Baby’s preferences

Babies are quite sensitive to touch. They like smooth and soft surfaces and do not like hard and scratchy surfaces. Stroke a baby gently by your palm and your baby will be comforted and relaxed. Similarly if you pick up your baby roughly, he will start crying. Holding and stroking will calm your baby.

The importance of touch in physical and psychological growth

Of all the newborn's sensory perceptions, touch is the most highly developed. It's so natural to cuddle and fondle a baby that the paramount importance of the sense of touch may not occur to you. But the damaging effects of touch deprivation have been thoroughly documented in behavioral and clinical research. In institutions where babies received good hygiene and adequate nutrition, but lacked holding and fondling by their caretakers, the babies became retarded in all phases of development. They were subject to emotional, behavioral, and physical problems, and were more susceptible to illnesses in some cases fatal than family tended infants.

The self-concept of being wanted and valued is largely rooted in the feelings of human warmth and security that a baby receives from others early in life. Lacking this, the effects carry over into child and adult life, limiting a person's ability to feel express empathy, affection and the confidence that comes from a good self-image. Clearly, all the manifestations of love that a baby receives from his parents are vital to his well-being.

Extensive animal research has shown that mother animals "know" how vital touch stimulation is to their young ones. Without all the close body contact, nuzzling, suckling, and licking they receive, baby animals cannot survive. When a mother cat tirelessly licks each of her babies she is doing much more than cleaning them. The licking activates sensory fibers in the skin, which in turn keeps all the kittens' bodily systems well stimulated.

When parents hold and caress their baby they are likewise giving him physical benefits. But much more is happening, they are communicating with their baby. Touch is the first language a baby can both understand and respond to. As by osmosis, parent and baby are absorbing their feelings about each other. What better start can the baby have for learning about love and life than being cared and hugged and cuddled by the parents?