A Guide to Baby Massage

Su Laurent: Hi! I'm Su Laurent. I'm a Consultant Pediatrician and Medical Advisor to the Baby Channel and we're here with Viveka, which is an integrated healthcare practice and we've come to see a baby massage class going on. Karen Taylor: So we're just going to ask permission first. So just rubbing your hands together and just saying their name and asking them if they're ready for a massage. And we are just going to start with the leg, so hands on top of the leg, hand down on the ankle and we're doing an Indian Milking stroke, relaxing stroke, coming from the top of the leg down towards the foot. And then this time, coming up at the top of the leg, interlocking your fingers, we are just going to squeeze gently across the muscle, gently over the knee and then down towards the foot. And then an important area to work is the foot. I'm going to do some baby reflexology just coming from the heel and up towards the toes with your thumbs. Now, move your thumb and allowing as you pause to the top, allowing the toes to open up. They are chatty this morning. And then we're just going to gently walk our thumbs all the way up the foot. You have to press these as you come up and then we're circling with the thumbs, just like a chain coming around the ankle with your thumbs all the away around. And then we're going to, from the top of the leg, I'm just going to roll the leg from the top down to the bottom. Jelly on the plate, jelly on the plate. Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble, Jelly on the plate. We have nice, relaxed leg. And then taking more oil, taking the second leg. It's also important to do both of legs, making sure they are both going to be relaxed. And again, just taking hand on hip, hand on the ankle, and coming from top of the leg, a relaxing stroke all the way down to the foot. Then hand on the hip and then one hand on the ankle, at this time we're coming up towards the heart with a stimulating the stroke. For the supporting the ankle, this one hand comes up or allowing one hand to come up and then the other one follows. And then we're just going to roll from top of the leg, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, and all the way down to the foot. Really relaxing, the leg and the hip. And all the way down. Then just wait gently, just bring the knees into the tummy, very good for wind and then just stretching them out and just gently tapping the feet as you are bringing them out. And then just giving them a nice relaxed stretch, bringing out. Now, we are just going to come give them massage from the top of the shoulders, all the way down allowing them to feel the length of their body. Massage is very much about body awareness. So, making them feel where they start and where they end. Then, making sure you, you still have a plenty of oil in your hands, we're just going to rest our hands on the tummy. Tummy is a more sensitive area. This is very good for releasing wind, very good for constipation. And just hand over hand as coming down, just working underneath the rib cage. So, the lower area coming all the way down. So, it's like the paddles of the water wheel, as one hand comes down, the other one comes over. If you want to go a little bit deeper, you can support the legs and just go with one hand. And then we are just going to come to the center of the tummy and with your thumbs just spreading out across the tummy, just see how relaxed the tummies feel, real nice and soft. It's a very important area for the massage. And then with a very relaxed hand, I'm just going to go clockwise and I am saying, The wheels on the bus go round and round, Round and round, round and round, The wheels on the bus go round and round, All through the town. Then coming down the side, The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, All through the town. The babies on the bus goes fast asleep, fast asleep , fast asleep, The babies on the bus goes fast asleep, All through the town. Excellent. And just taking more oil. We are just going to come up and do the chest. So again, just making contact, let me feel the warmth of your hands. This area is very important for breathing, about our emotions; very important area to touch. I'm just going to start spreading out, from the center of the chest out towards the arms. I am just making sure you just took lots of oil in your hands. I'm just going to draw a heart with our hands on the chest, coming all the way up to the shoulders and really molding your hands over the chest, as you're coming up. Then, we're just going to do a crossover, so, taking two fingers, I'm just going to come over, just squeeze over the shoulder and then coming back again. So, I'm just crossing over the centre of the body and then coming back. And then the other side, just squeezing the shoulder and coming back, they are very opened with the massage now. You're doing really well and then just tapping on the chest. They are good for stimulating, they are good if they to get chest pain. And then we're going to do the arms, so just stroking underneath the arm, doing the armpit stroke, just coming all the way down. They are good for stimulating the immune system, and then taking one hand at the top and one at the wrist, very lightly, very much relaxed, and coming all the way down. Then, we're just going to squeeze gently the top of the arm and coming all the way down. So, again like the legs, just squeezing from the top, gentle squeezing and coming down. Then just massaging on the back of the hand, opening up the back of the hand, and then circling around the wrist. I'm just going to complete with the other arm. Again, stroking underneath, and coming down, from the top all the way down. So just allowing arms to gradually become more open, babies tend to keep that arm quite guardy, it allows their arms to open up. And then just from the top of the arm, just squeezing and coming all the way down to the wrist. Squeezing and coming down. And then we're going to roll gradually, arm to relax, right from top of the arm and coming all the way down to the hands. Rolling, rolling, rolling and down. They've done really well. Just to finish it, a couple of strokes form the back. So, just keep turning them over. It's really important to encourage tummy time when they're awake and encourage them to lift their heads up. You can just bring their arms up to encourage them as well, just bring the arms up to get them support. So, just taking lots of oil in your hand, I'm just going to go back and forth. Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. And then this time just supporting down at the bottom, and bringing one of hand all the way down. Just sweeping from the top, allowing them to feel their backs, it's a very relaxing area to massage. It's nice way to end the massage. Su Laurent: Well, we've just seen the most lovely, relaxing baby massage session and now I've got Karen Taylor with me to talk about, what it's all about? Thank you very much for staying on Karen and talking to us about it. Could you tell us first of all, what baby massage is? And who can come alone? Karen Taylor: Baby massage is for all babies. Touch is essential for babies, as much as food and I would encourage all babies to get massaged from very young age with the parents. Su Laurent: In your classes who normally comes, mothers? Fathers ever? Karen Taylor: Mothers generally come during the week and we're running a father's session at the weekend and the dads came. And we just had dads together and the moms would go off together. Su Laurent: And did the dads enjoy that? Karen Taylor: Yes. It's a really good bonding session for the dads and it's time for them to be with their babies one to one. Su Laurent: It sounds really lovely. I mean, I was very struck today by how incredibly relaxed and calm the babies were and actually how relaxed I felt watching. It's a lovely experience for everybody I felt. Karen Taylor: It very much has a knock-on effect and we find that if the mother's coming and they've had a tiring night and they're exhausted, it's a lovely way to relax them and also encourages the endorphins and oxytocin for them. And it has been proven that it's actually good for mothers that were depressed. Su Laurent: Oh! Really. That's very interesting. Karen Taylor: That are facing the depression. Su Laurent: And we are very, very focused totally on body, mind and how important it is for the mind to be healthy and in order for the body to be healthy? And I was interested in some of the things you were saying today about, massaging the baby will be healthy for the baby and helping their immune system for example. Karen Taylor: Well, it works on all the systems of the body and because the systems are very immature, massage is a lovely way to just start nurturing them and allowing them to develop. And it's very good for psychological and physiological development for the babies. And to help recover from any birth trauma as well. Quite often baby will cry during a massage it's sometimes just to release from birth and they just need to express themselves. Su Laurent: A common problems that babies have are the things like colic. And I noticed particularly, you're talking about massaging the tummy and helping colic and helping to be able to pass the wind. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Is there anything, any useful tips for our viewers out there? Karen Taylor: Yeah. There is a colic routine that I teach, that the mothers actually encourage to exercise the legs and massage the tummy always clockwise, so you are following the direction of the bowel, so it's going to release any trapped wind. And just feel the belly is such an important part of the baby, there is so much going on there and we really encourage then to get to know what's going on if the tummy feels soft, if it's hard and just reaching to the baby. Su Laurent: And the other thing that I was impressed by, was that you put the babies on to their tummy. And it's one of the things that I as a pediatrician find very important because we are focusing so much on putting babies to sleep on their back nowadays. But I'm seeing lots of very flat headed babies and also a lots of babies who are actually developing rather slowly and learning to roll rather later than before and nor to actually pushing up on their hands as they used to. So, I was struck by you doing that as part of the lesson. Karen Taylor: As a Midwife, I'm encouraging babies to be put on their tummies from day one. I get them tummy time when they're awake, because it gets to the stage, where the babies, if they're not put on their tummies they wont go on their tummies and the mothers really struggle with it. So, it's really encouraging them from the very beginning to getting them used to being on their tummies. And they see the world differently. It's very different for them to be on their tummies and to develop their head and neck control and it's so good for their back and very important for crawling as well. Su Laurent: Well, thank you very much for talking us and thank you very much for showing us what you do with the babies. So, that was Karen Taylor and she shows very clearly one aspect of what Viveka does and in fact the holistic approach to looking after the babies, because she not only delivers the babies but she also massages them.