What is so special about Baby massage dos and donts – Give a ‘feel good’ feel to your baby and let your little one say, ‘My momma is great – She Knows everything’ with a soothing massage! Don’t make your baby frighten at you when you attempt to massage!
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Massage is a one of the very simple pleasures in life that aids in unwinding. Baby massage benefits the infants in numerous ways. It aids in relaxing the body from top to toe, improves the blood circulation, support healthy growth, enhances immunity, keeps the skin healthy, improves the sleep quality, and much more. Infants live in a peculiar world with a different language, only a mother can understand. Baby massage is a way of communication and bonding with the baby. It is actually a traditional practice involved in nursing the baby and has been followed for several centuries.
Overall, baby massage imparts a sense of ‘Feeling Good’ in the babies. Yet, baby massage isn’t a simple thing. You can simply put firm pressure to massage your baby! It involves gentle techniques! Read on to learn about the dos and donts on Baby massage.
Baby Massage – Dos
Make the baby massage a part of your daily routine. Nothing could overcome the responsibility of nursing the baby. So plan your schedule to massage your baby almost on the same time every day. However, not all the babies need a daily massage so you can fix up a schedule, once in two days or thrice a week, etc. Fixed schedule helps the infants prepare themselves to enjoy the massage.
The basic technique involved in baby massage is gentle strokes, upwards and downwards. Make sure that the strokes are very soft and gentle, which does not pressurize the baby. Upwards strokes stimulate the baby and downward strokes clams the baby. So, massage the baby wisely according to the mood! If your baby is restless then go for downward strokes. If the infant is too tired or inactive, then stimulate the baby with upward strokes.
Create a sign or a gesture to make your baby learn about the daily massage routine. You can either make some gestures to make your baby understand that you are about to start the massage session or tell it verbally! For instance, rubbing your hands and laughing at the baby. If you impart this sign, your smart baby will prepare itself to relax with your massage.
Ensure that the room temperature is warm enough to undress your baby for massage.
Place the baby comfortably and communicate with your baby when you run your fingers! You should be able to see the baby and more importantly the baby should see you. Make the atmosphere easy and friendly for your little one.
Leg, feet and hand massage is sufficient for the babies not older than two months.
Baby Massage – Donts
There are many things a mom should avoid when massaging the baby. Following are the few Donts on baby massage.
Don’t ever attempt to massage the baby when the baby is sleeping or immediately before or after feeding the baby. Right time to massage is before bath.
Don’t forget to remove your accessories that could harm the baby, like watches, ring, bracelet, etc. Also never massage the baby without getting the fingernails trimmed.
Generally a massage session longs for 15 to 20 minutes. When it comes to infants aged lesser than three months old, don’t do it more than 15 minutes and for babies older than three months don’t overdo the massage more than 25 minutes. Concentrate on quality of massage and not the duration!
Not all the babies need daily massage. No one can understand the baby well other than its mother. Never continue to massage the baby when you notice any sort of discomfort in your baby.
Do not press hardly on your baby’s spine and back in the name of massaging!
Don’t directly apply the baby lotion or oil on the baby’s skin or hands.
Avoid baby massage for a few days after vaccination (almost after every vaccine) as it might take a few days for the baby to recover.
