Baby & Toddler
Massage

Registered Massage Therapy

So you’re parenting an infant and you wonder: why might I consider infant massage for my child? Massage can teach you to read your child’s state of alertness and cues that your child is longing for your comforting touch. As you learn to communicate with touch you can enhance your parent-child attachment or “bond.” Then as you continue to massage them daily, you will be talking to them and stimulating their language development. You can even teach them American Sign Language (ASL) so that they can ask you for a massage LONG BEFORE they can ever hint at the same request verbally. 

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Teaching your baby healthy safe touch through massage

Does your baby grimace when you touch their heels? Remember those blood tests in the hospital? Those heel-pricks were a painful and unpleasant feeling that some babies can associate having their feet touched with. What if I told you that through your pleasant touches and patience, you can rewire your child’s response to having those adorable little feet touched. Birth can be a traumatic experience of being touched for the first time - vacuum suction, forceps, and cesarean-births to name a few. Wouldn’t you like your baby to experience more of the skin-to-skin connection that followed immediately after all that? Massage can do that! 

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Then there’s all the physical benefits that happen naturally with massage: deepening their breathing, improving their circulation, and optimizing their digestive functions. Ever see a 6 month old baby who tried a new food and becomes constipated or SUPER GASSY??? Massage can certainly help with that. As baby gains control of their appendages, massage can assist with increased body awareness, coordination and muscle tone.

 

How Massage can Help your Baby Sleep?

The single greatest reason a parent might like to learn how to massage their baby is to influence their child’s sleep and wake cycles. Who doesn’t want to be able to sedate their baby when they JUST WON'T GO TO SLEEP!?! Building a bedtime ritual that includes massaging your baby can help them to sleep more… but let’s be honest, that means baby massage can help YOU sleep more. Who doesn’t want that? :)