Massaging Your Baby
Both babies and parents benefit from baby massage.
The Benefits To The Baby:
- Massage will help to relax baby and relieve pent up tension
and frustration.
- Massage has been shown to provide relief from colic and other
problems related to digestion.
- It improves circulation and boosts the immune system by moving
the lymph around.
- Its therapeutic benefits help relieve the pain of teething.
- Babies who are regularly massaged are more friendly and alert
when awake and are more receptive to hugs and cuddles in later
years.
Premature Babies particularly will benefit from massage.
- Premature babies who receive massage whilst in hospital are
allowed home on average 6 days earlier than non-massaged babies.
Other Points
- Baby will become very slippery when massaged, so be very
careful when picking her up afterwards. It will be rather like
picking up a piece of wet soap!
- Do not massage baby if she has a temperature.
- If you suspect baby has a nut allergy, use an oil that is free
from nut products.
What Next?
There are a number of books and videos that show you how to
massage baby, or some clinics have classes in baby massage. Our
site has a step by step illustration of how to massge. This
cannot be shown here as it uses images.