Nurturing Touch and Infant Massage
Donna Anderson MS, PT, CEIM
International Trainer
www.infantmassageusa.org
donna.anderson@infantmassageusa.org
Dr. Bruce Perry, Child Trauma Academy
Houston, Texas
www.childtrauma.org
Dr. Stephen Bavolek Ph.D.
Nurturing Parenting Programs
www.nurturingparenting.com
Dr. Tiffany Field
Touch Research Institute
Miami, Florida
Touch Experience/Discussion
 Think
 Action
 Intent
 Reaction
 Relax
 Invitation
Webster’s New World Dictionary
 The special sense by which pressure and traction exerted
on the skin or mucus membrane is perceived.
Oxford English Dictionary
 The action or an act of touching (with the hand, finger, or
other part of the body); exercise of the faculty of feeling
upon a material object.
Ashley Montagu
 Touch is the parent of our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It
is the sense which became differentiated into the others.
 A fact that seems to be recognized in the age old
evaluation of touch as “the mother of the senses.”
 Though it may vary structurally and functionally with age,
touch remains a constant, the foundation upon which all
other senses are based.
Guy McCormack
 The conscious and unconscious art of laying one’s hands
on or near another person’s body with the intent to help
or promote the process of healing.
Ortega y Gasset
 The decisive form of our intercourse with things is in fact
touch.
 Touch and contact are necessarily the most conclusive
factor in determining the structure of our world.
 Touch differs from all the other senses in that it always
involves the presence, at once and inseparably, of the
body that we touch and our body with which we touch it.
Crucial Difference
“My Whole Package”
“Touch”- with all of my other senses
- with my personal touch history
- with my intentions and expectations
- etc.
“Your Whole Package”
“Touch” - with all of your other senses
- with your personal history
- with your intentions and expectations
- etc.
Ashley Montagu
 Although touch itself is not an emotion, it’s sensory
elements induce those neural, glandular, muscular, and
mental changes which in combination we call an emotion.
 Hence touch is not experienced as a simple, physical
modality, as sensation, but affectively as emotion.
There is a basic premise in physiology that
the earliest systems or structures to develop
are the most fundamental functions of the
body.
 The touch system is the earliest functioning system in all
species studied so far….
 Current research suggests it is the last to fade.
 It does not wane as we age (as long as it continues to
receive stimulation).
Touch
 Is the only sense we cannot live without.
 It is as necessary as food and water.
 Without affectionate touch and contact we will literally
perish from a syndrome called Marasmus (failure to
thrive).
Children’s Foundling Homes and
hospitals in New York
 In all but one of these institutions, every infant under the
age of 2 died.
 In the one hospital with the 90% mortality rate, 10% of
the children had been sent out to foster homes.
In the general population
 More than one half of all infants under the age of one
year died of Marasmus (Failure to Thrive).
 Marasmus occurred in the best homes, best hospitals,
best institutions, and in the babies receiving the best and
most careful physical attention.
After World War II
 Physicians began to explore this phenomenon.
 Apparent that babies in the poorest homes with a loving
mother or grandmother were thriving.
 Dr. Fritz Talbot visits Germany.
 “Old Anna”
 “Mothering” programs instituted in hospitals and
foundling homes.
“Mothering Programs” said that
every baby should be picked up,
carried around, rocked, talked to
and sung to, several times a day.
 Mortality rates for infants fell from 90-100% to 30-35%
within the first year.
 Mortality rates eventually fell to less than 10%.
Mother’s arms have always been a bed for baby,
a place for nurturance, transportation, and play.
The Human Nervous System
 Our nervous system, including the structures that serve to
control our emotions is very old.
 Similar to anthropoid apes and primitive man, human and
chimps are almost identical in their genetic makeup.
The Reptilian Brain
 Evolved around 300 million years ago.
 Is the deepest, most ancient part of the brain.
 Largely unchanged by evolution.
 We share this part of the brain with all other vertebrates.
 Activates instinctive behavior related to survival.
 Controls the essential bodily functions required for
sustaining life including hunger, digestion, breathing,
circulation, temperature, movement, territorial instincts,
and fight or flight.
Margot Sunderland “The Science of Parenting”
The Mammalian Brain
 Evolved around 200 million years ago.
 Has almost the same chemical systems and structures as
in other mammals, such as chimpanzees.
 Triggers strong emotions that need to be managed well
by the rational brain.
 Helps to control primitive fight or flight impulses.
 Activates rage, fear, separation distress, caring and
nurturing, social bonding, playfulness, and explorative
urge.
Margot Sunderland “The Science of Parenting”
The Rational Brain
 It is the newest part of the brain.
 Amounts to about 85% of the total brain mass.
 It envelops the ancient mammalian and reptilian brains.
 Is dramatically impacted by emotionally responsive
parenting.
 Functions and capacities include creativity, imagination,
problem solving, reasoning and reflection, selfawareness, kindness, empathy, and concern.
Margot Sunderland “The Science of Parenting”
Infant Rearing Behavior
 It was our early development that led humans to their
infant rearing behavior.
 As a species, both infants and mothers brain
development, basic biochemistry and physiology was
designed to respond to the forces of natural selection.
 Two types of infant rearing behaviors in the animal
kingdom: the catching species and the carrying species.
Catching Species
 Leave their young for long periods of time, while the
mother gathers food.
 Infants in this group do not cry or move about so as not
to attract attention.
Carrying Species
 Keep their young in continuous contact and space
feedings closely.
 Infants cry when distressed or when out of contact with
the parent.
Human Infants
 Exhibit behavior close to the carrying mammals.
 Human milk is identical in fat and protein content to
that of the apes, a carrying species.
 Human babies suckle slowly and cry when distressed
or when out of contact with the parent.
 Human babies exhibit primitive reflexes such as
grasping, rooting.
Sharon Hellar PhD. “The Vital Touch”
So what happened…
 In a very short period of time, European and Western
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cultures moved away from this physical connectedness
and positive nurturing in child rearing practices.
A strong emphasis on independence came of age.
Competition set in.
Upward mobility was a hallmark of new technology.
Self reliance was rewarded.
Sterilization made bottle feeding possible.
Mother’s arms were replaced with buggies, cribs, high
chairs and infant seats, etc.
 Invention of the telephone and faster transportation
spread families apart.
 The nuclear family was replaced by the extended family.
 Behaviorists were providing parenting advice which was
shaping our parents and grandparents upbringing.
The Psychological Care of Infant and
Child by John Watson, 1928
 Hailed by Parents Magazine as necessary for “every
intelligent mother’s bookshelf”.
 “There is a sensible way of treating children… never hug
and kiss them, never let them sit on your lap. If you must,
kiss them once on the forehead when they say good
night. Shake hands with them in the morning. Give them
a pat on the head if they have made an extraordinarily
good job of a difficult task.”
The Care and Feeding of Children by
Luther Emmett Holt, Sr. 1935
 Do not pick up baby no matter how long it cries.
 Feed the baby on a strict 4 hour schedule.
 Bottle feeding is considered as good as breast feeding.
 Abolish the cradle… as rocking is an unnecessary habit,
hard to break and very useless.
Current Observations
 Cultural values and customs frown on American mothers
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exercising their natural maternal instincts for intimacy
and closeness.
Discourage mothers from breastfeeding in public.
Encouraged mothers to refrain from carrying infants and
holding them closely throughout the day.
Mothers, parents, caregivers, continue to use strollers,
buggies, and infant seats to hold and move their child
about.
Babies are sleeping alone in cribs in a room down the
hall.
 Increasing reported rate of child abuse has resulted in a
lack of innocent touch, increased mistrust among adults
relative to child-adult touch, and increased fear within
child care providers of possible criminal action.
 Parents fear that intimacy and closeness may foster
“dependency in a culture steeped with the concept of
rugged individualism.
 Parents are supported to let their infants and children
“cry it out” so as not to spoil them.
Disregarding the intrinsic
biological development of
the human species may bear
detrimental effects on
humanity as a whole.
Margot Sunderland- “The Science of Parenting”
Experts say, the US is one of the lowest tactile societies in
the world and our babies are the least held on the planet.
Sharon Hellar, PhD.
Stephanie Day, OT
Sidney Jourard
University of Florida
 Visited cafes in different parts of the world and recorded
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the number of times two people who were sharing
coffee, touched each other.
London
Florida
Paris
Puerto Rico
Tiffany Field
Touch Research Institute
 Observed adolescents at McDonalds restaurants in Paris
and Miami.
 French teens
 American teens
Stephanie Day
Occupational Therapist
 Observed the tactile agenda of a typical, all-American
infant: a baby between four and six weeks of age, born of
middle class parents, breastfed, and described as a happy,
contented child of a caring, loving mother.
 7 hours/day (25%)- tactile stimulation when fed,
diapered, cleaned, dressed, carried, held, and played
with.
 1 ½ hours/day (5%)- vestibular stimulation, primarily
during holding and carrying.
 12 hours/day (50%)- baby was alone, both asleep and
awake.
 Average Western infant is touched 25% of the day or less.
 Actual holding time between the ages of 3 weeks and 3
months, is 2 ½ hours/day.
 By 9 months of age, touching time goes down to 16% of
the day.
Tiffany Field and Colleagues
 Preschool nurseries- children under the age of 5 years were being touched
less than 14% of the time.
Specifically comparing American mother-infant contact with other cultures
concluded:
• US mothers appear to be more self-involved and less affectionate toward
their infants and children.
• Touch when it does occur is used to control their babies rather than
affectionately cuddle them.
• American mothers seem more interested in interacting with their adult
friends than playing with their children.
• French, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Kenyon, Mexican, and Philippine
mothers affectionately touch, cuddle, kiss, and watch over their children
more than their US counterparts.
 US infants and children in turn act out undesirable behaviors
more often than their peers around the world.
 American children display negative acting out behaviors 29%
of the time as compared to 1% of the time in French children.
Children in high touch cultures……
 Play with a mildness.
 Do not seize property.
 Do not hit other children.
 Are less demanding and less sensitive to emotional changes in
their mothers.
 3 times less likely to display common US behaviors, such as
tantrums, sibling rivalry, and terrible 2’s.
Infant Massage
 Is not a fad!
 Is an ancient tradition in many cultures which is being
rediscovered in the West.
 Is a parent education program of nurturing touch and
massage developed by Vimala McClure, author of Infant
Massage: A Handbook for Loving Parents and founder of
the International Association of Infant Massage.
History of Infant Massage in the US
 While living in India in the early 1970’s, Vimala observed
the benefits of infant massage with infants.
 Upon returning to the US, she began researching and
massaging her children and combined her experience
with Indian massage strokes, principals of reflexology and
yoga to develop a parent education program of infant
massage.
 She founded the infant massage tradition here in the US
in 1976.
 Vimala conducted the first training for trainers in 1981.
 7 individuals from the first training became the core
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group and the International Association of Infant Massage
(IAIM) was established as a non-profit in 1986.
The IAIM headquarters are now located in Sweden.
Work has since spread to include 50 chapters world-wide.
The US chapter, Infant Massage USA, is located in Virginia.
We are the oldest and largest infant massage program in
the world.
We provide the original program as developed and gifted
to us by Vimala.
IAIM Mission
 To promote nurturing touch and communication through
training, education, and research so that parents,
caregivers, and children are loved, valued, and respected
throughout the world community.
For Babies
 Stimulates and improves the function of all our
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sustaining systems.
Respiratory
Circulatory
Digestive
Nervous
Endocrine
Immune
 Massage stimulates the production of endorphins,
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serotonins, and oxytocin, while reducing cortisol levels.
May relieve discomfort from gas and constipation.
Helps baby relax and relieve stress.
Baby may sleep deeper and longer.
Massage can help baby regulate their sleep/wake cycle.
Massage supports babies to gain body awareness and
body ownership.
Helps baby feel accepted and loved.
Promotes bonding and attachment.
 Nurturing touch experiences build trust and trusting
relationships between infant and parent.
 Babies learn to have a range of emotion.
 First communication.
For Parents
 Encourages communication and respect for baby.
 Parents develop an increased understanding and
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appropriate response to their baby’s unique cues.
Encourages empathy and appropriate developmental
expectations.
Promotes bonding and attachment.
Parents relax and reduce stress more than receiving
massage themselves.
Parents learn techniques to soothe and comfort their
babies.
May help with post-partum depression.
 Pleasurable and effective activity for fathers.
 Easy to do, no cost involved, can fit into busy schedules.
 Parents are more aware of what is more “normal” for
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their baby.
Enhances feelings of confidence and competence in their
parenting skills.
Healthier baby means fewer trips to the doctor and less
time off of work.
Provides a peer group for sharing and support.
Promotes healthy, appropriate touch.
May help to overcome a challenging touch history.
 Promotes healthy, trusting relationships.
 Touch is magical and changes the chemical makeup of
parent and baby.
 Sets up a regular routine of pleasurable, nurturing
interaction, and fun.
“Where touching begins there love and
humanity also begin.”- Ashley Montagu
Elements of Bonding and Attachment
 Bonding and attachment is primarily a nonverbal process.
 It takes place many months and even years before speech
and thought develop.
 Communication is accomplished through wordless means
that rely on several things to convey interest,
understanding, and caring.
Among others, our founder Vimala McClure, talks about
factors that help to facilitate attachment and bonding:
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Eye to eye contact
Skin to skin contact
Smiling (facial expression)
Vocalization (tone of voice, rhythm and rate of speech,
soothing sounds)
Odor/smell/taste
Warmth/responsiveness
Interaction (reciprocal)
Entrainment
Predictability
Benefits for Society
 Families better able to report symptoms leading to
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increase accuracy in diagnosis and appropriate medical
care.
Fewer calls and visits to health care offices.
Children are more resilient.
Decrease illness in general.
Reduce medical costs.
Less aggression and violence.
Infant Massage Classes
 Infant massage is taught to parents in home visits or in
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group settings by a Certified Educator of Infant Massage
(CEIM).
Classes are presented once a week over a 4-6 week
period.
A CEIM demonstrates the massage strokes on a doll while
the parent massages their baby.
Babies range in age from 8 weeks to pre-crawling.
Massage is presented on a blanket on the floor.
An interactive environment is conducive to build a
trusting relationship between parent and CEIM.
 An unscented vegetable or fruit oil is used.
 There are no performance standards.
 Parents are encouraged to follow the cues of their baby.
 Infant massage is done WITH the baby not TO the baby.
Permission
“At the core of training others in the art of infant massage is
the following vital message:
Do not begin to massage your baby until you have asked for
and received permission. Some caregivers have difficulty
imagining how their baby could possibly tell them s/he is
ready and willing to be massaged? But, of course,
answering this question demands an appreciation for the
interpersonal capacities of newborn human infants, the
meaning of their gaze, their facial expressions, their
posture, and other non-verbal or pre-verbal expressions of
comfort or distress.
Infant massage training helps one to recognize each baby’s
repertoire of emotional and behavioral expressions,
including the wish for a special exclusive relationship with a
preferred and loved caregiver. Having learned when and
how to seek permission to begin massaging a baby, the
caregiver is not only skilled in infant massage, but also well
on the way to achieving mastery of the caregiving skills
needed to promote what the baby needs most—love—or a
secure infant-caregiver attachment.”
Howard Steele, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Co-Director, Center for Attachment Research, New
School for Social Research.
Permission is About:
 Respecting and honoring the amazing interactive capacity
of the infant.
 CEIM’s help guide the process of parent and infant getting
to know each other, learning about each other, and the
unique language between them.