I saw some research this week which confirmed that parents who want to ensure their newborn baby sleeps at night should try giving their child a massage. Is it me? Or does this piece of work smack of Basil's Fawlty's put-down to Sybil, reckoning her specialist subject was "stating the bleedin' obvious". What did they expect? That massage might render babies ill, mal-adjusted and psychologically harmed? The report from the Daily Mail website said that "researchers have found it can be as good as rocking at lowering stress levels in infants, helping them sleep better and cry less." It, I'm sure you'll agree - and as many people are now used to saying in the face of obvious and uncomplicated matters - really isn't rocket science. "It can also promote and strengthen the bonds between parents and their new baby," the article went on to say, further insulting the intelligence of anyone unfortunate enough to stumble upon the findings, which concluded "massage could be a useful technique for parents who want to find ways to improve their babies' sleep and ability to relax". Apparently infant massage has traditionally been used in some parts of the world including Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union. Shock! Horror! And here in the advanced West, "it is also increasingly being recommended to UK parents in antenatal or special baby massage classes." My incredulity was to endure another stretch as I went on to discover that baby massage "typically involves gently touching the baby's body, from the head right down to the toes, while looking tenderly into the child's eyes." Well I never. But wait, in case you were seeking further guidance, we're told: "The pressure should only be very gentle and range from simple touching through to gentle movement of the muscles under the surface of the skin." A baby, incidentally, for anyone needing further clarification is a small human being; a fact that the team of researchers from Warwick Medical School and the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick - who wan ted to see what effect massage had on babies - perhaps failed to point out. Leading the research, Angela Underdown, looked at nine different studies covering 598 babies all under a year old. And guess what - wait for it! - "Overall the research showed infants benefited from massage as they tended to cry less, sleep better and had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol compared to those who did not receive massages." And best of all - which we can safely file in the drawer marked "things we could tell researchers to save them time", the team also discovered that massage built better relationships between babies and mothers who had postnatal depression. Ok, enough of my cynicism and sneering disrespect for the work of these academics. Perhaps they're not to blame; maybe it's a society that needs experts to tell it what to do on a matter so fundamental and glaringly obvious that should be the real cause for concern. Quote | 
