Touch is the first sense we feel right after coming to this world. Whenever we feel depressed, a hug or mere touch heals it all. John Keats also said that touch has a memory.
The second nine months are equally important as first nine months. Every mother carries their infant with them most of the time but there are also some babies who are spending most of their days in cot, strollers without mother’s touch. This is against nature; the infant should be wired with mother at least till the size of the brain gets doubled (usually nine months after birth).
Touch is the first language a baby learns. Kisses, cuddle, bouncing on knees or tickling their tummies makes you baby feel loved and protected. This is also important for a secured and peaceful nap, of baby’s and yours.
Even though a baby is well fed, he/she is emotionally, mentally and physically underdeveloped without human touch. The early touching, i.e. a touch soon after the baby is born is the first communication a baby come across.
During 1950, a famous research titled ‘Effects of isolation on infant monkeys’ was done by psychologist Harry Harlow. He placed newborn rhesus monkeys in cages with two stand-in mothers. One mother was made of soft cloth, while the other was made of wire and provided milk. The infant monkeys spent most of their time hugging to the cloth monkey for comfort, albeit she had no milk.
4 ways to increase touching:
- The best interaction with babies is through baby massage. Body massaging is not just therapy; it calms down the baby and relaxes the senses. Along with a close bonding, massaging also reduces crying. During this process, parents are recorded releasing the body’s feel good hormone, oxytocin.
- Wear your baby! Baby wearing in an ergonomic carrier is a great way to do your daily chores and hold the baby close by.
- Skin to skin contact is a savior. While in India it is not advised by doctors but a few minutes of skin to.skin with the mother, or even the father, can help the baby feel more secure later in life.
- Co-sleeping is a healthy habit and decreases stress in babies considerably.
Be careful that human contact should not be limited to mother only. In most of the cases mothers have a longer body contact span than fathers due to breastfeeding. However regular contact with father increases the healthy family bond.
Watch this video of Eva Bild, a certified child-birth and breastfeeding expert
*Image Source : Images are taken from popular websites.
