Evastar
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There has been a lot of research into various aspects of infant massage in recent years. Clinical studies have been performed and the results published by people from all over the world, for example in India Agarwal KN, Gupta A, et al. studied the ‘Effects of massage and use of oil on growth, blood flow and sleep pattern in infants. (2000) and in America Cullen C., Field T. Escalona A. et al. wrote a research paper in the same year on ‘Father infant interactions are enhanced by massage therapy'.
One of the pioneers in the field of infant massage research is Tiffany Field, who produces an extensive amount of research in this area and is a founder member of the Touch Research Institute in Miami, USA.
Professor Vivette Glover, based in the UK has also done a vast amount of research into fetal and neonatal stress, including a number of studies into the effects of massage on postpartum depression.
The area on which I have chosen to concentrate in this paper is on the benefits of infant massage both to the infants of depressed mothers and to the depressed mothers themselves.
I shall be discussing two clinical studies. The first one is by Tiffany Field, Nancy Grizzle, Frank Scafidi, Sonya Abrams, Sarah Richardson, Cynthia Kuhn and Saul Schanberg entitled ‘Massage Therapy for Infants of Depressed Mothers’ (1996) and focuses on the benefits to the infants of massage therapy. The second study I have chosen is by Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa and Alison Hodgkinson and is entitled ‘Benefits of infant massage for mothers with postnatal depression.’ (2002) .
The Field study was carried out in 1996. Forty full-term one to three month old infants born to depressed adolescent mothers who were low socioeconomic status (SES) and single parents were given fifteen minutes of either massage or rocking for 2 days per week for a six week period.
The infants who experienced massage therapy spent more time in active alert and active awake states, cried less and had lower salivary cortisol levels, suggesting less stress; compared to infants in the rocking control group. After the massage versus the rocking sessions the infants spent less time in an active awake state, suggesting that massage is more effective than rocking for inducing sleep.
Over the six week period the massaged infants gained more weight, showed greater improvement on emotionality, sociability and soothability temperament dimensions and had greater decreases in urinary stress hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol).
During this study the infants were cared for during the day by teachers at a nursery school. The infants were bottlefed by nursery caregivers except when mothers visited. The mothers routinely touched, fed and held their infants, which was recorded on a daily basis (absence/presence of each of the behaviours) by the teachers.
Based on the teachers daily records of the amount of time the mothers spent holding, feeding, touching, visiting their infants, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The mothers were unaware of which therapy their infants were receiving (massage or rocking) and were unaware of the purpose of the research as were the teachers.
This study shows that the infants benefited from massage that was given by caregivers other than their parents. As infants of depressed mothers are likely to show growth delays by one year (Field 1992) it is suggested by this study that massage would be an effective way to enhance their development.
The other study that I have chosen to discuss was carried out by Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa and Alison Hodgkinson, entitled ‘Benefits of infant massage for mothers with postnatal depression’. Semin Neonatol 2002.
In this study Professor Glover and her colleagues focused on the mother, and whether or not attending an infant massage would help depressed mothers to relate better to their babies.
First time mothers who gave birth to single healthy babies at St. Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital were given the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at four weeks postpartum. All those who scored 13 or over were asked to participate in the trial.
They were assigned into either the massage or control group. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were the same. Twelve in the massage group and 13 in the control group completed the study, attending five sessions over a period of up to eight weeks.
Both groups of mothers attended a weekly support group session at which they were encouraged to discuss problems and offer mutual support.
The mothers filled in the EPDS again at their last session. The EPDS scores showed that while the depression of the control mothers who attended the support group improved over the period, the improvement of the massage group was significantly greater.
While the reasons for the improvement are not scientifically proven, it is possible that oxytocin levels increased by massage may help with bonding between mother and infant.
The massage classes were run following the philosophy of the International Association of Infant Massage, which was founded by Vimala McClure in 1986. The benefits of the massage classes to the mothers and infants were very clear.
The mothers felt the class helped them to be more aware of their babies behaviour and its meaning. “The classes have helped me think about the way I react to my baby and have developed my responses.” “The babies enjoy the attention and it does appear to relax and soothe them. They really enjoy the other babies.” “I lost the fear of touching and handling my baby.” “It has given me confidence to physically handle my new baby, particularly in the first weeks.”
Professor Glover’s study shows us the benefits of infant massage to depressed mothers and the alleviation of their symptoms over the control group.
There has been an upsurge of interest in infant massage in the last twenty years, and there are numerous other studies that show the benefits of massage for babies, with improved neurophysiological development , better sleeping patterns and a host of other benefits claimed.
In conclusion, I would like to state that the current field of research into infant massage indicates that massage, whether performed by the parent or another caregiver has beneficial effects on the infant, and when performed by the mother has beneficial effects on both mother and infant.
All the research undertaken to date gives consistent results - babies who are massaged; whether premature or full-term; whether massaged by their parents or other caregivers show statistically significant benefits in terms of behaviour and growth.
Bibliography
Agarwal KN, Gupta A, Pushkarna R, Bhargava SK, Faridi MMA, Prabhu MK. Effects of
massage and use of oil on growth, blood flow and sleep pattern in infants. Indian Journal of
Medical Research 2000; 112: 212 217.
Cullen C, Field T, Escalona A, Hartshorn K. Father infant interactions are enhanced by
massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care 2000; 164: 41 47.
Tiffany Field, Nancy Grizzle, Frank Scafidi et al. Massage Therapy for Infants of Depressed
Mothers. Infant Behaviour and Development 1996; 19 107 112.
Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa, Alison Hodgkinson. Benefits of infant massage for
mothers with postnatal depression. Semin Neonatol 2002; 7: 495 500.
Field T. Infants of depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology 1992; 4: 49 66
Cox JL, Holden JM, Sagovsky R. Detection of postnatal depression: development of the
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 1987; 152: 799 806.
McClure V. Infant Massage: A Handbook for Loving Parents, 3rd Revised Edition NY:
Bantam, 2000.
Rice, R. Neurophysiological development in premature infants following stimulation.
Developmental Psychology 1997; 13: 69 76.
Scafidi F, Field T, Schanberg S, Bauer C, Bega Lahr N, Garcia R. Effects of tactile.kinesthetic
stimulation on the clinical course and sleep/wake behaviour of preterm neonates. Infant
Behaviour and Development 1986; 9: 91 105.
One of the pioneers in the field of infant massage research is Tiffany Field, who produces an extensive amount of research in this area and is a founder member of the Touch Research Institute in Miami, USA.
Professor Vivette Glover, based in the UK has also done a vast amount of research into fetal and neonatal stress, including a number of studies into the effects of massage on postpartum depression.
The area on which I have chosen to concentrate in this paper is on the benefits of infant massage both to the infants of depressed mothers and to the depressed mothers themselves.
I shall be discussing two clinical studies. The first one is by Tiffany Field, Nancy Grizzle, Frank Scafidi, Sonya Abrams, Sarah Richardson, Cynthia Kuhn and Saul Schanberg entitled ‘Massage Therapy for Infants of Depressed Mothers’ (1996) and focuses on the benefits to the infants of massage therapy. The second study I have chosen is by Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa and Alison Hodgkinson and is entitled ‘Benefits of infant massage for mothers with postnatal depression.’ (2002) .
The Field study was carried out in 1996. Forty full-term one to three month old infants born to depressed adolescent mothers who were low socioeconomic status (SES) and single parents were given fifteen minutes of either massage or rocking for 2 days per week for a six week period.
The infants who experienced massage therapy spent more time in active alert and active awake states, cried less and had lower salivary cortisol levels, suggesting less stress; compared to infants in the rocking control group. After the massage versus the rocking sessions the infants spent less time in an active awake state, suggesting that massage is more effective than rocking for inducing sleep.
Over the six week period the massaged infants gained more weight, showed greater improvement on emotionality, sociability and soothability temperament dimensions and had greater decreases in urinary stress hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol).
During this study the infants were cared for during the day by teachers at a nursery school. The infants were bottlefed by nursery caregivers except when mothers visited. The mothers routinely touched, fed and held their infants, which was recorded on a daily basis (absence/presence of each of the behaviours) by the teachers.
Based on the teachers daily records of the amount of time the mothers spent holding, feeding, touching, visiting their infants, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The mothers were unaware of which therapy their infants were receiving (massage or rocking) and were unaware of the purpose of the research as were the teachers.
This study shows that the infants benefited from massage that was given by caregivers other than their parents. As infants of depressed mothers are likely to show growth delays by one year (Field 1992) it is suggested by this study that massage would be an effective way to enhance their development.
The other study that I have chosen to discuss was carried out by Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa and Alison Hodgkinson, entitled ‘Benefits of infant massage for mothers with postnatal depression’. Semin Neonatol 2002.
In this study Professor Glover and her colleagues focused on the mother, and whether or not attending an infant massage would help depressed mothers to relate better to their babies.
First time mothers who gave birth to single healthy babies at St. Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital were given the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at four weeks postpartum. All those who scored 13 or over were asked to participate in the trial.
They were assigned into either the massage or control group. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were the same. Twelve in the massage group and 13 in the control group completed the study, attending five sessions over a period of up to eight weeks.
Both groups of mothers attended a weekly support group session at which they were encouraged to discuss problems and offer mutual support.
The mothers filled in the EPDS again at their last session. The EPDS scores showed that while the depression of the control mothers who attended the support group improved over the period, the improvement of the massage group was significantly greater.
While the reasons for the improvement are not scientifically proven, it is possible that oxytocin levels increased by massage may help with bonding between mother and infant.
The massage classes were run following the philosophy of the International Association of Infant Massage, which was founded by Vimala McClure in 1986. The benefits of the massage classes to the mothers and infants were very clear.
The mothers felt the class helped them to be more aware of their babies behaviour and its meaning. “The classes have helped me think about the way I react to my baby and have developed my responses.” “The babies enjoy the attention and it does appear to relax and soothe them. They really enjoy the other babies.” “I lost the fear of touching and handling my baby.” “It has given me confidence to physically handle my new baby, particularly in the first weeks.”
Professor Glover’s study shows us the benefits of infant massage to depressed mothers and the alleviation of their symptoms over the control group.
There has been an upsurge of interest in infant massage in the last twenty years, and there are numerous other studies that show the benefits of massage for babies, with improved neurophysiological development , better sleeping patterns and a host of other benefits claimed.
In conclusion, I would like to state that the current field of research into infant massage indicates that massage, whether performed by the parent or another caregiver has beneficial effects on the infant, and when performed by the mother has beneficial effects on both mother and infant.
All the research undertaken to date gives consistent results - babies who are massaged; whether premature or full-term; whether massaged by their parents or other caregivers show statistically significant benefits in terms of behaviour and growth.
Bibliography
Agarwal KN, Gupta A, Pushkarna R, Bhargava SK, Faridi MMA, Prabhu MK. Effects of
massage and use of oil on growth, blood flow and sleep pattern in infants. Indian Journal of
Medical Research 2000; 112: 212 217.
Cullen C, Field T, Escalona A, Hartshorn K. Father infant interactions are enhanced by
massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care 2000; 164: 41 47.
Tiffany Field, Nancy Grizzle, Frank Scafidi et al. Massage Therapy for Infants of Depressed
Mothers. Infant Behaviour and Development 1996; 19 107 112.
Vivette Glover, Katsuno Onozawa, Alison Hodgkinson. Benefits of infant massage for
mothers with postnatal depression. Semin Neonatol 2002; 7: 495 500.
Field T. Infants of depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology 1992; 4: 49 66
Cox JL, Holden JM, Sagovsky R. Detection of postnatal depression: development of the
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 1987; 152: 799 806.
McClure V. Infant Massage: A Handbook for Loving Parents, 3rd Revised Edition NY:
Bantam, 2000.
Rice, R. Neurophysiological development in premature infants following stimulation.
Developmental Psychology 1997; 13: 69 76.
Scafidi F, Field T, Schanberg S, Bauer C, Bega Lahr N, Garcia R. Effects of tactile.kinesthetic
stimulation on the clinical course and sleep/wake behaviour of preterm neonates. Infant
Behaviour and Development 1986; 9: 91 105.
