5 Tips For Infant Massage

Babies grow super fast. This is no secret. But often in the hustle and bustle of each day sometimes it can be easy to forget what this means for your baby. Imagine if you were going to the gym every day, for around 8-10 hours. No heavy impact, but lots and lots of Pilates style aerobic exercise, weight lifting, and yoga. Just think about how exhausted and sore you would be. Then as you rest, the pain of bone growth would set in. Maybe this isn't exactly how babies feel, but as one who has observed babies over and over again during their first few months, I think it is pretty close sometimes. This is just one reason why I'm such a strong believer in baby massage. Another is that as a mother of an extremely premature son I relied on the calming and relaxing effect of infant massage very often. In this post I will cover some of the best massage strokes for a calming and soothing effect on your baby.

1. Arms and legs

Starting near your little Yogi's hands, gently wrap your hand around his forearm. Then, with minimal pressure, slide your hand toward the shoulder/armpit area. To keep your baby's arm extended as you do this, you can hold your baby's hand with one of your hands, while your other hand executes the massage stroke. Repeat this stroke about 5-10 times on each limb, or as many as feels right and relaxing for you and your baby. When using this stroke on your baby's legs, hold the foot with one hand, start the stroke at the ankle, and slide until you reach the hip.

2. Chest and stomach

There are a lot of strokes that are recommended for a baby's stomach and chest. My favorite for the chest is to start with your hands together each covering one side of her rib cage. Then slowly fan your fingers out toward your baby's sides starting with your pinky fingers until your hands are splayed out across her chest. Then smoothly continue the motion down the sides of your mini-buddha's belly all the way down to her hips. Repeat this stroke between 5-10 times, or as many as feels right and relaxing to you and your baby.
On the stomach the most basic soothing stroke is a circular one that moves in a clockwise direction around your little one's belly-button. Be careful not to get too close to the belly-button, you want to be a minimum of 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) away from it at all times. This is clock-wise from YOUR perspective, meaning if you start on your babies right side (the one most easily reached by your left hand) you should first move up and over your baby's belly button, then down and under it, until you end up right where you began. The pressure should be minimal, and you can leave your baby's clothing on if it is more relaxing to do so. This stroke is best used at a minimum of 20 minutes after a feeding, and can be used as much and as often as your baby seems to enjoy it (though the first 20 minutes after eating is not the best time).

3. Back and shoulders

With your baby laying on his stomach, you can use this basic gentle stroke to help calm, and move gas out his lower exit. Starting with one hand over each shoulder blade using gentle pressure slide the heels of your palms down both sides of your little athlete's back at the same time until they reach the diaper line. Put no pressure on his spine, and be aware of trying not to tickle your baby in this position. While tickling will not hurt him, it can be counter-productive when your goal is relaxation. This stroke can be repeated anywhere between 10-20 times, as long as your baby is enjoying it and it is relaxing for both of you.
For the shoulders it is not important for your baby to be laying on his stomach, or back. Either position is fine as long as he is comfortable and relaxed. This is more of a hold than a stroke, as you cup your hands around each of your baby's shoulders and gently pull down toward his hips. I recommend you pull both shoulders at once, but you can do one at a time as well if your baby seems to like it better. No kneading or rubbing is needed for this, just gently pull, and hold for about 20-30 seconds, then release. You can repeat this hold a few times if your baby seems to be particularly calmed by it, but using it too often can cause tension, so trust your instincts and watch your baby for cue's.

4. Feet and hands

Though an open-palm massage is often soothing for an adult, infants often find it too stimulating, and even ticklish. It is much more calming for your baby to have your hand cover her fist and  gently squeeze it while it is closed. Just a small amount of pressure as you cover her fists is enough to release the clenching that she normally has to do herself, and is normally very calming. This hold can be maintained for about 20-30 seconds, and repeated as often as it is comfortable and relaxing for you and your baby.
Similarly, when massaging your little sweet-peas toes you want to avoid tickling her. So softly cover the toe-end of her feet from about the arch and all around the top and bottom at the same time. Then you will move in four directions. First up, gently stretching the toes slightly up toward her knees, then down subtly pointing her toes away from her body like a little ballerina. Next, you will rotate her feet slightly counter clockwise, very gently, and watching her for any signs of discomfort. Follow this by rotating her feet in exactly the she gentle way clockwise. The timing for this part of the massage should be about 2-5 seconds for each direction that your move her toes. When I'm doing this massage, I think to myself: "Up-two-three, down-two-three, twist left-two-three, twist right-two-three, release." Though you can repeat the foot massages often as you and your infant are finding it to be relaxing.

5. Face and ears

Massaging your baby's face can be quite soothing, but it is easy to cause stress if you are not careful where you touch. I recommend this stroke as a way to avoid most of the trigger points for feeding instincts. Starting directly above your little snuggle-pop's eyebrow on the end nearest to the nose, run your fingertips softly along the length of the eyebrow, then across the temple and around the outer edge of of his ear. Not on the ear, but on his head behind his ear. If it is easy for you to do both sides at once, this is more relaxing, but if you find it easier to stroke one side then the other, do that instead. Repeat this stroke as often as you like, using very soft pressure, and slow soothing motion.
Your baby's ears are soft, and sensitive, so vigorous massaging of any kind will most likely not be very soothing. However gently holding the large outer edge and lifting it slightly away from his head can be very soothing indeed. Again, I think of this as more of a "hold" than a stroke, and no kneading or pulling is necessary. Just a gentle grasp and lift should be enough to do the trick. Only maintain the hold for about 5-10 seconds, unless the baby seems to be especially enjoying himself. This hold, and face massage, are best used when your baby has just come in from an overly-stimulating walk, or just after leaving a noisy room with bright lights.

Though it is always important to be in tune with your little bundle's needs, when giving an infant massage it is also very important to be relaxed and grounded yourself. Listen to your instincts, watch your baby's reactions to the different strokes and holds, and if something seems to be causing stress or discomfort, discontinue it at once. Soft music, a warm room, a gently scented hypo-allergenic organic massage oil, all of these things are nice, but not essential to your ability to give an effective and relaxing infant massage.
If you have found these tips to be helpful, please share them with any new or expecting parents you know. Comments, questions, and requests are always welcome. I am working on illustrating this post, and hopefully will have something up soon. Happy parenting!

There is a NEW post from NAOMI up today! Check it out HERE.

5 tips for reducing baby spit-up and soothing reflux.

When I was little, I remember thinking that it was natural for babies to spit up about half of their feeding every time they were burped. Now I know that was not true, and it is very likely that my younger brothers and sisters all had severe reflux. Gastroesophageal reflux (infant acid reflux) is basically the inability of a baby's throat to close all the way to keep food down.

For general questions about your baby's spit-up, check here.

It is theorized that many babies have this issue early on, but most grow out of it within the first couple of weeks. The symptoms don't all have to be as extreme as the example I've given, the medical rule of thumb is much broader: If a baby has thrown up 1/3 of a feeding 3 times a day for 3 weeks out of a month for the first 3 months they are considered to have reflux. Of course using that system of measure, you won't even receive the diagnosis until your baby is 3 months old. Since there are several simple easy things you can do to help your baby avoid the discomfort associated with reflux, I recommend that for those first 3 months, if you are in doubt, go ahead and treat it as if it is reflux, it can't hurt, and could very well help.

1. Feed your baby on a 45 degree angle and keep them like that for about 20 minutes after they finish.
Keep your baby's head up, that way the milk won't simply run back up your baby's throat, and has a better chance of being digested right away. A baby will begin to digest breast milk within seconds of the start of nursing, and formula is not far behind, that means that if this milk comes back up the esophagus the stomach acids in it will burn and cause discomfort. Keeping your baby's head elevated during a feed, and for 15-20 minutes afterward will help give them time to completely digest the remainder of the milk.

2. Do not rough-house with your baby for at least an hour after eating.This tip is hard for some proud daddies to remember. There is nothing so fun as twirling around with your baby in your arms, or lifting them up in the air and swinging them up and down to get giggles and grins. However this will almost certainly result in a thorough splattering with a warm white chunky substance. Though the spit-up itself is not really dangerous, your baby's milk is put to much better use in their tummy than on your face, or the furniture.

3. Add a couple of drops of fennel, chamomile and peppermint herbal tea to your baby's feeding.If you are breast feeding, you can drip a couple of drops in your baby's mouth just before you begin to nurse (a trick for doing this is to use a bottle nipple that is unattached to a bottle, and when it is in your baby's mouth, use a plunger to squirt a very small amount into it. Though your baby may not like the taste and will probably spit out the nipple right away, they only need to have ingested a very small bit to get the positive effects). If you are not breast feeding you can add a couple small drops directly to the formula. You can make the tea with a couple fresh sprigs of fennel, a few leaves of peppermint and a teabag of chamomile (unless you have some wild growing nearby, then fresh is best). Just soak them in some hot water until they are wilted, or the water changes color, there is no need to make it particularly strong. You can drink the rest of the tea, it boosts digestion and is calming to the nervous system (though you might want to save a little to give to your baby later). These drops should be given no more than 3 times a day, and as little as once can be beneficial.

4. Burp your baby at least three times during each feed, as well as afterward.The less gas in your baby's tummy, the better digestion will be and there will be less internal pressure as well. Do not feel that you need to make a bubble come up each time you pause for a burping, it is just a short break (4-5 minutes) to give gas an extra chance to come up if it is there, if you spend too long waiting for a bubble each time, the feeding could end up lasting hours.

5. Tuck a rolled up burp cloth or wash cloth under one of your baby's shoulders when you lay them down to sleep for the night.Raising one shoulder just a little will encourage your baby to sleep with their head turned to the side. Though all of the food in their tummy should be digested before you lay them down to sleep for the night sometimes they will have saved a little surprise for later. Though the chances that they might choke on their own spit-up are small, the process of coughing, gurgling and gulping that can happen when spiting up while laying completely flat can cause your baby quite a bit of discomfort and stress. Since discomfort and stress are not conducive to anyone having a good nights rest, it is better if your baby has to spit-up, that they do it to the side, and don't have to clear their airway after.

A bumper-sticker I saw the other day had some wise words to share on this topic: "spit happens". Nothing could be more true in the world of babies, except maybe the more crude saying that this one is making a play off of. However, despite all of the unpleasant things we have to deal with as parents, knowing we have done everything we could to help our baby be safe and happy makes it all better. I hope these tips are helpful to you and your baby. Please feel free to leave comments and questions and share this blog with any new mothers you might know.