Infant Massage

[Jamie W]

I am a massage therapist who recently had a baby. My education did not include anything on infant massage, but I knew I wanted to massage my child. So, I bought one of those home study courses on infant massage. However, the class was for "Baby's first massage" and only was only intended for infants 0-6wks old. Now that my baby is older than that, I would like to continue massaging him and was wondering if any of you who are trained in infant massage (i.e. 6wks and up) could give me any pointers? Basically, "Baby's first massage" was very light touch, and all strokes were away from the heart and downwards. Thanks for any help.

 

[south253side]

I took this class, and the strokes are still applicable. They figure that use them until they are crawling and beyond. It is mainly to introduce this touch to the infant, and to the parents during a stressful time in both their lives. To initiate sleep and digestive habits etc.

 

[gdaddy]

There are a lot of techniques you can use on an infant. It would be much easier for you to see it in pictures than for me to try and explain it all here.

I recommend Infant Massage by Vimala McClure

 

[nerdcore]

one of the massage mags (ABMP maybe) is all about babies and childrens' massage this month. you can't miss it. it has a very small little girl on the cover. i've seen several dvds about infant massage.

 

[Skylar]

Here's the Magazine Jillith mentioned:
http://www.massageandbodywork.com/currentiss.htm

Here's a link to a website that sells the book Masthera recommended, as well as a video based on the book:
http://www.babymassage.net

 

[I Like Turtles]

Here's a link to a website that sells the book Masthera recommended, as well as a video based on the book:
http://www.babymassage.net

Thanks for posting the link Blisss - Nathan was calling and I didn't get a chance till now.

 

[Messin with Sasquatch!]

Basically, "Baby's first massage" was very light touch, and all strokes were away from the heart and downwards.

I find this VERY interesting because last July I spent a few days at Touch Research Institutes' Miami location participating in their research workshop, which included learning and performing infant massage on premie babies. The infant massage they taught us and which all therpists participating in the study are taught and use is much firmer than I expected (rather than "very light touch"), and the strokes were directed toward the heart! (If I'm not remembering the 'toward the heart' part, correct me if I'm wrong. Next time I have a few minutes I'll review the video I brought home.)

After being taught and watching the demonstration, I was still hesitant to use touch as firm as it was taught to me - especially on teeny tiny premie babies. So my first strokes were very light. The instructor/researcher in charge, caught my mistake and corrected me. Apparently they found, through research over the years (they have been doing research on infant massage for MANY years), that if the touch is too light, many babies find it ticklish and irritating rather than soothing and stimulating.

I was also told that the massage for older babies is much the same except that the feet can be included (at TRI they don't massage the feet because the babies are pricked so much in their feet that they often associate touch on the feet with pain.

I haven't studied any one else's infant massage technique, though, and would like to learn what other techniques might be different.