We live in a fast paced world where sometimes all of us forget to stop and hug or touch one another. There are a lot of questions that have arisen because of our fast paced society and one of those is the impact on babies. Is there an impact? Well, I have found quite a few who believe so. Including dozens of authors like Tiffany Field, who is a leading authority on touch and touch therapy. She advocates the need for a change in societal attitudes toward touching, especially those around children. In her book "Touch", she talks about how the first sensory input in life comes from the senf of touch while the baby is still in the owmb. She proclaims that touch is critical for children's growth, development, and health.

Another recent articles published in the Havard Gazette based on a Harvard Study, claims that children need touching and attention too. The articles states... "Instead of letting infants cry, American parents should keep their babies close, console them when they cry, and bring them to bed with them, where they'll feel safe, according to Michael L. Commons and Patrice M. Miller, researchers at the Medical School's Department of Psychiatry."

This is no new thing to Dr. Willliam Sears, a renowned pediatrician and author of dozens of parenting books, especially "The Baby Book". Dr. Sears is well-known for his parenting advice that children should be responded to, carried, nursed, and put in bed with parents who are receivers of this philosophy. In an article from Dr. Sears website (see below), he states that "Touch stimulates growth-promoting substances. Healthcare providers have long known that babies who are touched a lot grow better, and now there is research to back up this observation."

Dr. Sears continues to state in his article some additional benefits of touch. Such as:

• Touch promotes brain growth
• Touch improves digestion
• Touch improves behavior
• Touch promotes baby's self-esteem
• Touch helps parents

Touching seems like a simple act that parents come by naturally. However, according to many of these professionals, our American way of parenting does not automatically include touching. We buy all of those baby "necessities" such as swings, strollers, infant carriers, bouncy chairs, activity centers, walkers, and other baby watchers without realizing the minimal amount of time we spend holding them. Parents are urged to pick up there babies and carry them or use a sling to go shopping instead of a stroller. Nursing our babies when they are hungry or when they cry, is on the top list of Dr. Sear's recommendations. As parents, we should carefully consider whether we want our baby being carried everywhere in it's infant carrier. Sometimes they are carried from the car, to a restaurant, to the store in the carrier just to get home and be put in a bouncy seat. Occasionally, parents do not even take it out of the carrier to give it a bottle.

Really all new parents need to have a baby is love.

We all have some of that to give and it's free! Is it always necessary to urge independence on a baby or will a human infant learn independence in his or her own time? Dr. Sears, like many of the other professionals, believe that when a baby is responded to with love and attention, independence will come when its time.

Some ways of increasing "touch time" with your baby include:

• infant massage
• skin-to-skin contact
• bath time
• using a sling
• nursing
• co-sleeping
• play time!

HARVARD STUDY: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNeedTou.html

DR SEARS: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t110209.asp

"Touch" by Tiffany Field - Copyright 2001