Massage Info

For anyone interested in the infant massage program, the website for the program our hospital uses is lovingtouch.com. They have instructors all over the U.S. The instructor for our group class mentioned that her training was from a different program (with the same strokes but different names for the strokes) so if this program isn't available in your area, I'd definitely recommend looking into whether there is a similar program near you. Here's the full listing of benefits for babies from the Loving Touch website (and this doesn't include the listing they have of benefits for parents):

• Provides a special time of communication that fosters love, compassion, and respect.
• Improves general well-being.
• Provides an intimate time for children to confide in parents.
• Improves overall functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Promotes relaxation and helps babies self-regulate calm, which reduces crying.
• Helps to normalize muscle tone.
• Improves circulation.
• Enhances immune system function.
• Improves midline orientation.
• Helps to improve sensory and body awareness.
• Enhances neurological development.
• Helps baby/child to sleep deeper and more soundly.
• Helps to increase oxygen and nutrient flow to cells. Improves respiration.
• Helps to improve pain managament; can relieve discomfort from teething.
• Helps with congestion, gas, and colic.
• Enhances release of hormones in the body. The growth hormone can be stimulated which helps weight gain.
• Reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
• Provides all of the essential indicators of intimate parent-infant bonding and attachment: eye-to-eye, touch, voice, smell, movement, and thermal regulation.
• Stimulates all of the physiological systems. Massage sparks the neurons in their brains to grow and branch out to encompass other neurons.