Smart, loving touch makes newborns healthy and happy

Smart, loving touch makes newborns healthy and happy

By Tri Hafiningsih

JAKARTA (JP): Many of us are familiar with the soothing
wonders of massage for our tired muscles. But few know the
wonders of massage, or more accurately "touch", for newborn
babies.

Studies show the first touch made by mothers to a newborn is
of ultimate importance in determining the quality of the baby's
health and intelligence. This "magic" massage of a newborn, as
young as a day old, is a good start toward a healthy and smart
baby, said pediatrician Utami Roesli, in a seminar on the
advantages of massage for babies, held here last Saturday.

Utami cited research backing the importance of massage for
newborns in improving their health and stimulating their mental
development.

Research in 1989 found that premature babies weighing 1.2
kilograms at delivery, who had routine massages by their parents
or paramedics, improved their weight by eight grams daily over
those who received similar feedings but were not massaged. The
sample group of 40 babies was weighed 12 days after leaving the
neonatal intensive care unit.

Utami said routine massages helped babies' ability to absorb
nutrition given to them.

The massages also promote the child's growth and parent-child
bonding. "It will improve the baby's ability to fight infections,
caused by the reduction of stress hormones," Utami added.

There seems no end to the benefits. Other advantages of the
massage include improving the baby's alertness and the ability to
have a good night's sleep, she said in the seminar sponsored by
Intisari monthly magazine and Johnson & Johnson baby toiletries,
among others.

In front of an audience of about 300, mostly mothers of
newborns and toddlers, mothers-to-be, some fathers and childless
couples, Utami demonstrated basic strokes and massages for
babies. She used keywords such as "smile, heart, butterfly, moon,
sun and I Love You" to accentuate the techniques.

Utami said the routine would yield the most results within the
first six or seven months of the babies' life and would be best
conducted every morning before bathing or every evening before
bedtime.

Participants followed Utami's instructions on dolls. Several
nurses and skilled volunteers helped to demonstrate the right
strokes to the keen and enthusiastic audience.

Utami said the first six months of a baby's life saw the
fastest growth of brain cells whose number determined his or her
intelligence. "We want our babies to be smart ones," she said,
adding that while one could not do much about genetic factors,
conducting the routine massages was proven to help babies' mental
health.

Utami added such massages supplemented breastfeeding during
the first four months to six months of the baby's life to provide
a better chance for the child to have a healthy body and brain.

"Newborns will retain their self confidence and sense of
security if they are held and breast-fed almost immediately after
deliveries," said Utami, who also heads the team promoting an
"exclusive breastfeeding program" at Saint Carolus Hospital,
Central Jakarta.

Another speaker, well-known child psychologist and educator
Seto Mulyadi, said people commonly know that touching, kisses,
embraces or lullabies exert positive values on babies and
children. He added that these physical demonstrations of love
helped social skills, a fact scientifically proven and tried and
tested through generations.

"Loving touches develop the emotional intelligence of a baby."
Setyo added that emotional maturity was equally important in
promoting the health of the body and brain.

He pronounced the first five years of a child's life as the
most crucial because it greatly determines the quality of the
rest of his or her life.