Can massaging your baby improve the mood of new mothers?

I can’t begin to imagine how worried, anxious & may be inadequate I would feel if I had a premature baby.  I would imagine there is a really strong instinct & desire to the hold the baby which is more difficult if it needs to be in an incubator.

A recent study has looked at the impact on the mother’s health of massaging premature babies.  Fifty-two mothers with babies born at 30 – 38 weeks were randomly assigned ot an intervention or control group.  Mothers in the experimental group were asked to massage their babies daily alongside standard medical care, while those in the control group only had standard medical care.

Mothers in the experimental group were given an information pamphlet, training video and researches conducted a massage training session.  They were then asked to perform a massage on their babies for 15 minutes each day for 5 days.

Mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire rating changes in 65 “mood factors” including anxiety, depression and fatigue, on a five-point scale.  Mood scores were consistent across both groups at the beginning of the study but there were significant differences by the end. Mothers who massaged their babies had a better mood than those who didn’t.  They also experienced less anxiety, depression & fatigue.

Reading this did make me wonder the impact of massaging babies would have on the mood of mums whose babies weren’t premature.

Reference

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1556370717300937

 

 

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