News

15th September 2004

Babies need their mothers' touch

Babies could be suffering mild forms of sensory deprivation because of the excessive use of car seats and pushchairs, according to a report by Cherry Bond, a children's nurse at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London.

Ms Bond, who has a master's degree in behavioural sciences, said "Babies spend much more time in chairs and seats than they used to, at a time when the sensory brain is being established and needs input."

In the UK, only one in six mothers regularly use a sling or carry their babies in their arms while more than eight in ten tend to use pushchairs, prams or car seats that can be carried.

Ms Bond says, "There's much better sensory information if the parent carries the child in a sling yet babies are in a bit of equipment rather than with a human being. More research needs to be done but there is a worry that all these chairs that fit into buggies are not good for children and may cause back problems."

However, she admits that there is also a risk of back injury with slings. "The trouble with some slings, clip-on ones, is that babies are bouncing around. I prefer the tie-on ones.

"Mums are up and about (after giving birth) much more quickly now and I see mums with back problems. A tie-on sling makes a mother's posture much better."

In the developing world, babies are much more likely to be carried in slings on their mothers' back or front and this is known as 'kangaroo car'. It ensures constant mother-child stimulation and is encouraged by experts, who say different cultures have developed their own way of carrying babies.

Dr Tiffany Clark, director of the Touch Research Institute at the Miami School of Medicine, a centre for research into therapeutic touch, encourages the massaging of children.

He says, "Massage stimulates the activity of the vagus nerve (one of the 12 cranial nerves), which slows down and relaxes the central nervous system. This in turn slows the heart rate and blood pressure and the release of stress hormones."

Massage also increases the release of seratonin which in turn "improves mood state."

The report suggests that baby massage is used much more frequently today. Less than 20 per cent of women over 55 used to massage their babies compared with 80 per cent of mothers under the age of 24 who massage their babies today.

Around 22 per cent of mothers say they massage their babies at least once a week while 20 per cent massage their baby every day and 12 per cent massage their baby once a month.

Nearly two thirds massage their babies under six months between once a day and once a week compared with less than half of mothers with babies aged six months to two years old.

• Did you massage your baby? Do you use a sling more than a pushchair?Share your experiences in Discuss, Debate and Deliberate
• Want to see what sort of slings are on offer? Visit the babyworld shop