Lilý Erla Adamsdóttir, 21 years old. Student of Audiology at Örebro University, Sweden.

Una Guðlaug Sveinsdóttir, 21 years old. Student of English at the University of Iceland.

Valdís Ösp Jónsdóttir, 21 years old. Student of Nursing at the University of Akureyri.

In 2005 the three of us graduated from the sociology department of the Akureyri Junior College. Early on in our studies we were asked to choose between pedagogical studies and media studies and we all chose pedagogical studies.

The final project facing students of pedagogical studies in The Akureyri Junior College consists of doing a study connected with the subject. Our teacher, Dagbjört Brynja Harðardóttir, encouraged her students to use their projects to participate in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists and we decided to take part. In the beginning the three of us considered many topics; The connection between musical upbringing and academic scores; The standing of boys in the school system; Creative teaching methods; Deaf children and the school system; and much more. Even though these topics are all worthy of further research none of them appealed to us for this particular project. At last, after much speculation, the idea of the massage bodysuit came up.

It is common for new or expecting parents to take a class that focuses on the practical care of infants, for example how to bathe and feed them. We believe that there should also be the option of a class that focuses on strengthening the bond between a parent and a child. Infant massage has proven to be a helpful tool in such matters. Therefore, it would be ideal to offer an infant massage class as well as the traditional classes. The novelty we have to offer here is the massage bodysuit. It encourages parents to practice infant massage. Sometimes, parents hesitate to use their previously acquired knowledge or to start using infant massage. This can be because they are insecure about their own capability and find it frustrating to attempt to massage the child while staring into an instruction book or pamphlet. The markings on the bodysuit remind and teach parents the strokes. Another argument for the bodysuit is that some children do not want to be massaged because they find it uncomfortable to be naked, as infant massage is normally practiced. They can also feel cold. The first can especially apply to older children. It is our hope that the bodysuit can be useful to both mothers and fathers. Research has shown that fathers who change their children's diapers regularly have a closer connection with them than fathers who do not. Parents who massage their children regularly are not only benefiting the child physically - they are also strengthening the bond between parent and child and enjoying a pleasant moment with their child.

Our hypothesis was: "It is possible to design a collection of clothes that help parents to use infant massage". We started gathering sources regarding infant massage and used that knowledge to prepare a short presentation of infant massage and its benefits. We also made a prototype of the bodysuit, with three basic strokes of infant massage. The presentation was performed to the sample, which was found at four different locations; at "mommies' mornings" (a social support group for new mothers/a club for mothers with babies and toddlers) in Akureyri Church and Glerá Church, in an infant swimming lesson in Akureyri pool and finally, using snowball sampling, a few individuals were gathered at Akureyri Junior College one evening. After hearing the presentation, the participants answered a questionnaire. Three individuals were offered to take a prototype of the massage bodysuit home with them on a trial basis. In three weeks time the participants answered another questionnaire for comparison.

Our project won the national contest so we represented Iceland in the 17th European Union Contest for Young Scientists, which took place in Moscow September 17th - 22nd 2005. The aim of the contest is to encourage the cooperation and communication of the continent's young scientist. It is a yearly forum for students to display their greatest scientific accomplishments and generally evokes a great deal of media attention. We did not receive any awards in Moscow, but our project attracted a great deal of attention.