I recently came across this article about infant massage with babies in the NICU. The author identifies many positive benefits for both the baby and the parents. Benefits for baby include relaxation, decreased irritability, and enhanced bonding and attachment. Infant massage gives parents an opportunity to participate in their child’s recovery, which increases their confidence and handling skills and allows for important one-on-one interactions.
If implementing infant massage, one might consider adding music to the process. Research shows that infants recognize and prefer their mother’s voice to other females, even right after being born. The familiarity of mom’s voice will be a great source of comfort for baby. Also, the melodic contour of lullabies can influence arousal state. For example, descending melody lines (e.g. the “how I wonder what you are” part of Twinkle Twinkle) have a soothing effect, while rising melody lines often increase attention and arousal. Finally, singing to your baby in the NICU might help mask some of the unpleasant sounds often heard in such an area, like beeping monitors, other crying babies, chatty visitors or healthcare professionals, etc.
If you are a little intimidated by the thought of singing to your baby, remember this: they are not judges on American Idol 🙂 They are not assessing your sound quality – they simply want to hear your voice. Need some songs to sing? Here are some lyrics to popular lullabies. If you are interested in having a CD around to help you learn some songs, feel free to check out my lullaby album.
Have a wonderful week!
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