Not Sleeping
Like A Baby? Infant Massage Can Help
One of the things most moms comment on after learning infant massage is how quickly their baby falls asleep – and stays asleep. Numerous studies have shown that this is one of the first noticeable effects of massage for both infants and adults. Why? It all goes back to hormones, as most massage benefits do.
During a massage, stress hormones (cortisol, epinepherin, norepinepherin) are decreased at the same time as happy hormones (serotonin, dopamine) are being increased. This creates a calm, relaxed state and can pave the way to nodding off. As other moms have discovered, although massage relaxes their little one, they are far more awake, alert, and curious after their massage than they are sleepy. How your baby responds to massage in the short term is the key of figuring out the best time of day for your little one to receive massage. No matter which camp your little one falls in, massage will still help with their sleep habits.
As regular massage helps your baby feel relaxed and calm in the short term, it is also helping your baby to become comfortable and feel safe in that serene state for the long term. Think about it – if we are feeling an unfamiliar emotion, it unsettles us even as adults. The more your baby feels relaxed, the more comfortable they will be in that state – the state we would like them in to fall asleep!
In general, a baby that is massage regularly will fall asleep in about half the time. This is important as the quicker they go to sleep and the longer they stay asleep, the more REM sleep they can get in a night. REM sleep is the stage of sleep where the body secretes growth hormone. It is a lighter stage of sleep, the “dream stage,” but during this stage blood flow to the brain almost doubles and this is a very important part of the growth process in babies and young children. For infants and growing children, almost 50% of their sleep time is spent in REM sleep, as compared to only about 20% of an adult’s nightly sleep. One full sleep cycle will only last about twenty to forty minutes for a newborn, while an adult will take a full ninety minutes to complete a cycle.
The end of each full cycle is punctuated by brief awakenings. These are completely normal, and upon wakening most of us don’t ever remember being awake during the night. This is actually a survival mechanism – if we wake during the night and everything is the same as when we went to sleep, we generally close our eyes and are asleep again. If something has changed, we know about it. For babies this is even more important. The frequent awakenings and lighter sleep are chances for them to let you know if they are too hot, too cold, hungry, or uncomfortable. Some babies are self- soothers and we rarely know that they have woken up, or you listen on the monitor and realize in a matter of minutes they are sleeping again. Other babies need help during these brief awakenings. As massage helps them learn to feel safe in this relaxed state, you may find your baby who needed help getting back to sleep starts becoming more of a self-soother, helping them get a better quality
13 of sleep and more time in the REM stage.
Knowing how important sleep is, it’s important that we take the time to parent our kids to sleep, not just put them to sleep. Every baby will be different, but in general a nightly routine before bedtime lets them know what’s coming and helps to prepare them for going to sleep. Massage is a wonderful addition to this routine; it carves out some one-on-one time for parent and baby and helps get them relaxed. As your baby grows into a toddler, this one-on-one time becomes even more important. When they start learning new and inventive ways to avoid going to bed, this oftentimes can stem from the fact they see bedtime as a time when the attention is all on them, and they intend to keep it there! By giving them loving attention beforehand, that need should already feel met when the time comes to get tucked in.
Good sleep leads to good days, and as the quality of your little one’s sleep improves you will notice that they are happier during their awake and alert times as well. Aside from all the reasons that your baby needs a good sleep, the best bonus is that mom and dad might just get a little more sleep themselves!
baby within Infant Massage
Group or Individual Sessions
Alli Baumgarten, RMT & Certifi ed baby within
Infant Massage Instructor
www.touchofthewest.net
403.878.WEST (9378)
41074514•11/29/11
ALLI BAUMGARTEN
Touch of the West Massage Therapy
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