“The development of the skin precedes that of the eyes, ears, taste and smell, and the child has more than a dozen senses before birth, with the most diverse senses of touch, pain and cold.
During the time the foetus is still in the womb, the skin is wrapped in the womb and amniotic fluid, and after birth the “security” and “pressure” felt by the skin is lost. This is the core source of skin hunger. This is the time when everyone needs lots of cuddling and touching, both physically and psychologically, but most people find it hard to realise that they are expecting this unassuming gesture.
Medical research points out that babies who maintain a lot of skin-to-skin contact with their parents in the first 100 days of life will have a more solid sense of security. Some people may continue to experience skin hunger in adulthood because of personal upbringing where this expectation was not met, including trauma in early childhood and childhood, a history of betrayal, and discord in family life.”