Baby massage is practiced as a key part of baby-care in many cultures around the world. Touch is the most developed of the senses at birth and is key in the development of relationships with a new baby.

Baby massage is increasingly used by parents in Britain to spend special time with their babies while bonding with them and soothing and relaxing them.

Parents who massage their babies find a number of benefits for both their baby and themselves. There have also been a number of studies which have shown the benefits of Baby Massage.
Some of the key benefits are:
Baby massage gives parent and infant a way to spend special, pleasurable time together. By spending this time focused on their baby, parents gain an increased understanding of their baby’s cues and responses. This can lead to increased confidence for the parent and relaxation for both. Constipation and gas can be relieved through regular abdominal massage. Massage also helps to reduce pain and discomfort both through relaxation and through affecting how the body deals with pain. As babies get used to massage, many parents find that it soothes and comforts them. Although many parents find that massage helps their babies to sleep, most find that regular massage is necessary to obtain this benefit. Baby massage takes a parents instinct to “rub it better” or “kiss it better” a step further. Massage helps with this in two ways – by interrupting the flow of pain signals to the brain and by raising the levels of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers. By gently stimulating your baby, massage helps to strengthen babies systems, in particular, respiratory, circulatory, muscular and intestinal.

If you choose to learn baby massage in a class, you will have the added benefit of meeting other parents with babies of a similar age.

Our classes are friendly and relaxed. We allow 1 hour for each class to ensure that there is plenty of time to cover all the material each week, even allowing for the unpredictability of babies!

Each class includes a practical session when parents massage their own baby, while the instructor demonstrates massage strokes on a doll. Spare dolls are always available if your baby is asleep or chooses not to be massaged at any lesson. This is the quiet part of the class, with relaxing music and dimmed lights allowing the parents and baby to relax.

There is plenty of time before and after the practical session to discuss areas of interest, answer questions and review topics and massage from previous weeks.

We cover various topics during the course – benefits of massage, contraindications, types of oils, massage as baby grows up etc.

Each class ends with an informal section when parents can relax with refreshments, and either chat with each other, or review areas with the instructor.

We suggest that you time baby’s feeds so that they are neither hungry or full when they are being massaged. If your baby is asleep during the class, we suggest that you don’t wake them – there are plenty of spare dolls to practice on!

There may be times when it is best not to massage your baby. Here are some general guidelines:

• Don’t wake your baby for massage
• Never force movements or go against your babies will. Stop if they aren’t enjoying it.
• Do not massage a hungry or full baby
• After immunisations, wait 3 days. If baby seems well, you can massage, but avoid the injection site for the first week.
• Don’t massage your baby if they are unwell – they usually won’t want the massage anyway
• Recently bruised or broken skin shouldn’t be massaged
• If a baby is having medical treatment or has any special needs, check with healthcare professionals about the massage before starting.

In general, watch and listen to the baby. She or he will tell you if they want you to stop. If in doubt, stop and check things out before continuing.

You can start to massage your baby from birth and baby massage has been shown to have tremendous benefits for premature babies.

Many people find that coming to classes becomes easier when their baby is around 6 weeks old, but we are happy to have younger babies in the class.

Parents who have massaged their babies often find that massage continues to be part of their relationship with their child throughout their childhood. There may be periods when your child does not want massage, and it is important to respect this. However many children will want massage again as they grow up.

Baby massage classes are suitable up to the age your child starts crawling. This milestone usually means that they are reluctant to stay still for long, so although short massage sessions at home can be very beneficial, they don’t work so well in the class environment.

Our Baby Music and Movement Classes are an excellent follow on as they include ideas for enjoying elements of massage with older babies and young toddlers.