The science behind the power of your touch:
Your touch is really powerful. After reviewing over 600 scientific papers on the effects of human touch on babies, the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centers (CAPHC) concluded that the power of your touch is undeniable.“Science clearly supports that caregiver touch has a powerful effect on babies’ brains and bodies, optimizing healthy growth and development, both in the short and long term” (CAPHC)The benefits are multiple: sleep, growth and weight gain, memory, problem solving, social skills....and so on. Science is learning quickly what your intuition has known all along!
The science behind quiet sleep:
Your touch provides the physical and emotional support needed for your baby to reach quiet sleep, that’s when the brain develops systems for life: from problem solving to social to athletic skills.The National Sleep Foundation says that during quiet sleep “...important hormones are released for growth and development.” Some experts say that it is during that type of “... sleep that deeper section of the brain develops further, making deep connections within the brain.”Babies cannot be "spoiled" or "held too much". The Dual Nature of Early-Life Experience on Somatosensory Processing in the Human Infant Brain, which highlights the following:
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Preterm infants’ first weeks can be in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs)
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NICU treatments for improving neurodevelopmental outcomes rely heavily on touch
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Prematurity and touch quality determine the extent of attenuated brain responses
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Perinatal somatosensory experiences may scaffold later development
