhesus monkeys, who share 90% of their genes with humans, have confirmed that babies fail to develop normally when deprived of their mothers' touch. Touch deprivation results in higher stress hormone levels and lower levels of growth hormone. Immunity is compromised in animals with touch deprivation.

As adults, monkeys with infant touch deprivation exhibit behavioral aggression, depression, and sexual behavior abnormalities which are passed to their offspring in subsequent generations.

Touch was more important to infant monkeys than food. Babies would not let go of a soft mother-substitute dummy to get to a full bottle, like one they had previously nursed from, only a few feet away.

When animals suffering from touch deprivation have frequent touch restored, many of the negative effects mentioned above are quickly reversed.

Touch Deprivation in Human Babies

A number of babies separated from their parents for extended periods, just after World War II, failed to thrive. They were dying in spite of the availability of good food, appropriate medicines, and clean surroundings. Human touch was found to be the only intervention that had a positive impact.

Babies in Africa, Asia, India and a number of other countries are routinely thoroughly massaged for the first few years of their lives. Massage is credited with improvements in their motor development, breathing, blood circulation, food digestion, and proper elimination.

Studies of infant massage at Touch Research Institute show that infants (especially preterm) who were massaged regularly gained more weight, were more alert, were less depressed, showed fewer postnatal complications, suffered less distress with colic, and had fewer stress responses than infants who did not receive massage. Hospital stays were also shorter for massaged babies.

Though only about 38% of neonatal intensive care units now routinely practice infant massage, the value of infant massage is beginning to be recognized. Massage schools (Liddle Kidz, for example) are now offering courses in infant massage specifically for nurses and doctors who care for "medically fragile" babies.

Massage schools are also offering courses in infant massage for therapists in the community. The International Institute of Infant Massage trains infant massage therapists, and family members, to interpret nonverbal cues from babies and to individualize massages based on those cues. In addition to benefits mentioned above, the International Institute recognizes that infant massage aids in pain relief, muscle tone, vocalization, mid-line orientation, sensory integration, and better sleep and relaxation.

Summary

Touch deprivation is especially harmful for babies, often causing failure to thrive and death. The loving touch of a parent or grandparent welcomes a child to the world in a way that nothing else can. Professional infant massage can offer added benefits for babies, especially babies with health challenges. Because human babies have such a profound need for touch, formal infant massage courses are now offered for community therapists, families, and for practitioners who care for medically fragile babies.

Sources:

No author given. Touch in Labor and Infancy. Johnson & Johnson.

No author given. Infant Massage. Touch Research Institute.

Tiffany Field. Infant Massage. The Electric Web Matrix of Digital Technology.

No author given. Infant Massage Overview. Infant Massage Institute.

No author given. Touch Therapy for Liddle Kidz in the NICU/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Liddle Kidz.

No author given. Touch Deprivation. The Science of Healthy Touch. Massage Therapy Benefits.