Benefits Of Baby Massage
Baby massage is incredibly individual and each different baby and family will have a unique and different experience with different results and benefits.
I often use my own children as examples of this. I have three children who are now aged 7, 5 and 2 years old and massaged them all as babies. As a first-time mum with my eldest I wanted the structure and familiarity of a routine, so baby had an evening bath, which he absolutely loved and then I gave him a calm and relaxing massage before he would have his evening milk and go to sleep. Massage can make babies extra hungry and also it helps create longer and deeper patterns and I definitely noticed the difference in his sleep on the evenings we did baby massage. As I was breastfeeding and he refused to take a bottle it gave my husband a lovely bonding experience too and meant that he was involved in the bedtime routine. Two years later, my second baby came along and he was a totally different experience. Although we never got to the bottom of exactly why, he was an extremely unsettled and unhappy baby, he would spend most of the day crying, would not nap longer than 20 minutes at a time and at night would rarely go over an hour before waking up again. I tried Baby Massage to see if it could help and the difference was incredible, although it didn’t solve all of the issues massage helped him calm down and relax. It was something he really responded to, so much so that I would only have to lie him down and show him the massage cues and he would stop crying, he would even nap for longer than 20 minutes afterwards.
Having massage as part of my tool kit helped me tremendously and gave me a positive activity with him that wasn’t standing and bouncing him up and down for hours on end. When my third baby arrived I knew I was going to use baby massage with her. This time the benefits were mainly mine, she was always happy and enjoyed the massage but for me it was something special. I had had a difficult birth with her and had been too poorly to meet her until the next day. I felt like I had missed out on all those special skin to skin moments but massage gave us new ones. As a busy mum with a 4 year old and 2 year old I felt like I just held my newborn while sorting out her older brothers, it seemed it was always time for another school run or another snack time! I made sure that I would have 20 minutes every day when I could have some special one-on-one time with her and used baby massage as the activity helping our bond and easing that mummy guilt!
In my sessions it is so lovely to see these benefits and many more. Some babies come along with tummy troubles and get instant relief from the tummy strokes, some babies prefer the head massage and get super relaxed. The back strokes can help with tummy time and the face strokes can help with teething pain. Some babies have their best nap of the week after their session, other babies enjoy the twinkly lights and sensory play. Like me, for some mums it is a chance to have a special activity with their youngest and lots of new mums tell me that it is a lovely, relaxed start into the world of baby groups, a chance to chat to others in a friendly, understanding and welcoming environment. Every baby is individual and every baby and family will enjoy massage in their own way and have their own benefits.
Interested in attending? These classes run on a Tuesday afternoon for 60 mins at £10 per class. Please ring us here at the Studio on 01424 217630 to book your place.