We have taken the time to collect some of the many Studies & Clinical trials to better help you understand why we do what we do.  

Pregnancy/prenatal massage

This study showed decreased anxiety and stress hormones (norepinephrine) during pregnancy and fewer obstetric and postnatal complications including lower prematurity rates following pregnancy massage.
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Hart, S., Theakston, H., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., & Burman, I. (1999). Pregnant women benefit from massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology, 19, 31-38.

Infant Massage

Infants who received massage therapy versus those who were rocked experienced 1) greater daily weight gain; 2) more organized sleep/wake behaviors; 3) less fussiness; 4) improved sociability and soothability, 5) improved interaction behaviors; and 6) lower cortisol and norepinephrine and increased serotonin levels.
Field, T., Grizzle, N., Scafidi, F., Abrams, S., & Richardson, S., Kuhn, C. and Shanberg, S.(1996). Massage therapy for infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 19, 109-114.

Down Syndrome

Infants with Down syndrome improved in muscle tone and in performance on motor tasks following massage therapy.
Hernandez-Reif, M., Ironson, G., Field, T., Largie, S., Deigo, M., Mora, D., & Bornstein, J. (2006). Children with Down Syndrome improved in motor function and muscle tone following massage therapy. Journal of Early Intervention, 176, 395-410.

Preterm Infant Stimulation/Massage

Preterm infants who received tactile stimulation showed greater weight gain. A potential underlying mechanism for the massage/weight gain relationship is an increase in vagal tone, which in turn increases food absorption.
Field, T. (1988). Stimulation of preterm infants. Pediatrics in Review, 10, 149-154.

Alleviating Stress in Newborns: Stressful effects of intensive care nursery environments are reviewed including the effects of high-intensity noise, bright lights, cold, invasive and painful procedures. Touch interventions were associated with 1) fewer startle responses, 2) decreased need for ventilation, and 3) fewer clenched fists. The stimulated infants averaged greater weight gain, were awake and active for a greater period of time and scored better on the Brazelton Scale.
Field, T. (1990). Alleviating stress in newborn infants in the intensive care unit. Perinatology, 17,1-9.

Preterm infants gained 47% more weight, became more socially responsive, and were discharged 6 days earlier at a hospital cost savings of $10,000 per infant (or 4.7 billion dollars if the 470,000 preemies born each year were massaged). The underlying biological mechanism for weight gain in the massaged preterm newborns may be an increase in vagal tone and, in turn, an increase in insulin (food absorption hormone).
Field, T., Schanberg, S. M., Scafidi, F., Bauer, C. R., Vega-Lahr, N., Garcia, R., Nystrom, J., & Kuhn, C. M. (1986). Tactile/ kinesthetic stimulation effects on preterm neonates. Pediatrics, 77, 654-658.

Sleeplessness in Infants

Infants who received massage therapy before bedtime by a parent experienced less difficulty falling asleep and better sleep patterns.
Field, T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2001).

 Sleep problems in infants decreased following massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 168, 95-104.

Benefits for parents & caregivers of our classes

  • Helps the parent to feel more confident and competent in caring for their children.
  • Helps parents to ease their stress if they are a working parent and must be separated from their children for long periods during the day.
  • Gives parents alone and quiet time for interactive play. A special time together.
  • Increases parent's self-esteem by reinforcing and enhancing their skills as parents and validates their role.
  • Gives parents the tools for understanding their infants/children's unique rhythms.
  • Helps parents when they have children that have been hospitalized. Give special quality time. Helps them to feel a greater part of the healing process.
  • Daily massage helps parents to unwind and relax.
  • Helps parents understand their infants cues and states of awareness.
  • Provides a positive way for fathers to interact with their infants/children.
  • Promotes bonding and attachment. Reinforces good eye contact.     

--Loving Touch Foundation         

Benefits for babies & children with massage  

  • Provides a special time of communication that fosters love, compassion and respect.
  • Provides a safe time to confide in parents.
  • Improves functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
  • Improves digestion.
  • Helps to normalize muscle tone.
  • Improves circulation.
  • Effects the lymphatic drainage/enhances the immune system.
  • Improves midline orientation.
  • Helps to improve sensory awareness.
  • Enhances neurological development.
  • Helps baby/children to sleep deeper and more soundly.
  • Helps to increase oxygen and nutrient flow to cells. Improves respiration.
  • Relief - massage can relieve discomfort from teething, pain management, congestion, gas and colic.
  • Enhances release of hormones in the body. The growth hormone can be effected.
  • Reduces levels of cortisol - the stress hormone.
  • Bonding and attachment - provides all the essential indicators of intimate parent-infant attachment - eye-to-eye, touch, voice, smell, movement, etc.
  • Skin stimulation - all the physiological systems are stimulated. Speeds myelination of the brain/nervous system through the senses.

--The Loving Touch Foundation

The benefits of Yoga during and after pregnancy

Here are four reasons why yoga is a great option for you:


  1. Body knowledge: Yoga is a wonderful tool for becoming better acquainted with your body, says Jyothi Larson, author of Yoga Mom, Buddha Baby (Bantam, 2002). A regular practice also trains you to focus on different areas of your body, which is particularly helpful during childbirth.

  2. Mood moderation: Yoga's emphasis on breathing and moving simultaneously helps you breathe more deeply, says Larson. For some women, it triggers feelings of deep relaxation and well-being. The calmer and more relaxed moms are, the calmer their babies are.

  3. Posture perfection: Pregnancy can cause even the straightest arrow to slouch. Then you start nursing, pushing a stroller, and lifting a baby and your posture may really suffer, says Larson. Some of the best yoga benefits are increased back and shoulder strength, which improves posture. Yoga also opens up your chest, making it easier to stand up tall.

  4. Moral support: Joining other women in a pre- or postnatal yoga class is a great way to make new friends, all of whom are facing the same challenges you are. Even if you prefer to practice at home, an occasional class at a studio lets you tap into this network.

    Isadora Fox-Americanbaby.com               


Fathers & Infant Massage

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ (June 12, 2002)—This Father’s Day (Sunday, June 16), many new and expectant Dads will do the giving with the most simple of gifts: a father’s touch.

More and more fathers are learning and practicing infant massage and a recent survey reveals that those who massage their babies early in life establish warm, positive relationships that continue as the child grows.

While the infant health benefits of a mother’s massage are firmly established, new research shows that a father’s touch is equally essential to a baby’s health and well being. Health benefits for infants include fewer sleep problems, as well as strengthening and regulating the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.

And fathers also gain from the experience of infant massage.

“As they learn to soothe their babies, fathers notice their own stress levels come down. Together they experience the calming, power of touch and begin to build life-long attachments,” said Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine and co-author of a survey on father-infant massage.

The survey showed that fathers who used massage techniques with their infants for three months experienced increased self-esteem as parents due to increased involvement with their newborns. The babies, meanwhile, greeted their fathers with more eye contact, smiling, vocalizing and reaching responses.

In addition to the Touch Research Institutes, a growing number of hospitals are recognizing that infant massage is one way to give fathers more purpose and place in their babies’ lives. One such hospital, Boston Medical Center, encourages fathers to play a hands-on role during labor and after the baby is born. “Too often all of the focus is on mothers, while fathers are left standing in the corner,” says Susan O’Brien, MD, of Boston Medical Center. “We give fathers a purpose and a place.”

“Touch” is the primary means of learning about the world throughout infancy, and research shows that touch is critical for a baby’s growth and development. A previous study showed that premature infants who received 15-minute massages gained 47 percent more weight and became more socially responsive than non-massaged premature infants, and were discharged from the hospital an average of six days earlier than other premature babies.