Transcript: Discover The Magic of Baby Massage

This is a text transcript from The First Time Mum’s Chat podcast. The episode is called Discover The Magic Of Baby Massage and you can click on the link to view the full episode page, listen to the episode and view the show notes.

In this episode, I’m gonna tell you all about baby massage and I offer topics, including the benefits of baby massage, what oils to use when massaging your baby and where and when to massage your baby. Please also stay tuned because you will also hear an interview with Michelle, who is both a mother and a grandmother, who will share some of her experiences with baby massage.

I’m going to answer five questions that a lot of parents ask me and give you some of my own tips along the way. The first question I’m going to answer is why should I massage my baby? The second one is what are some of the benefits of baby massage and what oils to use and where, and when should I massage my baby?

And finally are essential oils safe to use on my baby? But before I go into the massage questions, I just want to share an amazing link with you that I found on the internet. This study was conducted to examine the effect of baby massage on an attachment between mothers and their newborn babies. I will give you the link at the end of this podcast, so please listen to the end.

So why should I massage my baby? Infant massage is amazing, because it has a lot of potential benefit to both you and your baby. Both parents can have fun bonding, with bonding time with their baby, which is great news. My most favorite benefit is that it gives you as a first time mom, the opportunity to connect and bond with your little one. It can help you to learn your baby’s cues and how they communicate.

It also aids relaxation and decreases cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Regular massage can also help your baby to sleep deeper and longer. The final benefit that I want to share with you is what I call baby symptoms or other issues such as colic, teething, constipation, reflux, nasal congestion. And certain massage techniques can relieve these symptoms such as a face massage can help with teething and doing a tummy massage in a clockwise direction can also help with colic and constipation. With colic you do need to make sure you do it in a clockwise direction.

Now, what oil should I use? This is a question that I’m frequently asked and you do not need to spend a lot of money on massage oils. You can actually go to your local pharmacy and buy oils and you can also buy coconut oil, almond oil, sunflower oil, apricot oil, sesame oil is good. It is important that the oil is organic and cold pressed and edible. As we all know, little ones put their hands and feet in their mouths so we need to ensure that the oil is safe for them to do that. I also always suggest to mom that they do a patch test first to ensure that there is no allergies.

Just rub a little on their little wrist or ankle and see if there is any redness. If in doubt, do not continue to use the oil. Now, the big question is essential oils. Essential oils are not recommended as they are very, very strong. You can put them in an infuser and dilute them with a bit of water. You only need one drop, but do read the label before using essential oils. I recommend that you use caution with essential oils. It is better to burn them, as I said, in an infuser, so they do not go directly on your baby’s skin. It is much better to be safe than sorry.

Now, where and when should I massage my baby? You can massage your baby anywhere. It is best to do when your baby is in that quiet, alert state. This is when your baby is most responsive. They may well be looking around the room. It may occur after a nap or following a feed after their nap. If you have just fed your baby, though, it is best to wait at least 40 minutes before you massage the tummy area.

But any other part of the body is perfectly fine. I suggest you put on some light music, as this is a relaxing time for you and your baby. Choose a time that suits you and your family. Make it a routine so that your baby gets used to massage and knows when they’re gonna have massage. Some people say massage your baby before a bath, but I would advise against this, as your baby is slippery with oil and it will be hard to hold them in the bath. Again, as I said, with the essential oils, it is best to be safe than sorry. If you want to massage your baby before bed, do it just before their bedtime and maybe after a bath and just before bedtime. Make it a little routine for that special time between you and your baby.

You do not need to do a whole massage, a little one a little bit at a time, as you do not want to overstimulate your baby. You can build it up gradually, as your baby gets older and more used to it. The most important thing is for you and your baby to enjoy that special time together.

Now onto the interview with Michelle. Hi, Michelle and welcome to First Time Mum’s Chat. It’s a pleasure to have you here today, so welcome. And perhaps you’d like to just say a few words about why you chose to do baby massage.

Hi Helen, thank you for having me on your podcast. I decided to do the baby massage because I’ve got two grandsons now, the first grandson when he was first born, I thought it would be a really good way to bond with him and learn some techniques that are more relevant today. So yeah, that’s why we chose to do the baby massage and it was very interesting and very useful.

Thank you, Michelle, for that. When you learnt the course, was there any particular part of the massage that you enjoyed and if so, why? And was there anything that you felt that would be beneficial to pass on to first time mums listening to this.

I think the overall techniques for the course when you’re learning baby massage was the highlight of it all because with that, you’ve got the different techniques to use at different times. So having those tools under your belt whenever you’ve got an unsettled baby for whatever reason is really good and great for bonding, which I think is really important.

Did you find that there was a best time to massage your baby? Were there any tips there that you felt mums should know about when to massage their babies.

Yes, it’s definitely not after having a bottle that’s for sure. But when they’re probably to that point where they’re trying to sleep, so they’ve had their bottle, probably half an hour to an hour away, a while back. I found when my grandson was really unsettled when he tried to go to sleep and when they fight when you try and get ’em to sleep.

Yeah. That’s a hard time. That’s a really hard time with babies and toddlers. I know cause I’ve experienced that myself.

Yeah and they’re just unsettled because they just can’t get comfortable and things like that. So there was one instance when my grandson was really unsettled like that and he actually rolled over on his side to try and get comfortable. So that’s when I used one of the techniques that was in the course where had a bit of rubbing on the back, that sort of technique and I used some of that and it actually helped relax him and actually helped him go to sleep. So that was really good. I was actually quite happy to have that sort of technique under my belt to use.

Were there any particular highlights that you thought, wow, this is something that’s really, really good to do.

I think there was one, when the baby’s laying on its back and they have wind in their stomach.

I think that’s for the colic.

Yeah, that’s right.

Yeah and reflux, but having those techniques, where to rub on the belly and moving of the legs with a rub on the legs and things like that. I found that really useful, which I actually still use today for my second grandson. And it’s helped a lot with, bringing up the wind and all of that. So I still use those techniques today. If I had those techniques back when I was a first time mom, it would’ve been a whole lot easier and better.

Did your daughter or your son have any colic or any problems when they were little that you wished you’d had the opportunity to learn baby massage before?

My son mainly, he’s the second child and he was a very, very restless baby. And I think a lot of the techniques used in baby massage would’ve helped him quite a bit cause he was quite a colicky baby, hard to settle, but I think a lot of that now, which I noticed on my second grandson, he started having those and then once I’ve put these massage techniques into place, he’s been quite a good baby. So I think it makes a big difference, baby massage, even with bonding, like I love doing the massaging with my grandson who is six months old now.

So it’s really good.

It was such a pleasure to have you on First Time Mum’s Chat and I hope it’s been beneficial for other mums who have been listening. Thank you and I hope that you use the techniques if you have another grandson.

Yes thank you, Helen, for having me and definitely recommend it for mums.

That review of baby massage, has hopefully answered some of your questions. Feel free to reach out and contact me if you want any more information. My website is MyBabyMassage.net . Now, as I promised here is a link to the article of that research that I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast. When you have a moment to take a look, I highly recommend it.

The article is called the Effects of Baby Massage on Attachment between Mothers and Their Infants.

Thanks everyone for listening and enjoy massaging your baby. It is a fantastic and rewarding time for you both, enjoy it while your little one is so small.