Being Born into the World: The Role of Touch in the Baby’s Physical and Psychic Existence

The paper brings a proposal of theoretical articulation based on practical experiences between several fields of knowledge — psychology, neuroscience, body studies, and traditional knowledge — which, articulated within an interdisciplinary perspective, affirm the importance of skin-to-skin touch, massage and play in the mother/caregiver–baby relationship in early life. In addition to the importance of contact and play in the mother/caregiver–baby relationship, it is considered that psychic birth is linked to the experiences of body integration from an early age. Thus, for the thread of continuity of existence to be assured, several processes are involved, both in the baby’s own body and through the body of the caregiver. For that matter, the article argues that sensitive care in the first years of life is responsible to integrate emotional and somatic aspects and for promoting integral health. There is an assertion that care in the first years of life should assume a perspective of health promotion that considers the integration between emotional and somatic aspects.