ABSTRACT
Touch, which is an intrinsic part of caring for an infant, can establish powerful physical and emotional connections. It is widely claimed that touch in childhood ‘is signifi cant for physical growth, health and neurological development’ (Blackwell, 2000: 25), and research now shows that infants who are deprived of touch, such as those in orphanages with low infant-adult ratios, do not achieve optimum growth (Kim et al., 2003; Mason and Narad, 2005). The amount of touch thought appropriate between adults and infants, however, varies enormously between cultures, with some babies experiencing close contact with the mother’s body during most of the fi rst year, while others are encouraged to be independent early by being put to sleep alone in the nursery. In many areas of the world, especially on the Asian and African continents, in indigenous South Pacifi c cultures, and in the former Soviet Union, touch, using the medium of infant massage, is a traditional practice (Field, 2000). A recent survey of 332 primary caretakers of neonates in Bangladesh, for example, found that 96 per cent of mothers engaged in massage of the infant’s whole body between one and three times daily (Darmstadt et al., 2002). Migration, world travel and the development of global communications have all infl uenced interest in the practice of infant massage and the techniques are becoming more widely known across the globe.
