THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BABY SWIMMING AND BABY MASSAGE IN IMPROVING BABY WEIGHT

Abstract

Infancy is a golden era, therefore, this period requires special attention for the growth and development of children. Development and growth are continuous and interrelated process since the infancy and childhood periods. Infants grow rapidly in the first 12 months of their ages. There are some indicators of baby growth, one of them is body weight. Some efforts to increase baby weight are through baby massage and baby swimming. This research was aimed to discover the effectiveness of baby massage and baby swimming in improving baby weight. This research used one-group pretest-posttest design of quasi-experimental method. The researcher conducted intervention of massage therapy for 8 times in 4 weeks, and also 8 times in 4 weeks for baby swimming The data of weight measurement results in before and after the treatment were examined with statistical hypothesis test. Accidental sampling was used as the sampling technique. Independent t-test was used as the statistical test. Mean weight of infants before baby massage is conducted was 7.92 kg, mean weight of infants after baby massage is conducted was 8.23 kg, and mean weight of infants after baby swimming is performed was 7.59 kg. According to the analysis result of difference test performed with Independent T-Test, 0.186 of p value has been acquired. There is no significant difference between baby massage and baby swimming in improving baby weight.

Keywords: baby swimming, baby massage, baby weight, infants