What are the effects of regular massage on infants and young children? How to arrange the daily routine for a one-year-old baby?

Frequent massage of infants and young children is beneficial to improve their immunity. So, what other effects does massage of infants and young children have?

What is Baby Touch

In English, touch and massage are the same word - Touch, so it can also be called baby touch. Baby touch is not a fashionable activity, it is a medical method. Because touch has been associated with medical exploration from the beginning. Touch has existed since the existence of human beings. During the natural delivery process, the fetus receives the special touch of the mother's birth canal contraction. The skin is the largest sensory organ of the human body to receive external stimuli and is the external receptor of the nervous system. Early touch is to give appropriate stimulation to brain cells and nervous system during the critical period of infant brain development, promote the development of the infant's nervous system, and promote growth and intelligence development.

What are the effects of regular massage on infants and young children?

1. Touch promotes the development of the brain and central nervous system

The brain weight of a newborn is 370 grams, and it reaches 950 grams at the age of one, nearly doubling. The development of the brain is directly related to the development of the baby's intelligence. When the baby is touched, its skin receives stimulation of different intensities, which is transmitted to the brain, and then forms an excitation focus, and after multiple stimulations, a fixed excitation focus is formed. The excitation focus is composed of neurons, together with its axons, dendrites, and countless nerve fibers leading to other parts. These constitute the anatomical basis for the central nervous system of the brain to perform and complete its physiological functions, thereby completing various psychological activities such as thinking, imagination, and creation.

2. Stimulate hearing and vision

When parents touch their children, in addition to skin contact, they can also talk to their children or sing to them. While the baby is feeling the pleasure of touch, he or she can also focus on listening to and observing the expressions and voices of the parents, and be stimulated by hearing and vision at the same time.

3. Help sleep quality

Newborns often have irregular sleep cycles and are easily awakened at night. Various medical studies have found that these problems can be effectively improved through touch and massage. This is because touching the baby can stimulate the concentration of "melatonin" in the blood, help the baby establish a sleep cycle, and regulate the day and night cycle rhythm.

4. The internal and external environment of the body is coordinated

Touching can widely touch various parts of the baby's body, thus solving the baby's "skin hunger" problem, promoting the baby's muscle coordination, making the baby comfortable all over, happy, and easy to fall asleep peacefully.

5. Enhance parent-child relationships

Nowadays, dual-income families and small families are very popular, and the interaction between parents and children has obviously decreased. In the UK, for families with newborns, the local government actively trains parents to do baby massage. Many parents said that massaging their babies is a very pleasant experience and that their children also like it. Touching the baby's skin for ten to twenty minutes every day is the best way to enhance parent-child bonding.

6. Promote gastrointestinal motility

The common phenomenon of abdominal distension and hiccups after feeding is usually relieved by patting the baby's back for 20 to 30 minutes. However, research has found that if the baby's abdomen is massaged for about three to five minutes in a clockwise direction, in line with the direction of gastrointestinal digestion, it helps the baby's gastrointestinal motility and is more effective than the traditional patting method.

Baby's one-year-old schedule

1. Do not disturb your baby's sleep excessively within 3 months

The amount of sleep a baby needs will change as the baby grows up. Parents can make reasonable arrangements for the baby's schedule based on the baby's sleep time. First of all, babies under three months old sleep longer. They usually sleep 3-4 times a day, basically after feeding, and wake up 2-3 times at night. At this time, parents do not need to excessively disturb the baby's sleep. Just change the baby's diaper when the baby wakes up and gently pat the baby to fall asleep again.

2.3-6 months, properly cultivate your baby's sleeping habits

When babies grow to a certain stage, their sleeping habits will also change. At this time, the number of times babies sleep during the day will decrease and they will begin to react to the sleeping environment. If the room is too noisy or the light is too bright, the baby will be affected. At this time, parents should try to lower the lights and play soft music in the room. When the baby is half asleep, put him in the crib to cultivate his habit of falling asleep by himself.

3. Baby 7-12 months, let the baby develop good sleeping habits

Babies born between 7 and 12 months old usually cry loudly before going to bed. Babies at this time are afraid of being alone and they hope that their parents can stay with them. Parents should try to stay with their babies, but when the baby wakes up and cries, parents should not rush into the room immediately, and try to let the child learn to adjust his sleep. If the child continues to cry, parents can gently comfort the baby to make the baby feel comfortable and safe.

4. After 12 months, arrange a daily schedule for your baby.

After 12 months, the baby's sleeping time is significantly reduced and he or she begins to play with people around him or her. At this time, parents should not let the baby sleep too much during the day. Also, avoid playing with the baby too much at night, so that the baby will not have difficulty falling asleep. In addition, parents can prepare a warm crib for the baby. The mattress should not be too soft, but the bedding should be moderately soft. In winter, you can add a sleeping bag for the baby to prevent the baby's limbs from being exposed and getting cold.

What to look for when buying underwear for your baby

1. Look at the label

Baby clothes produced by regular manufacturers will have detailed information about the clothes: such as fabric composition and content, product implementation standards, care labels, product safety categories and manufacturer information. Through the labels, we can make a preliminary judgment on the baby's clothes.

Special attention should be paid to the following: infant clothing for children under 3 years old must be marked as "infant products" (Class A), and must be marked as "do not dry clean" or have a round cross pattern. (Class A infant clothing standards require formaldehyde content to be less than or equal to 20 mg/kg)

Example of a formal clothing label:

2. Look at the fabric

Through the label, we can know what the fabric of baby clothes is. Baby clothes should be made of pure cotton. Baby skin is tender and prone to allergies, so when choosing the material of baby clothes, it is best to choose pure cotton. A cotton content of more than 95% is considered pure cotton. It has good air permeability, is easy to absorb sweat, and the fabric is soft, which is not easy to irritate the baby's delicate skin.

Do not choose chemical fiber products, such as polyester and acrylic, which are not breathable and can easily irritate the baby's skin and cause allergies. In addition, some functional fabrics, such as waterproof, sun-proof, and iron-free, may contain toxic and harmful substances such as antimony and perfluorinated compounds during fabric production, so they should also be carefully selected according to actual needs.

3. Look at the color

It is best to choose baby clothes with light colors and few prints. Because darker and brighter children's clothes use more dyes and auxiliaries in the printing and dyeing process, they may cause skin allergies and discomfort when worn close to the baby's skin. In addition, dark clothes are easy to fade, and babies like to bite clothes, so they are likely to eat dyes into their stomachs, which is not good for their health.

4. Look at the details

Check whether the clothes are finely made, whether there are many loose threads, and whether the edges are smooth. Generally, the labels and sewing surfaces on baby clothes are on the outside of the clothes, and the side that is worn against the skin is smoother.

Clothes for newborn babies can be chosen with ties, and there should be as few or no decorations as possible. It is best to choose clothes without buttons to prevent the baby from accidentally swallowing them.

If you choose clothes with buttons for older babies, you must pay attention to the firmness of the buttons, because babies like to grab things like buttons. Make sure that they cannot be pulled off even if you pull hard before you let the baby wear them.

If the printed pattern on the surface of your baby's clothes is raised on the fabric and has a certain thickness, and feels a bit sticky, it may be that the clothing was printed with paint containing plasticizers (phthalates). It is best not to buy it.

5. Smell

When buying baby clothes, be sure to smell it close to your nose to see if there are any irritating odors on the clothes, such as mold, gasoline and kerosene, fishy smell, etc. If so, it may be the residual chemicals added during the production process of the clothes that cause formaldehyde and pH value to exceed the standard. This kind of baby clothes must be purchased with caution.

When buying baby clothes, you must buy different sizes according to the baby's weight. Don't buy too tight clothes. The clothes must be larger than the baby. It is best not to have elastic bands at the waist to avoid strangling the baby and affecting the baby's normal activities and normal development of internal organs. In addition, it is best to wash the newly bought clothes at home, and then dry them in the sun before putting them on the baby to ensure cleanliness and safety.