GUEST POST: Sarah from Tiny Touch Surrey

The Importance of Nurturing Touch

Human beings love to feel loved.  Having physical contact with another Human Being is as important to our wellbeing as the food we eat.  To be touched is to feel loved, and this brings with it security and nourishment for the body and soul. 

Nurturing touch to a baby, is even more of a necessity towards feeling loved and secure, and acts as acknowledgement of their need to be held and comforted.  This in turn helps their brain and organs to develop in a healthy way, balancing out stress hormones and invoking a sense of calm. 

I have the amazing honour of sharing the benefits of nurturing touch through Baby Massage courses with parents and carers in Surrey, and I have seen over 400 families strengthen their bond through massage.

Baby Massage is often the first class that parents attend with their babies. It encourages new parents to leave their house when they are ready, to meet other like-minded carers in a safe environment where they can share similar experiences as they embark upon parenthood together. 

The massage routine incorporates Indian and Swedish techniques, reflexology and elements of baby yoga, all coming together to aid the healthy development of your baby as they grow.  The massage invokes a sense of calm so that your baby is encouraged to have a deeper more relaxed sleep; it assists with symptoms of gas/colic and reflux and aids digestion; helps to flush toxins out of the body; stimulates healthy blood flow and the development of muscles; helps to reduce umbilical hernia; aids the release of oxytocin in parents and their baby (otherwise known as the love hormone) and most importantly allows you and your baby to spend quality time getting to know one another, strengthening the bond between you. 

Massaging your baby helps you to familiarise with every coo and gurgle, every freckle and frown, every wriggle and facial expression that your baby performs, giving you confidence in your approach to their needs and with how you hold and comfort your baby.  You feel empowered with skills that help your baby when they experience tummy discomfort and that answers their emotional needs.  Quite a feat of achievement given initially we have no idea what their cries mean or just what it is they want from us at any given moment.

As a new parent we are all doing our absolute best, and that is all that really matters.  Whether we’re overjoyed with our new arrival, or overwhelmed with our new life and all it brings, we all need the same thing – and that is to be reassured that we are doing a great job and to have the support of those around us.

Joining a class with your baby can be one way to finding a support network, so if you haven’t already found an individual or group of people with whom you can share parenthood, then I would highly recommend joining a baby class.  After all……. we are all in it together - for the long haul!

Sarah Millist is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor with the IAIM – The only worldwide organisations solely dedicated to Baby Massage.   She is also a Toddle Talk Baby Sign Language teacher and teacher of Monkey Music.

To find out more about Baby Massage with Sarah, visit her Tiny Touch Surrey facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tinytouchsurrey or email her at: tinytouchsurrey@gmail.com