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Massage Helps Newborns Sleep More and Cry Less

Want your baby to sleep through the whole night without making a single sound? Give him a massage.

A new study conducted by researchers from Warwick Medical School and the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick shows that giving your newborn baby a massage will help him sleep more and cry less.

The explanation researchers give is that massage lowers stress levels in infants and helps the bonding process with the parent.

"Given the apparent effect of infant massage on stress hormones, it is not surprising to find some evidence of an effect on sleep and crying," lead researcher Angela Underdown declared.

"It gives parents and babies intimate time. We haven't said that it should be on offer to everyone, but massage does no harm, and it improves a number of factors. It seems to have some effect on sleep and relaxation."

The study, led on 598 babies under six months old, revealed that infants who were regularly massaged by their parents (trained by health professionals first), were more likely to have a quiet sleep compared to those that had not received a massage.

"We looked at babies under six months because that's when parents and babies are forming their attachments and babies are forming their sleep patterns," Underdown explained.