Massage for Babies and Children

What is it?
A baby massage has been a part and parcel of childcare in almost all cultures and traditions. Giving a massage to your baby is a special time you have with your baby. The element of touch involved in massaging a baby comes with abundant benefits to your loved one and you. Baby massage is a skin-to-skin connection that helps parents and baby bond with each other's body language.

What are the benefits in giving a baby massage? 

There are multiple benefits in giving the little one the right massage. Research shows that massage nurtures babies’ psychological, physiological, and developmental growth. Baby massage is said to foster healthy self-esteem and increases bonding between parents and their babies. Moreover a massage has no side effects and has natural healing properties. Key benefits include:

• Baby Massage promotes maturity of the nervous system and stimulates all the senses. 
• Massage opens the baby’s chest, promotes deep and rhythmic breathing and does overall good to the respiratory system.
• Baby Massage promotes blood flow to the stomach area; it increases peristalsis and promotes digestion and elimination by moving waste products along the digestive tract.
• Massaging the baby improves blood circulation, supply of oxygen and nutrients to the cells and more effective removal of waste products. 
• Baby massages and Massage for children promotes muscle suppleness and speeds up healing processes. It is also known to be a good remedy for cold hands and feet.
• Relief of various problems: like colic, constipation, teething and sleeping problems. Loving touch is extremely important for premature babies and special needs children/babies. 
• Research also shows that babies who have received extra touch are better organized.
• Studies show that massage helps motor-impaired infants better communicate their needs to the parents – a process called social cueing.
• Benefits for parents: massaging your baby increases your self-confidence in the handling and care of your baby and creates a feeling of oneness. Touching your baby increases your own levels of prolactin, which strengthens your parenting instinct.

Some dos and don’ts for baby massage:

• Choosing the right massage oil is a very important part of the massage. Infant-massage instructors prefer fruit or vegetable oil ("edible oils"), vitamin E enriched and unscented oils. (Look for "cold pressed" on the label, which means the oil has been extracted only by the use of pressure, not by heat or chemical solvents, which change the characteristics of the oil)
• It is best to avoid oils made from a petroleum base. Popular massage oils for babies and children include: coconut, almond, apricot, safflower, and avocado oils. One must be careful of some oils that run the risk of turning into a skin allergy after an hour of application.
• For the chest, slide both hands along the rib cage from center to sides and back again, like flattening the pages in a book. 
• Use long firm strokes. Light, feathery massage irritates infants, as it does most adults.
• Never massage your baby while he/she is crying. (The only exception for this should be with colic and painful gas). 
• Any arm movements going in and out from the chest indicate that you should stop the massage.

How to render a massage to the little one?

• Always begin with massaging the legs. This is the least intrusive way to begin a massage as the legs are touched constantly while changing nappies. Hold the foot with one hand and "milk" the leg from ankle to thigh with the other. Then, hold the thigh with both hands and using a gentle twisting and squeezing motion, move your hands from thigh to foot. Finally, roll the leg between your hands from knee to ankle. 
• If massaging Babies abdomen while he/she is lying down in front of you, massage from your left to your right i.e.: Babies right to left. It is important that you refrain from placing any pressure on the diaphragm.
• The arms and hands are done in the same fashion as the legs and the feet.
• The face has special strokes all its own – whole-handed smoothing; lightly pressing, pushing, and circling with the thumbs; and finally combing from forehead over cheeks with light fingertip strokes. 
• With the pads of your fingers, lightly rub small circles all over the back. Then gently come with the fingertips from back over buttocks and legs to ankles.

When should a baby massage be avoided? 

It is best to avoid a massage in the following situations:

• Open or weeping wounds 
• Infected skin irritations 
• Fractures or other acute injuries 
• Bleeding 
• No massage over an unhealed navel 
• Burns, including sun burn 
• Undiagnosed lumps 
• No abdominal massage if the infant has hiccups or has just been fed.

Expert Help? \
 It is important to be instructed by a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) on how to massage your baby, as you have someone who can watch if you do it correctly. The CIMI also teaches the parents coping skills and how to understand a crying baby.

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