tPurpose: Premature infants lack the tactile stimulation they would have otherwise expe-rienced in the womb. Infant massage is a developmentally supportive intervention thathas been documented for several decades to have a positive effect on both full term andpreterm infants. The purpose of this study was to assess the short and long term benefitsof massage on stable preterm infants.Methods: A quasi experimental design was used, 66 infants were recruited from two uni-versity hospitals with tertiary level NICUs; 32 infants received the massage therapy by theirmothers. Data collection by a researcher blind to the infants’ group assignments includedweight at discharge, pain responses on the PIPP scale at discharge, length of stay in hospi-tal, neuro-developmental outcome (Bayley scores) and breastfeeding duration at 12 monthscorrected age.Results: Infants who were massaged had significantly lower scores on the PIPP after a heel-stick compared to before the massage and had lower PIPP scores at discharge comparedto the control group. Massaged infants had higher cognitive scores at 12 months correctedage. Weight gain, length of stay, breastfeeding duration and motor scores did not differbetween groups.Conclusion: Stable preterm infants benefit from massage therapy given by their mothers andmay be a culturally acceptable form of intervention to improve the outcomes of preterminfants.