In many ways, touch is our first language – a language scientists are now beginning to understand. Being touched in a loving way can help small babies grow stronger and troubled children feel less anxious. In many hospitals and birth centres, newborns are placed on the mother’s chest or abdomen to give them the most skin-to-skin contact. The touch between the mother and her baby brings them emotionally close – a process known as bonding or attachment. In fact, in one study, premature infants who were massaged while at the hospital gained more weight and were ready to go home with their parents an average of six days earlier than preemies who were not massaged.