Introduction
Baby massage is a wonderful techniques which will be done with patience, love and care. It is done to keep your baby healthy and happy. Baby massage is also a wonderful loving touch right from the start. Baby massage is a various massage techniques which includes components such as vocalization, eye-to-eye contact, and other positive behavioural reinforcements.
Benefits of baby massage?
Some of the benefits of baby massage are ;
- Provide all indicators of intimate parent-infant bonding and attachment: eye-to eye, touch, voice, smell, movement and thermal regulation.
- Provides a special communication that fosters love, compassion and respect
- Improve general health and development
- Helps to normalize muscle tone.
- Improve circulation, respiration, overall functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and immune system function.
- Make the baby calmer, helps the child sleep better and promotes alertness during waking hours.
- Better and relief constipation and colic for infant.
- Increase in weight gain faster, reach mental and motor skill milestones quickly and become more sociable and pleasant.
- Helps the baby to sleep deeper and more soundly.
- Helps to increase oxygen and nutrient flow to the cells.
- Helps to improve pain management; can relieve discomfort from teething.
Preparation
Before starting
- Make sure the room is warm and the lighting is not too bright.
- The baby is quiet, well –rested, awake and alert, not too hungry or too full.
- Parents should be relaxed prior to the massage, wash hands and remove jewellery such as watches.
- Should not be done immediately after a feeding or when the baby is sleeping.
- Place a mat on the floor with your legs stretched out.
- The baby should be undress and placed comfortably so that they can see your face clearly
- The pressure of our palm should be firm and stimulating but not painful.
- Talking while massage can help strengthen the parent – baby bond. It’s best to massage your baby before a bath.
Physiotherapy Treatment
Techniques
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The Legs
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Her legs are a good place to begin, as they’re less sensitive than some parts of her body. Using a little oil, wrap your hands around one of her thighs and pull down, one hand after the other, squeezing gently, as if you’re “milking” her leg. Switch legs and repeat three times. |
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2. The Feet
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Take one foot and gently rotate it a few times in each direction, then stroke the top of her foot from the ankle down to the toes. Switch feet and repeat. |
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3. The Soles
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Use your thumbs to trace circles all over the bottom of each foot. |
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4. The Toes
Source: www.babycenter.com |
To finish off the feet, take each toe between your thumb and forefinger and gently pull until your fingers slip off the end. Repeat for all ten toes. |
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5. The Arms
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Take one of her arms in your hands and repeat the milking motion from her armpit all the way to her wrist. Then, take her hand and gently rotate her wrist a few times in each direction. Switch arms and repeat. |
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6. The Hand
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Trace tiny circles over the palm of each of her hands with your thumbs. |
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7. The Finger
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Gently take a finger between your thumb and forefinger and pull, letting her finger slip through your grasp. Repeat for all her fingers and both thumbs. |
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8. The Chest
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Place your hands together in prayer position over her heart. Then, opening out your hands slowly, stroke outward and lightly flatten the palms over her chest. Repeat several times. |
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9. The Chest (Continued)
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Place one hand flat across the top of her chest. Stroke it gently down to her thighs. Repeat the motion, alternating hands, several times. |
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10. The Back
Source: www.babycenter.com |
Roll your baby onto her tummy. Using your fingertips, trace tiny circles on either side of her spine from the neck down to the buttocks. |
Frequency
Daily massage is a great way to bond with baby. However, babies normally will be having a fairly short attention span and therefore massage should be done at least 15 minutes to 30 minutes only. Follow the baby’s signal about when to stop.
General Tips
- Wash your hands before starting your massage.
- All the strokes must be gentle and not ticklish.
- Use respectful touch and stop the massage if your baby isn’t enjoying herself or seems uncomfortable.
- It’s also best to avoid a massage if you’re very tense, or if your baby is upset.
References
- About Infant and baby massage / loving touch.com / about – infant –baby-massage.
- Baby massage guide in pictures / raising children .net.au. Health and daily care
- www.baby.com/jjpi/infant – massage / Touch A parent’s guide to Infant Massage – baby
- www.babycentre.co.uk/a1042915
- www.parents.com/baby/care/n=ewborn/how – to-massage-baby – How to massage a baby Parents
- www.parents.com.babies, new born care, baby care – The benefits of baby massage
- www.wahm.cm / articles / 5 – infants – massage – technique – for – calming- your-baby – 5 Infant massage Techniques for calming your baby
| Last Reviewed | : | 23 August 2019 |
| Writer / Translator | : | Kogilavani a/p S.Krishnan |
| Accreditor | : | Se To Phui Lin |
| Reviewer | : | Halimah bt. Hashim |
