For a very long time, the primary way of caring for premature infants utilized a no-touch policy. People lived in fear of overwhelming the infant into a state of hypoxia as their underdeveloped lungs are unable to supply air to their blood. However, it seems as though this process is not only not as beneficial as we may think but also could be detrimental to the infant’s development.
An experiment was conducted recently in which a young nurse gently massaged the back and limbs of some of the premature newborns — an act which seemed to quickly calm them — and closely monitored their development. Those infants who were given this treatment quickly began to surpass their counterparts in weight as well as nervous system development. Not only did they develop better in the beginning, though. They continued that trend of surpassing their counterparts well into life.
It was soon found that the effect of touch on an infant, especially by that infant’s mother, who has already formed an evolutionary connection with the child, resonated well into adulthood. The children who weren’t exposed to touch from an early age became overly sensitive to it and thus became incredibly uncomfortable with the notion. The children who were hugged from a very young age, however, grew to become cuddlers later in life.