The importance of touch for your newborn's emotions

For many of us, a hug is just what we need after (or before) a hard day; touch helps us to build relationships and regulate our emotions. Your newborn baby has been aware of touch since around the eighth week of your pregnancy and they will have felt their hands touching their face and mouth before they were born. 

Touch is one of the first ways in which your child learns about themselves and about the world. They use their mouth and then, as their physical skills develop, their hands, feet and body to explore and learn. 

The complexity of touch

Touch is the first sense to develop, and the skin is our largest sensory organ. But touch is far from simple – the skin has different sensory receptors for different sensations, with receptors to detect pressure, pain, heat, cold, itches and injuries. Not only do we know that we have been touched, but we can also detect how firmly we were touched: a light touch might feel ticklish while a firmer touch might be calming.

Understanding touch in context

Researchers have also suggested that the way touch is perceived is linked to the context and relationship between the person being touched and the person touching them, so the same action will be understood differently in different contexts. Touch is one of our senses but is also linked to social and emotional development, to our relationships and our ability to regulate.  

How touch and massage could help to regulate emotions 

Recently, more has been learnt about the skin with receptors found, initially in mice, that respond only to stroking. This receptor might be linked to mammals licking their newborns. While we're not suggesting that you lick your baby – delicious and gorgeous as they may be – these studies suggest that touch might help your baby to regulate their emotions.

Researchers have suggested that baby massage helps you to build your relationship with your baby and to be responsive to their needs. You might not want to start more structured massage during your baby’s first few weeks, but remember that gently touching your baby as you care for them is likely to comfort them and help them to be calm. You and your baby might find that this regular touch while you play and care for them is all you need, or you might find that you both enjoy regular massage when they are a little older.  

Rhymes that encourage your baby's sense of their body

Many favourite songs and rhymes involve touch. In ‘Round and Round the Garden,’ you gently stroke your baby’s palm before a more exciting tickle, and in ‘This little piggy’ the toes are touched in turn again before finishing with a gentle tickle. As well as being fun, these rhymes help your baby to develop their sense of where their body is and to link your touch on their hands or feet with themselves. 

Why holding and stroking during everyday routines is so good

Gently touching your baby as you play with them, and when you get them dressed or change their nappy, will help them to associate touch with your presence and comfort. It also helps them to make sense of themselves and the world around them. So, enjoy holding your baby for a little longer or giving them a gentle stroke as you play with, bath or change them.  

Reference:  

Addyman, C (2020) The laughing baby: The extraordinary science behind what makes babies happy.