Nurturing touch can aid a child’s physical, social, behavioral, mental and cognitive development. Linda Garofallou, an infant and pediatric massage therapist at Children’s Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, was in South Dakota recently to explain those benefits. In addition to bonding, infant massage helps kids born with addictions or serious health problems.

Choose a time when your baby is well fed and rested to do an infant massage. Place the infant on a towel in a quiet room. Would the baby welcome a massage? If she is stiff or tense, then use your intuition: either hold her closely in your arms until she relaxes — or wait for another time. A gazing, quiet, yet alert state means she is ready to begin.

Parents also benefit. Giving an infant massage also releases nurturing hormones for both the mother (oxytocin) and the father (prolactin).