Massage Benefits
Bonding & Security
Massage is a wonderful way to strengthen the bond between you and your child, fostering the sense of security and trust to develop a secure attachment. Massage triggers oxytocin – the trust hormone, that makes us feel good.
Babies learn to self regulate their emotions from you- a process termed co-regulation. Cue-based infant massage provides the opportunity for positive co-regulation. Your calm sets their calm. Studies also show that the stress hormone, cortisol, is reduced following massage.
For parents, it’s a lovely opportunity to spend calm, focused time with your little one, helping to build confidence in caring for your baby . Research also indicates massage improves parent mental health and reduces their anxiety.
Physical Benefits
Baby massage offers a range of physical benefits. Gently massaging your baby can help support healthy digestion by relieving symptoms such as wind and constipation. Research indicates that massage alleviates symptoms of colic and reduces crying time in infants with symptoms.
Massage promotes relaxation which has been shown to improve sleep quality, and facilitates infants settling. Additional research demonstrates that massage also improves sleep quality in children with ASD.
Regular massage may even boost your baby’s immune system and aid in their physical development especially their sensory development as massage offers a rich multisensory experience.
Brain
Relaxation plays a crucial role in infant brain development, as calm and soothing experiences help to shape healthy neural pathways. When babies feel relaxed and secure their brains are more receptive to learning and forming positive connections. Gentle activities like baby massage not only support emotional wellbeing but also create an environment where the brain can develop optimally, laying the foundation for future cognitive, social and emotional skills.
Two different clinical studies have found that gentle infant massage helped to accelerate brain development in preterm infants. Improvements were found in eyesight development in one study and increased IGF-1, a hormone crucial for brain growth, in the other study.
Pre-term infants
Specific massage techniques for early and pre-term infants have been shown to have multiple benefits. In fact there is more research of infant massage benefits for this group than full term infants.
Massage has been shown to significantly improve infant outcomes. Massage improves weight gain and strengthens neural development in very low birthweight babies.
Research also indicates increased positive mother-child interactions and increased sensitivity and responsiveness which improves bonding which may have been impacted by prolonged hospitalisation.
Information about me
As a parent I recognise that one of our deepest desires is to ensure the health and well-being of our babies.
Nicola Gates
I learnt to massage my own children 28 years ago and can see how it helped build the strong positive connections that remain today.
I worked as a clinical neuropsychologist for thirty and have a PhD. I understand psychological, emotional, brain and cognitive development of infants and want to share that knowledge with parents in a useful way.
I chose to became a registered infant massage instructor as my last career in order to best support parents and their infants by helping with bonding and attachment.
I am also a registered circle of security facilitator and provide parent coaching and guidance to support to assist you to develop confidence in your parenting style.
I can help you gain insight into your parenting, build your knowledge of child development and share the best ways to communicate and support your infant’s development.
Mosman Infant Massage 