Because babies are so sensitive to their environment, you need to make sure that you are in the right place and time to massage your infant. Doing something at the wrong time or place can over-stimulate your baby or cause them to be uncomfortable.

What Not To Do

• If your baby is under 5 months old, they should not be massaged during bath time, or right before/after. This can cause over-stimulation.

• If while massaging your child they don’t seem to be enjoying it, stop.

• Don’t begin massaging your child on their chest or belly. They are generally not as used to being touched there as opposed to their legs.

• Don’t massage your infant too softly. This can irritate them.

• Unless you are trying to ease colic or gas, don’t massage your infant when they are crying. This can just upset them more.

• Never put any pressure on your baby’s belly.

• Because it doesn’t absorb easily into the skin, don’t use olive oil to massage your baby.

• Don’t massage your baby right after a feeding or if they have hiccups.

• Never massage your infant when they have irritated skin, wounds, burns or injuries.

What To Do

• Pick a calm and relaxing environment. Make sure the room is a comfortable temperature for your baby. Try to reduce the noise as much as possible.

• A good time to massage baby is when they are quiet but alert. If they are too tired or have just eaten, your baby won’t be able to relax enough to enjoy the massage.

• Set up a nice spot to lay your baby. Lay a towel down on a bed or the carpet. It should be in a comfortable spot for you so that you won’t have a back ache by bending over baby.

• Have the lights dimmed or curtains drawn to keep light from shining in your baby’s face.

• Have the things you need at hand, like towels, massage oil and a blanket to cover up the areas that you aren’t massaging on baby. If you wish, you can also have lullabies playing in the background for added relaxation.

• The oil should be appropriate for baby massage, like vegetable or nut oil. Don’t use an oil that could potentially harm your baby when they put their hands or feet in their mouth. Also, test the oil on a small spot on baby’s skin the day before to make sure their skin isn’t irritated by it.

• Start the massage with your baby’s legs. The legs are generally the most touched area of your baby’s body so it shouldn’t make your baby uncomfortable.

• Use gentle but firm strokes.

• Always massage baby’s abdomen from your left to right.

• Make infant massage a part of your baby’s routine and in time they should come to expect and look forward to it.

Read more about the benefits of infant massage.

Infant massage provides so many benefits for baby and parent. Studies are frequently done to show that massaging your baby improves both mental and physical health for you and baby. Not only that, but it’s fun and soothing for the both of you. In this post, I’ve listed just some of the benefits you and your baby can receive from infant massage.

By massaging your baby on a regular basis, you will:

• Create a great way to include dad in the bonding experience
• Improve his immune system
• Increase circulation
• Help him learn to relax
• Promote better and longer sleep
• Provide a bonding experience and communication with you
• Aid in the growth and tone of muscles
• Help regulate his digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems
• Help ease pain from gas and teething
• Help relieve discomfort of colic, and chest and sinus congestion
• Reduce stress

You can also benefit from infant massage along with your baby. These important benefits include:

• Providing a special bonding moment with your baby
• Helping you learn to read your baby’s cues better
• Increasing your self-confidence as a parent
• Helping you to communicate better with your baby
• Helping you relieve your baby’s stress and discomfort which also reduces your own stress
• Helping to ease your own separation anxiety if you were away from your baby for a period of time
• Relaxing both you and your baby
• Improving post partum depression

Again, these are just some of the benefits provided by infant massage. Performing infant massage on your baby daily will give you short term and long term results, promoting good health and development, and a great relationship.
In future posts, I will be writing about how to give your baby a massage, so make sure to bookmark our site and keep coming back for more information.

The next step is preparing for infant massage.

All babies develop at different rates. But there are certain milestones that you can - and should - track to ensure that your baby doesn’t have developmental delays. Catching problems early can be the key to correcting them before they become unmanageable.

This easy to use Growth and Development Chart, from the Pathways Awareness Foundation, gives parents a handy checklist that guides them in tracking their baby ’s development.

Print it out and keep it where you’ll see it everyday - such as on the refrigerator or above baby’s change table. Then make sure you use it.

If you think your child may have development delays early intervention can make all the difference. Call the “parent answered” toll-free number for the Pathways Awareness Foundation at 1-800-955-CHILD (2445).

With these handy online calculators you can now assess and track his or her growth quickly and easily.

Infant’s Body Measurement Percentiles Calculator

Children’s Body Measurement Percentiles Calculator

Children’s Body Mass Index Percentiles Calculator

Children’s Adult Height Prediction Calculator

Babies at this stage like to make things happen - they enjoy pushing a button and hearing a song, or seeing something light up. Having the ability to interact with their surroundings is very exciting and once they find something they like, they do it over and over (and over!) again.

At this stage introduce…

- Interactive Toys: Babies can now interact with their toys in a way they weren’t able to before. Anything that responds in some way to baby’s actions or makes a noise will become fast favorites and will teach baby about cause and effect.

- Language Development Toys: Baby is now able to say simple words such as “no” and “dog”. Encourage his growing vocabulary with toys and games that develop language skills. Great options are toys that say words when a button is pushed or videos that focus on language development. Fabric or board books are also good because after reading the story you can give the book to baby to flip the pages and “read” it back to you.

- Co-Ordination Enhancing Toys:Babies at this stage are very mobile and enjoy pushing and pulling items. Toys that require them to use their whole body are great for encouraging them to walk. Other favorite games will include stacking items and then knocking them over and filling up an item and then dumping its contents.

- Role Playing Toys: They watch you and will want to start mimicking the things you do. Toys such as play telephones, brooms, shopping carts and steering wheels will be a big hit and will help baby explore the world of make believe.

The array of baby skind care products that are available can be overwhelming. So how do you choose which ones are right for your little one?

When it comes to a baby’s delicate skin, we believe that natural is better. But not all natural products are created equal. Some manufacturers will include one or two natural ingredients, typically lavender, chamomile or aloe for babies. But in addition they include ingredients that are definitely NOT natural. Chemicals such Quaternium-15, PEG-80 Sorbitan, Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Acrylic Polymer are typical ingredients.

Since the FDA does not have regulations on what can be called natural, even products containing only one natural ingredient can use the term on their packaging. As a result it’s hard to tell exactly which products are good choices unless you know how to decipher the ingredient list. Which is made even more difficult by the fact that many natural ingredients have long, chemical sounding names. Even then it’s important to note that some natural baby skin care products use synthetic chemicals that are sometimes necessary. For safety, some personal care products, like shampoos and lotions that contain water, need preservatives to guard against microbial contamination. Traditionally gentle preservatives like phenoxyethanol and methylparaben are fine for inclusion in products described as natural. Methylparaben is actually a food-grade preservative and very mild. One or two gentle preservatives in a natural baby skin care product are fine as long as they are the last ingredients.

What the Experts are Saying

A recent report in Clinical Pediatrics reveals that more than 75 percent of newborns suffer rashes within the first few months of birth, and researchers suspect that contributing factors include the very products that promise to soften, clean, and moisturize children’s skin. As they note in their research, “Newborn skin is relatively more permeable to topically applied agents than adult skin. Therefore, the risk of systemic toxicity is must greater in newborns.”

What’s more, say these researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at Loyola University in Chicago, “The safety and efficacy of over-the-counter skincare products are not supported by well-controlled scientific studies.”

Choosing the Right Baby Skin Care Products for your Baby

Millions of babies have been raised using baby skin care products containing chemicals. Yours may do just fine with many of these products. But the reality is that baby skin care conditions such as eczema are on the rise and what we put on our baby’s skin is a large part of that. So if you’re looking for a natural alternative there are options available. Shop now for gentle baby skin care products for your little one at Pipsqueak Boutique.

Research shows that taking fish oil each day dramatically improves children’s schoolwork and concentration. But which kind should they take?

Patrick Holford, author of Optimum Nutrition for the Mind, says: “There are two main kinds of omega-3: DHA, which is vital in pregnancy and early infancy to help build the brain, and EPA which has proven more effective in children with dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. These are only found in fish oils.

“The brain and body also need omega-6 fats. The most powerful kind is called GLA, in which evening primrose oil and starflower oil are rich. An ideal brain-friendly formula should provide at least 100mg of DHA, slightly more EPA and 50mg of GLA. The optimum intake is probably double this.”

There is a mass of research demonstrating the benefits of fish oil on brains, hearts, joints and even skin. In the latest trial, Dr Madeleine Portwood, an educational psychologist at Durham local education authority, put 65 children aged 18-30 months on omega-3 fish oil and omega-6 evening primrose oil.

At the beginning, almost half were said to have “poor” or “very poor” behaviour. After taking the supplements, 90 per cent had improved - ranging from “moderate” to “good” behaviour. Concentration also improved.

Another Durham trial, in association with Oxford University, showed a 40 per cent improvement in reading and spelling skills within three months in older children. Studies from Middlesbrough and Cardiff found similar improvements in older children. Research at Manchester University in the summer also showed that fish oil can protect skin from the sun.

If you’re considering supplementing your child’s diet please consult a doctor first.

Pacifiers can be excellent soothing devices for babies, but what happens when you want to wean your child off using one? That can be easier said than done!

Here are some great tips from other Moms on what worked for them:

1. Cut the tip off of all of your child’s pacifiers. When he tries to suck on them they won’t give the same satisifaction and many children will wean themselves. If your little one complains simply explain that they must have all broke because he is too big for a pacifier now.

2. Wean them off slowly. When you put your child to bed, don’t give her the pacifier for 1 minute. The next night it is 2 minutes and so on until she falls asleep without it.

3. Have a ceremony to say good-bye to the pacifiers. If your child is a little bit older, have a ceremony in which you throw away the pacifiers together to signify that he has grown up and doesn’t need them anymore.

4. Make it taste different. Dip the pacifier in vegetable juice so it doesn’t taste as appealing. This is a good option for younger babies, but a smart 2 year old will quickly catch on that the vegetable juice taste is only temporary!

5. Leave them for the “pacifier fairy”. Have your child put all of her pacifiers under their pillow before bedtime so that the “pacifier fairy” can come and take them to new babies who need them. In the morning have a special toy waiting for your little one in exchange.

6. Have an outside source tell your child it’s time to give up the pacifier. Try having your dentist or doctor tell your child that it’s time to give up the pacifier. Sometimes it carries more weight coming from someone other than Mom or Dad.

By the time babies are six to nine months old, they are usually able to sit by themselves and are learning to crawl. Babies will also be learning fine motor skills, such as pinching and grasping objects with just two fingers. At this stage you’ll want to provide baby with a variety of toys to play with in all shapes and sizes to satisfy the growing curiosity and need to explore.

At this stage introduce…

- Physical Development Toys: Encourage baby to use his body in new ways by providing toys that require him to move and stretch. Balls are great because you can make a game of rolling them back and forth, as are toys on wheels that move away from him so he’ll have to chase them.

- Reasoning Toys: Baby can now understand that an object is behind something and the idea of nesting objects. Encourage the use of reasoning skills with toys and games that make him think. Be sure to celebrate when he figures them out!

- Bath Toys: Now that baby can sit up, he’ll begin to be more active during his bath. This is a great time to introduce water toys that encourage baby to learn about water. Squeaky ducks, cups to fill with water and empty again and anything else that is water safe and easy to hold can provide lots of entertainment.

For years parents have been told that a baby’s first food should be rice cereal. After that slowly progress to simple vegetables, mild fruits and finally pasta and meat. Makes you wonder whether parents in countries notorious for their spicy foods are feeding their babies rice cereal and mushed up peas. If so, how do they ever convince them to try curry or chili peppers?

It turns out that these guidelines on how to introduce your baby to solid foods are just that, guidelines. In reality feeding baby a variety of different foods can help develop a more sophisticated palate and avoid fussy eating later on.

“There’s a bunch of mythology out there about this,” says Dr. David Bergman, a Stanford University pediatrics professor. “There’s not much evidence to support any particular way of doing things.”

As research increasingly suggests a child’s first experiences with food shape later eating habits, doctors say battling obesity and improving the American diet may mean debunking the myths and broadening babies’ palates.

Experts say children over 6 months can handle most anything, with a few caveats: Be cautious if you have a family history of allergies; introduce one food at a time and watch for any problems; and make sure the food isn’t a choking hazard.

Parents elsewhere in the world certainly take a more freewheeling approach, often starting babies on heartier, more flavorful fare — from meats in African countries to fish and radishes in Japan and artichokes and tomatoes in France.

The difference is cultural, not scientific, says Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ nutrition committee who says the American approach suffers from a Western bias that fails to reflect the nation’s ethnic diversity.

Read the entire article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/