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Infant massage is a type of complementary and alternative treatment that uses massage therapy for babies. Evidence is insufficient to support its use in either full term or preterm babies to achieve physical growth.
Infant massage is a type of complementary and alternative treatment that uses massage therapy for babies. Evidence is insufficient to support its use in either full term or preterm babies to achieve physical growth.
History
Ayurvedic medicine inancient India
Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...
taught the use of infant massage. It was also has been encouraged in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
during the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. At present it is part of traditional childcare in South Asia and elsewhere where daily massage by mothers is seen as "instilling fearlessness, hardening bone structure, enhancing movement and limb coordination, and increasing weight". Other areas where infant massage is regularly used are African countries and areas in the former Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. In Western culture, infant massage has been increasingly used in neonatal intensive care unit
A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit (ICU) specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. The NICU is divided into several areas, including a critical c ...
s for pre-term infants who are in stressful environments and have limited tactile stimulation.
Research
A 2013Cochrane review
Cochrane is a British international charitable organisation formed to synthesize medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health professionals, patients and policy makers. It includes ...
of massage therapy for babies less than 6 months of age who were born at term found that the evidence was insufficient to support its use. A 2004 Cochrane review looking at massage therapy for pre-term and low birth weight was insufficient to justify its use.
Proposed mechanisms
Various mechanisms have been proposed as to suggest how massage therapy might benefit infants. For pre-term infants, it has been suggested that any weight gain may be due to improved metabolic efficiency or by reducing the adverse reaction of stress through decreasing stress behavior or stress hormones. Other possible mechanisms include increasedvagal
The vagus nerve, also known as the tenth cranial nerve (CN X), plays a crucial role in the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating involuntary functions within the human body. This nerve carries both sensory and motor fibe ...
activity and secretion of insulin
Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...
and gastrin
Gastrin is a peptide hormone that stimulates secretion of gastric acid (HCl) by the parietal cells of the stomach and aids in gastric motility. It is released by G cells in the pyloric antrum of the stomach, duodenum, and the pancreas.
...
as well as improved parent-infant relationships.
Safety
Reviews of the literature have found no significant risks for adverse events with massage theory with either full term or pre-term infants. One study found that the use of certain oils in traditional societies such asmustard oil
Mustard oil can mean either the pressed oil used for cooking or a pungent essential oil, also known as volatile oil, of the mustard plant. The essential oil results from grinding mustard seed, mixing the grounds with water, and isolating the resu ...
or olive oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil.
It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
might adversely affect pre-term newborn skin
Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation.
Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...
barrier function, while using other oils that are linoleate-enriched such as sunflower seed oil may improve the integrity and permeability of the skin.
See also
* Babywearing *Haptic communication
Haptic communication is nonverbal communication and interaction via the sense of touch.
Touch can come in many different forms, some can promote physical and psychological well-being. A warm, loving touch can lead to positive outcomes while a ...
* Kangaroo care
* Pediatric massage
* Swaddling
References
{{Infants and their care Babycare Pediatrics Massage therapy