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

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.

For the first few months babies do little more than sleep and eat. In fact some sleep as much as 20 hours a day! Make the most of the time they’re awake by choosing toys and nursery accessories that stimulate them and encourage them to use their developing senses.

When playing with a newborn, remember that they see best when objects are about eight inches away from their face. Make sure they can see you by leaning in when talking to them and holding toys close.

At this stage introduce…

- A Mobile: Scientific research has shown that babies who are given appropriate stimulation show sustained developmental advantages over babies in less stimulating environments. Although they won’t be able to focus on the specific shapes hanging from the mobile, babies are fascinated by the movement of a mobile and it encourages skills such as pattern recognition, eye/hand coordination, gross motor activity, and a sense of object permanence. Choose one that plays music and it will do double duty!

- Music: From the time they’re born, babies can hear high pitched noises and are soothed by low pitched noises. Numerous studies have concluded that playing music to babies in the womb and in the early years helps build the neural bridges along which thoughts and information travel. It’s known as the Mozart Effect, a theory which is credited with boosting IQ, improving health, strengthening family ties and even producing the occasional child prodigy. It has also been shown that music can also stimulate the brain’s alpha waves, creating a feeling of calm.

- Simple Toys: Experts agree that babies get a great deal out of the toys that they can amuse themselves with. They learn many different things through their senses at this time, and through their senses, they discover their world. The most fascinating toys to a baby at this stage are those that make noise, or that use a lot of high contrast black and white, or bright colors such as red and yellow.