preemie-l Massage for preemies
Helen1144@aol.com
Thu, 13 Jun 1996 14:29:51 -0400
I'm wondering if anyone else saw the article in the May 28th issue of USA
Today on massage and its possible benefits for premature babies.
Psychologist Tiffany Field working in the NICU at Jackson Memorial Hospital
in Miami, found that babies massaged three times a day gain 47% more weight
than equally sick infants, leave the hospital 6 days earlier and average
$10,000 less in hospital costs. Eight months after birth the massaged
infants weigh more and are more advanced in mental and motor development.
According to the article, animal studies carried out at Duke by Dr.Saul
Schanberg confirm the importance of touch in releasing growth hormones, and
may help explain the "failure to thrive" problems among preemies deprived of
touch.
In addition, Tiffany Field has found that for people of any age massage
increases mental alertness and reduces stress hormone levels with beneficial
effects on conditions such as autism, asthma, diabetes, chronic fatigue
syndrome and migraines, among others. When tested against other relaxation
techniques, massage has proved superior. It will be interesting to see if
others can replicate these findings.
Perhaps because I live in Berkeley, I'm a major skeptic when it comes to New
Age therapies. Nevertheless, I wonder if massage might help counteract the
tactile aversion of preemies. I also wonder if those of you whose children
have continuing problems with tactile defensiveness, etc. were allowed in
your NICUs to practice Kangaroo Care (skin to skin contact with your baby) or
massage, and were you able to breastfeed? It may be hard to sort out cause
and effect here because babies who are defensive about touch to begin with
may not do well with Kangaroo Care, massage or breastfeeding. I'd be
interested in your thoughts.
Helen Harrison