Babymania

"Feeding babies with touch, giving food to their skin and their backs, is just as important as filling their stomachs."

Dr Frederick Leboyer – The Traditional Art of Baby Massage

Being parents for the first time can be a stress-filled adjustment to your lives. Learning to massage your baby can help you as parents handle these changes in more effective ways, resulting in a strong relationship between you and child.

As I watch my 7 and 4 year olds play with their dolls, I am often reminded how natural rocking and soothing touch is. Instinctively they know to rock, pat and rub their babies as they comfort them. Unfortunately somewhere is our modern stress-filled world many of us have forgotten that the most soothing and comforting way that we can help our babies is with touch.

Touch is the first sense to develop after conception and this is why one of the baby’s primary needs is touch. As the baby grows inside its mother it is gently massaged as it develops. As it develops so it feels all her movements and has a wonderful massage by the amniotic fluid. For most babies the most powerful massage occurs in the birth canal, as it is massaged during labour into its new world. We all need touch throughout our lives, not just to thrive, but to survive.

The benefits of infant massage are enormous. It works on all systems of the body, improving circulation, decreasing pain, improving general functioning of the immune system and helping with problems such as colic and sleep difficulties. The regular practice of massage acts as a vehicle for the critical elements of bonding and relationship building. This kind of touch communication provides a common language for parent-baby interaction. Learning to relax in our busy world is a skill parents need to nurture for themselves as well as for their children. Studies indicate that the effects of performing infant massage are just as profound on the parent’s physical, mental and emotional well being as they are on the child’s.

Baby massage is not something that is simply done to a child, it is a trusting and enjoyable dance between the person giving the massage and the baby. It paves the way to the start of a wonderful relationship filled with communication.

Contact Joanne for details: 083 303 1190, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it