The practice of infant massage has its ancient origins in Indian, Asian, and African cultures, which have been passed down from one generation to the next and are still practiced today. My mother taught me, just as she was taught by her mother, to massage my babies as newborns until they turned one to two years old. I then taught and massaged the babies of close family members. I saw amazing results with my third child, who was born seven weeks early via C-section and was in an incubator with one lung underdeveloped. After seven days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), he was released with considerable weight loss, fussiness, breastfeeding issues, and short sleeping periods.
At home, using my mother's training, which is very similar to the training from the International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM), I started with gentle back rubs and lots of contact naps. I then practiced daily full body massages with coconut oil before each bath. Within one week, he was calmer, had regained his original weight, and continued to grow quickly. I used a combination of Indian and Swedish massage strokes that stimulate and provide relief, covering every part of the body. These massage strokes can be used for newborn babies up to young children and offer numerous benefits of interaction, stimulation, relief, and relaxation.
WARM, QUIET & SAFE
Before starting any massage with your infant, set up a place that is warm, quiet, and on a safe surface. Ensure you have all the necessary materials on hand: oil, towels, diapers, and a change of clothes. If you are massaging before the bath, have the tub filled with warm water and ready with bath essentials. It’s best to use a plant-based oil that has no added scent as infants have a highly developed sense of smell. Babies have a sensitive and well-developed sensory system and recognise their parents’ natural odour and voice. Plant-based oils are best for absorption, are edible and digestible, and nourish the skin with their fatty acid components. The most popular and easiest choice would be olive oil or coconut oil, but there are many other plant-based options on the market; be sure to perform a test for allergies with a patch test for 30 minutes before committing to any new oils.
An ideal time for a full massage would be in the morning or evening, but parents can also take the opportunity to give the baby a quick foot or hand massage when the baby is calm and alert.
INTERACTION
Regular massage offers an opportunity for pre-language verbal and non-verbal communication with your newborn or infant. You can learn to recognise behavioural states, or baby cues, such as:
- Wide-open eyes
- Gazing up at you
- Cooing
- Lying quietly
- Smooth movements of arms and legs
These cues will determine if your baby is ready for and receptive to a massage. Your baby is not ready for a massage if they are:
- Fussing
- Crying
- Hiccupping with an arched back
- Pushing your hands away with their feet or hands
- Falling asleep or sleeping
Stop the massage and wait for another time. Your baby is communicating a physical or emotional need that requires your loving attention.
Massaging your baby promotes bonding and offers you early opportunities for communication and secure attachment with your baby, providing feelings of trust, safety, and love. It also offers one-to-one quality time for parent(s) and is especially beneficial for fathers to interact and bond with their newborn or baby while providing some downtime for mom. It is now well known that babies can hear their mother’s heartbeat and voice in utero, so while massaging, it’s beneficial to speak or sing to your baby using a soft, high-pitched voice, to maintain their state of calmness and relaxation.
For the new parent, it teaches an enjoyable skill and promotes more confidence and self-esteem as a caregiver. Infant massage supports and develops parents’ awareness of normal infant reflexes and behaviour and how to position, hold, and handle their baby before, during, and after the massage. For mothers, it may decrease anxiety and alleviate postnatal depression, helping mother and baby to bond and create a calm, safe environment. This also improves sleep for both baby and mother.
STIMULATION
Massage strokes provide stimulation of all body systems in babies and children including:
- Circulatory
- Digestive
- Hormonal
- Immune
- Lymphatic
- Respiratory
- Nervous and vestibular (coordination and balance)
The stimulation of the skin receptors triggers the release of neurotransmitters that connect neurons and affect healthy brain development. The practice of baby massage boosts the circulation of blood, which contains the fats and nutrients needed to coat the nervous system with a fatty substance called myelin. Myelin is essential for messages to be transmitted from the brain to the body along the nerve cells. It’s an insulating layer that forms around nerves including those in the brain and spinal cord. Massage also aids in initiating your infant’s early mind/body awareness of their feet, legs, hand, arms, face, and head—essentially where their body starts and ends—and helps stimulate their sensory systems. The early practice of massage greatly contributes to muscular development, growth, and weight gain, which is especially beneficial to premature infants.
RELIEF
Daily massage (2–4 times per day) offers relief by reducing pain from gas, colic, constipation, elimination, and digestive cramps. Babies may feel immediate relief from gas with the implementation of strokes specific to the tummy area and with leg exercises. Many babies can benefit from the warm touch of a hand simply placed on their tummy for a few minutes. Infant massage also offers relief from the discomfort associated with growing pains, muscular tension, and teething.
There are specific massage strokes for the forehead and nose area, which help with the release of excess mucous and the moving away of congestion, providing your baby with soothing relief. Many babies experiencing physical and emotional tension (excessive crying) greatly benefit from consistent daily massage sessions. Massage strokes and using the appropriate lotion or oil with added vitamin E may offer relief to certain skin disorders as well.
RELAXATION
Routine gentle massage may influence relaxation by reducing levels of the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol and increasing the calming hormone oxytocin. Massage also helps your baby to self-regulate, self-soothe, and support their ability to cope with their new environment. Consistent daily massage may improve their sleep patterns and reduce overall crying episodes too. A calm and relaxed baby will sleep longer and deeper, and improved sleep for baby means improved sleep for parents. The consistent practice of massage offers a nurturing touch encouraging the release of hormones in both baby and parent that creates a caring, loving, tolerant, and calming environment.
PREMATURE BABIES
Premature infants can greatly benefit from a series of gentle holds and touches while in NICU, preferably by the parent; however, they can easily get overstimulated with the use of regular massage strokes. When the premature baby is home, parents can start holding or resting hands on the baby’s body with skin-to-skin contact and gentle rubs on the back and limbs, depending on what the infant can tolerate and accept.
Numerous studies of infant massage have shown faster improvement in the health and growth of premature babies than without infant massage. One study also showed improved weight gain and bone growth with 10–15 minutes of daily massage two to three times per day. In the study, the hospital offered this service in their postnatal program for premature infants and the infants were able to leave NICUs earlier than expected. There was an overall benefit in reducing stress and anxiety for parents, making the baby feel more calm, secure, and ready to go home. Studies also indicated that the use of coconut oil and other plant-based oils had a higher and faster rate of weight gain and growth for infants due to the oil’s high triglyceride values and essential fatty acids, influencing their fatty acid profiles.
Infant massage can be very beneficial not just for your baby but for you as well. With a calm and secure infant at home, overall household stress levels will be lower, providing a loving and nurturing environment for everyone.
