From the moment they’re born, holding small children can do wonders, especially when they’re experiencing distress. A recent study found that the amount of comfort and physical contact infants receive affects not only their current emotional state, but their actual molecular profile. Researchers looked at four-year-olds who had experienced a higher-than-typical amount of distress as infants and received less soothing physical touch in response. Results showed that these children, four years later, were behind their peers in terms of biological development. Not only that, the researchers found
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