A Cool Tool for Mom - Infant Massage!

There are so many benefits to using infant massage with your baby.

Infant massage relaxes and soothes:

Not only will your baby feel relaxed so will you! Nurturing touch is a naturally rewarding way to relieve stress for both you and your baby. It has been proven that touch decreases the levels of Cortisol (stress hormone) in our bodies. Cortisol is always present in our bloodstream, but high levels of this hormone can be found in our bodies during times of extreme stress.

Deepens Bonding:

Infant Massage provides you with essential one-on-one time that will enhance your family bonding, understanding and ability to nurture. During massage Oxytocin is released in both the giver and receiver's body. Also known as the hormone of love, Oxytocin is our feel good hormone. This hormone helps to provide us with loving, nurturing feelings which helps us to bond. An increased production of Oxytocin occurs for mothers during labor and breastfeeding. Research now shows that even close physical contact and nurturing touch also stimulates Oxytocin production. Great news for all of the dads out there who didn't give birth to their baby, you can still produce the same hormones through the use of loving touch.

Improves Communication:

Touch is our very first form of communication. So you can assume that communicating through touch enhances your natural ability to understand your baby's special needs and respond with appropriate care. Through the use of infant massage your sensitivity and confidence in understanding your baby's unique cues and forms of communication is increased. You cannot spoil a baby by picking them up when they cry. When babies receive attentive responses to their needs they grow to become healthier and more secure in adulthood.

Contributes to Development:

Stimulates growth and healthy development of your baby's body, mind and spirit. Massaged babies gain healthy weight better than babies who do not receive massage. Additionally, nurturing touch helps to enhance the digestion process. The systems of the body are stimulated during massage which assists in the absorption of nutrients and elimination of what is not needed. For some babies infant massage has also been shown to be effective at reducing the symptoms associated with Colic.

Helps Baby to Sleep Better:

Not only does massage help your baby to release stress which builds daily from new experiences, it allows them to relax. During this special time both you and your baby have time to relax. Massaging your baby helps your little one to sleep deeper and for longer periods of time which can translate into you being able to sleep longer as well!

Through massage you will not only increase your loving, nurturing bonds with your baby, you will assist in their healthy and happy development!

Copyright (c) 2007 Liddle Kidzâ„¢ Infant and Children's Pediatric Massage

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About Tina Allen, LMT, CIIT, CIMI

Looking for tips and techniques to improve your child's health? Find answers to all your questions about infant massage and children's massage at http://www.liddlekidz.com . Infant Massage Instructor Trainer with the International Association of Infant Massage, Tina Allen, founder of leading children's health and nurturing touch organization Liddle Kidzâ„¢, shares over ten years of expertise working with children and families.


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Online Retail Sales: Online Loyalty Equals Retail Gold

As an employee of an online advertising agency, ICMediaDirect.com, I've got a sweet vantage for observing the latest online retail numbers tumble in - and they're spectacular. Third Quarter online retail sales were up almost 27% from the same period last year, while these first 20 days of January were up 33% from the same period in 2005. This surge is neither cyclical nor an aberration, but indicative of the continuing and permanent shift of retail consumers to ecommerce instead.

Naturally this is great news for online advertisers and retailers. But it's important to remember that ecommerce has outgrown its infancy. The big players in online retail have established themselves and seem to know what they're doing. It is important for advertising agencies and marketers to understand the current success and mindset of online retailing. Keen insight will be critical in recognizing and pitching opportunity to advertisers in the upcoming year.

Okay, retailers know better than anyone how much money consumers are spending over the Internet. They are realizing profits in their respective fields. They also recognize a maturation process and that the net number of new e-commerce customers will tail off to non-growth levels. Some estimates predict this flat lining by 2010.

However, there is still important growth with maturity â€" and that growth is in the average amount of money spent per online customer. Instead of trying to grab new customers, retailers are bending over backwards to retain existing customers. This is the value play. Existing customers are being cultivated. The retailer, be it Nordstrom's or Wal-Mart, wants the customer feeling at home and free of anxiety within their website.

Instead of trying to be all things to all people online, online retailing efforts of late are geared towards complementing their "brick and mortar" locations. By complement, I mean soaking up as much nitty-gritty merchandising as possible â€" and letting store locations double as entertainment or advertising hubs. In order to do this, though, the website must be a comfortable zone for shoppers.

Target is a fine example of a company whose mission is to build customer loyalty on and offline. Their online site regularly offers "insider" savings not mentioned in print. I only know because their website announces this. The design here is to build warm online association with the customer and the brand's website.

There is an overarching value being placed on the online customer today because online loyalty equals retail gold. Profit margins of today remain important as ever, but a future where today's loyalty means increased spending tomorrow is truly precious.

This bedrock is being built today. Amazon.com had a huge holiday season - they cited particularly strong sales in jewelry and cosmetics. Jewelry is going through a surge of online sales growth, up 29% over last year. This is another example of a fundamental shift; this is jewelry â€" not a fad, but a reflection of consumer trust in the Internet.

Moreover, of the top 50 online advertisers measured in media value (according to TNS Media Intelligence) none are expressly jewelers. Does this spell opportunity for an online jeweler? Undoubtedly. And we'll see huge online advertising efforts here in upcoming years, if not months.

Also of note: 15 of the top 50 online advertisers, in terms of media space purchased, are financial companies. Another dozen retail nothing. And there's only one travel company, Expedia.com, in that top 50. This is pretty interesting because travel is the largest sector of retail business done online.

Of course, most advertising money is going into paid search advertising. However, the grumbling is growing amongst advertisers within the PPC world. With such developments like Google's Variable Term-Pricing (or, the death of free-market PPC on Google) and big business customers (like eBay) flooding the format, PPC has become a much more expensive proposition. Advertisers will be looking once again at the more traditional online advertising means. We will be ready.

And what will prospective advertisers see when venturing off the paid search path? They'll see Classmates.com and the University of Phoenix among the very top spenders in pop-ups and banners. Well, I've got news â€" these companies, whose advertising means can't compete with the bigger retailers, haven't been throwing their money away. It works.

And this, folks, is an advertising void; call it an arbitrage play within advertising. E-retail is going through the roof and the advertising dollars haven't been following suit into all the effective media channels.

Retailers are going to merge their online advertising formats. Some ads here, some ads there - all bases must be covered. When online customer spending is up 27%, advertisers shouldn't concentrate all efforts into a single format. I can't speak for other agencies, but ICMediaDirect.com is feeling an up tick in the traditional formats of online advertising.

Online retailing has evolved. The Internet has gone from a cheap place of doing business to a venue where a premium is placed on customers. A seller has to do more than offer an agreeable selection. Their job is to create a comfortable and trusting interactive space, and in doing so, they'll need to sell themselves through advertising online.