one-to-one baby massage workshop
From birth to 12 months old
During this one-to-one workshop I will show you how you can give a gentle massage to your baby.
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Why massaging your baby? Well, first of all, Touch is our First Language.
In many ways, touch is our first language. Gentle and loving touch can help small babies grow stronger and feel less anxiety. Infants who experience routine touch show 50% more eye contact and are 3 times more likely to have an overall positive expression than infants who do not.
In many hospitals and birth centers, newborns are placed on the mother’s chest or abdomen to give them as much skin-to-skin contact as possible. Close contact between you and your baby helps calm your baby’s breathing (another reason for the post-bath cuddle) and helps bring you emotionally closer—a process known as bonding or attachment.
Bonding and Other Benefits of Baby Massage
Giving your baby a massage is a wonderful way to help strengthen your bond. This is the key to a child’s development, as many researchers and clinicians feel that a positive maternal-child bond helps to form the basis for future relationships.
In addition to helping you and your baby bond, regular massage may:
• Soothe your baby and reduce his crying
• Aid digestion and help relieve colic, gas, and constipation
• Increase daily weight gain
• Enhance your baby’s adjustment to nighttime sleep and help your baby sleep more deeply
• Relieve nasal congestion and teething discomfort
• Help develop good muscle tone, coordination, and suppleness
• Enhance body awareness
• Boost the immune system
• Improve skin texture
• Help calm and relax both you and your baby
• Boost your confidence in handling your baby
Baby Science
In addition to skin-to-skin contact, research has shown routine touch and massage lead to improved cognitive performance and increased alertness and attentiveness in children.
Your touch contributes to your baby’s first emotional bonds. This contact helps build a foundation for emotional and intellectual development later in life. So the next time you give your baby a massage after his bath, know this act of love means more to his development and can have a lasting positive impact.
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