{"id":1627,"date":"2018-07-16T09:46:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T09:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/happychildren.life\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2020-09-04T16:44:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T16:44:31","slug":"why-are-human-tender-touch-and-warmth-important-for-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happychildren.life\/why-are-human-tender-touch-and-warmth-important-for-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are human tender touch and warmth important for babies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the article The senses of a baby inside the womb<\/a><\/span>, you can read that babies from the 10th or 11th week of prenatal development feel pain, and it seems that their skin is also sensitive to the touch. A fetus can already feel the touch that early and react to it because of the constant exposure to uterine muscles. It seems that the sense of touch is the most developed sense in babies immediately after delivery. That explains why babies are so sensitive to human touch and warmth and need those. <\/p>\n

Interesting studies which prove the importance of touch and warmth for babies<\/h2>\n

The study of Harry Harlow<\/h3>\n

In the 1950s, an American psychologist Harry Harlow<\/a><\/span> conducted experimental research with baby monkeys and two artificial wire mother. One wire mother had the bottle with milk and the second was cloth-covered without the bottle of milk. Believe it or not, the little monkeys preferred spending time with a cloth-covered mother rather than with the mother who gave them the milk. That proves that coziness and warmth are more important for babies than food.<\/p>\n

The study by John Bowlby<\/h3>\n

Another study proves the importance of human touch for babies. Namely, at about the same time, the well-known British psychoanalyst John Bowlby<\/a><\/span> has collected a lot of evidence that human babies who lost contact with their mother often develop psychological problems. This research actually claims that the parts of the brain responsible for social contacts of children who have more physical contact are more developed than of children who lost contact with their mothers.<\/p>\n

Importance of human warmth and touch for babies<\/h2>\n

First, touch is one of the first sensations that babies experience around the world. To make the world a safe and comfortable place for babies, they must feel warmth and tenderness. Warmth is necessary because the skin of babies doesn’t have enough subcutaneous fat tissue to heat them. Additionally, many studies have shown that warmth and touch are significant for babies because of the following reasons:<\/p>\n