Baby Massage: Tips And Benefits

Baby massage is a lovely way to enjoy time with your baby and it can also help you bond with them. Find out more in this article:

Before babies are able to understand language, we often communicate and comfort them through touch.Baby massage is part of this natural impulse.

What Is Baby Massage?

It’s the practice of using light pressure touches to soothe and bond with your baby. It’s an exploration of what gentle touch is helpful and soothing to your infant.

Not every baby massage will look the same because each baby is different and will respond positively or negatively to certain things. Your baby might even respond differently each time you give them a massage.

What Are The Benefits Of Baby Massage?

• Parents become more confident in handling their child and better at recognising their needs.
• Improves positive interaction with their baby.
• Improved sleep for their baby -Your touch can release the “feel-good” hormones, dopamine and oxytocin, in your little one.So, while a massage can help calm fussiness any time of day, it’s especially valuable as a part of bedtime routine.
• Eases tummy troubles- Some specific massage techniques can help ease gastrointestinal discomfort by aiding digestion especially if your baby tends to struggle with constipation, gas, and other stomach discomforts.
• Development - social, emotional, and cognitive development is formed, in part, by touch. It improves responsiveness in infants.

There are also certain benefits for parent’s .The act of massaging an infant helps:

• Promote better understanding of infant cues
• Enhance communication and emotional ties
• Encourage parents to unwind, relax, and listen to their baby
• Massage can increase a mum’s awareness of her baby’s needs  as well as improve her sense of well-being if she is suffering with postnatal depression or other mental health issues

When Can I Start Baby Massage?

Infant massage can be begun in a healthy new-born when the infant has settled and feeding is established. Stableinfants born beyond 34 weeks of gestation and weighing above 1.8 kg can be started with massager by mother or care givers (avoid professional dais or aaya).

Getting Ready To Massage Your Baby

Here are some tips to help you try baby massage at home:

• The room for infant massage should be well lit, dry, slightly warm and quiet or with soft music.
• Choose a time when your baby is content and alert, not tired or hungry.
• Try sitting on the floor, bed or sofa, with your baby safely on a towel in front of you.
• Find a position that’s comfortable, gives you good eye contact with no overhead lights and where your baby is warm.
• It's up to you whether your child is nappy-free, but it can help to at least loosen their nappy when massaging the tummy.
• It can be a nice idea to introduce a massage after bath and before bed as part of a bedtime wind-down.

How To Give Your Baby A Massage?

Wait After Meal Time

The first key to proper infant massage is timing. You want to ensure that your baby has had time to digest their most recent meal before beginning the massage. So, ideally about an hour or more after mealtime. 

Timing is Everything

 If they’re calm and relaxed when you touch them, it’s probably a good time! If they tense up and pull or look away from you, it might be best to try again later.

Set the Scene

Set up for the massage in a calm, quiet place. Too much stimulation in the surroundings might baby might distract the baby. Lay your little one on their back on top of the changing table or a blanket. You might enjoy talking or singing to them. Try to maintain eye contact to reassure your little one that everything's okay and it's time to relax.

Head-to-Toe

You want to spend a bit of time softly massaging different areas of the body.30- 60 seconds per area tends to be a good starting point. . Massage should be performed with fingers for the entire body and with palms for infant joints, abdomen, back, soles, and palm.

Start at the torso with baby's chest and tummy, rubbing in a circular motion. Then move to other areas of baby's body like the back of baby's head, shoulders, hands, and feet. If your baby is comfortable with it, try to gently flex and extend their limbs as well.

Massage should be performed with minimal pressure and not done vigorously; should not be fast, forceful or with jerky movements. The direction of massage should be proximal to distal and centrifugal.

Keep an eye out for things that seem to make them tense up and things that help them relax. The entire session should be completed in 10–15 min.

Using oil can make massage easier for parents and more relaxing for their baby.

Recommendations suggests parents to not use any oils or lotions until their baby is one month old. This is because at birth, the top layer of a baby's skin is very thin and easily damaged. Over the first month (or longer in premature babies), a baby's skin matures and develops its own natural protective barrier.

No synthetic, perfumed or coloured products should be used for infant massage. Coconut oil during summers and sesame oil during winters are recommended generally.

Safety Tips For Baby Massage

• Make sure you use oil suits the skin
• When massaging your child's arms or legs, always support the ankle or wrist with one hand.
• When massaging your child's tummy with a circular motion, go clockwise rather than anti-clockwise.
• If your child becomes upset or falls asleep, stop massaging.

Please share the knowledge passed on to you through generations and your experience. Your input might help all other readers and fellow moms.