Baby massage is the perfect way to help you to bond with your new baby and also help to stimulate their physical and emotional growth, as well as stimulating their awareness through the sense of touch. As well as benefitting the baby, baby massage is also beneficial to you as a parent, helping you to better understand your baby's non-verbal cues.
How Massage Can Benefit Your Baby
There are heaps of benefits to baby massage. It helps to build a secure bond between the parent and the child. It also helps the baby to feel more secure emotionally, meaning that they will be more confident and well balanced as they get older. It is also great at calming and relaxing the baby, leading to less irritability and fewer tantrums.
Massage also benefits the skin as it improves its texture and condition. It improves the blood circulation, increasing the flow of oxygen to muscles and tissues and also helping to remove waste products more efficiently. The immune system is also strengthened and it helps to reduce the incidence of coughs, colds, and infections in the ear and nasal passages.
Massage can increase your baby's flexibility and help their coordination. It also helps the digestive system and can help your baby to feed better. As well, it can relieve the pain and discomfort that a baby feels when it has colic or other problems such as constipation.
Tips for Massaging Your Baby
If you would like to start massaging your baby, it is important that you use products that are specifically designed for baby's sensitive skin. These products are usually as natural as possible and unscented or gently scented, as strongly scented products can affect breastfeeding and confuse their senses.
Seek the advice of a professional if you are at all unsure as to what is good to use. It is best to choose a moment when you are both calm and relaxed, such as half an hour after the baby's last feed. You should both be comfortable. Make sure that you respond to your baby during the massage, looking at them, and paying attention to the areas that they do or don't want massaged. Use gentle pressure when massaging.
Originally published on Jun 28, 2010
