When a baby or a child cries, or if a friend or loved one is upset, there’s no greater comfort than a hug. Touch is a powerful therapeutic tool that we all have at our fingertips – literally. It has been practiced for centuries across the world. It helps you to understand your baby and teaches you so much about each other. The skin is the biggest organ and is the first to develop. Therefore, even in the womb, a babies most powerful sense is touch. When we massage our infants, we also help release the hormone oxytocin in the baby, which regulates the cortisol or stress levels. In other words, baby massage can help relax your baby, reducing periods of crying and in doing so aid sleep – welcome news for any new parent. Babies explore the world around them through 3 main senses - sight, hearing and touch. They will spend lots of time looking at you and listening to you and trying to figure their new world out, but they also need to experience the sensation of touch. Just by holding baby, you are passing on so much information through this sense; comfort, warmth, calmness, care, and support to name a few. Touch encourages the growth hormone in babies. Babies who are massaged are better at calming themselves, cry less and gain weight quicker.