Bringing infant massage
to the Western world
The founder of the International Association of Infant Massage, Vimala McClure,
discovered infant massage during her travels in India in the early 1970s. In Indian
culture, the mother massages everyone in the family and passes the tradition down
through her daughters. McClure found that massaging babies was a wonderful way
to soothe and communicate nonverbally with them. When McClure contracted
malaria, all the local women massaged and sang to her. The feeling in her body
resulting from the massage stayed in her memory.
What McClure experienced in India simply didn’t exist in Western culture at the
time. She wrote Infant Massage in 1979 to remind us that love, security, and com-
passion are a type of wealth. She created the International Association of Infant
Massage to offer opportunities for this type of touch to anyone. Infant massage
instruction now takes place all over the world. We want to acknowledge and thank
Vimala McClure for bringing infant massage to our attention. Her work reminded us
of what we once knew but learned to forget.Researching the benefits of touch
The Touch Research Institute (TRI), located at the University of Miami School of
Medicine, was founded in 1992 by Tiffany Field, Ph.D. TRI conducts research on the
effects of touch and works to apply these findings to science and medicine.
Here are some of TRI’s findings:
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Newborns who are exposed to cocaine in utero gain weight faster and show
less signs of stress if they are massaged.
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Fathers who massage their babies for 15 minutes daily experience more favor-
able interactions with their infants.
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Depressed mothers touch their babies differently than mothers who aren’t
depressed, which can negatively affect growth patterns in newborns. Research
studies show that if depressed mothers massage their infants, the babies gain
weight more quickly, have more organized sleep/wake behaviors, are less fussy,
are more sociable and easily soothed, have better interaction behaviors, and
have lower levels of stress hormones.
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Premature babies receive the most significant benefits from massage. These
infants gain more weight, sleep better, and are discharged from the hospital
sooner if they receive massage.
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Newborns exposed to HIV gain more weight if they receive massage.Acing Massage 101
The goal of Swedish massage is to increase the circulation of blood
and lymph fluids in the body. The fluids are pushed out of the
muscle tissue, back into the circulatory system, and out of the
body through the elimination process.
Toxic material (in the form of lactic acid) accumulates in our
bodies — specifically in our muscle tissues — as a result of poor
diet, overmedication, exercise, illness, or dehydration. This toxic
material results in knots, trigger points (tender, painful spots located
on a very tight muscle), adhesions (areas where muscle and fascia —
which we define in a moment — adhere to one another), and scar
tissue. These problems cause pain, discomfort, and restriction
of movement. Injury and poor posture can put muscle tissue into
spasm to protect the area from further harm, causing patterns
of pain.
Massage therapy works the soft tissues of the body so they can
function optimally. Massage therapy is the only form of bodywork
that addresses the soft tissue specifically, putting the body back
into homeostasis (balance).
Consider this analogy: Think of the body as a sweater. If you pull
one corner of the sweater, it changes the shape of the entire sweater.
Massage puts the soft tissue — your sweater — back into its proper
shape.
The body is lined with fascia, which is like a netting that holds
everything in place. Keeping the integrity of the fascia is one of the
main goals of massage therapy. Injury, adhesions, scar tissue, illness,
disease, and spasms all pull on the fascia, resulting in stretching
the sweater out of shape.Prenatal massage
Pregnant women experience extreme changes in their bodies. Prenatal massage is
a great way to alleviate some of the discomforts caused by pregnancy, such as sci-
atica, joint pain, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, edema, leg cramps, and constipation.
Make sure that your massage therapist has training in prenatal massage, because
she needs to be aware of some things to avoid. For example, it is not safe to mas-
sage the belly during the first trimester. In addition, some points in AMMA (an Asian
type of massage) can trigger a miscarriage. As long as your massage therapist is
properly trained, massage during pregnancy is perfectly safe.
An added bonus of prenatal massage is being able to lie on your belly. Some mas-
sage therapists use a special type of cushion (placed on top of the massage table),
which can allow you to safely lie on your belly even in the third trimester!
Your coauthor Joanne highly recommends receiving regular prenatal massages:
During my recent pregnancy, I had weekly massages and found that the more I
relaxed, the more relaxed my baby became. After Ava was born, I used a stroke on
her belly that was similar to the stroke used on my abdomen. She loved the stroke,
and I believe it was familiar to her. She melted like butter on the changing table!