Frequently Asked
Questions
What
are the benefits of infant massage?
What kind of oils should I use to massage my baby?
Are there oils I should not use?
Is a quick massage better than no massage at all?
Q:
What are the benefits of infant massage?
Touch is a very
powerful element in human bonding, as are
communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and
prolonged eye contact. Infant massage encompasses
and supports all these vital aspects of bonding.
Delayed bonding may occur due to situations such
as premature birth, recovery from caesarean,
medical complications, adoption, lack of physical
and emotional support and post natal depression.
In these cases Infant Massage can begin to
recreate the elements of bonding.
Massaging your baby
can have many powerful benefits for both baby
& caregiver:
- Promotes bonding
- Encourages
relaxation
- Makes baby feel
loved
- Promotes better
sleep
- Facilitates body
awareness
- Boosts immune
system
- Promotes sensory
stimulation
- Improves skin
condition
- Improves blood
circulation
- Aids digestion
and waste elimination
- Balances
respiration
- Helps parents
learn to read baby's cues and
better respond to their needs
- Helps build
parents' and baby's self-esteem
Q:
What kind of oil should I use to massage my baby?
As with any new
product we use with out little ones, it is
recommended that a healthcare practitioner be
consulted.
For infants without any special needs, the
International Association of Infant Massage-Sweden
recommends the use of natural, edible and
food-grade fruit or vegetable oil. Organic and
cold-pressed are recommended, but by no means the
only choice. This means we look in the
baking/cooking aisle of the grocery store. You
probably are already stocked with a suitable oil
in your pantry.
Babies will tend to chew, suck and gnaw on their
hands, feet and the hands of their caregivers.
They end up eating the oil. If it is an oil that
you would cook or bake with and be comfortable
feeding to your child, then it is an oil that that
can be used to massage your baby.
Generally, a patch test is advised. Rub a small
amount on an area that your baby cannot further
irritate (if irritation occurs). If no redness
and/or bumps appear after about 30 minutes and/or
if your baby does not seem to be having any
systemic reaction (check respiration and skin
& muscle tone), then you're probably doing
fine with the chosen oil.
Oils generally considered safe are:
- Grapeseed
- Apricot Kernal
- Safflower
- Coconut
- Almond -
botanically, almond is a fruit related to the
plum & peach family. It is a tree nut, so
do take care.
Beware of oils
produced for comsetic puposes. Typical
"massage oils" are not food grade.
Consider buying a bottle of 'Oil For Baby
Massage" - it's all natural, it's organic,
it's all that a baby needs!...it was found at a
most exclusive store or site for the worlds most
all- natural beauty and skin care products. Would
you pop the top open and use it to bake a biscuit
that your child can chew on?
If the answer is "no", then go back to
the food aisle.
Q:
What kind of oil should I NOT use to massage my
baby?
Mineral Oil - also
known as 'Baby Oil' should not be used to massage
your baby. It's made from petroleum, it's the
cheap run-off of making gasoline and it's
flammable. If aspirated (breathed in), it can
cause chemical pnuemonia and even result in death.
Would you cook or
bake with it? Is it something that we would feed
our children because it's good and nutritive?
Also, the molecules of mineral oil are too large
to be absorbed into the skin; hence, when rubbed
on our body, it forms a clear synthetic coating
over the largest breathing organ of the human
body: Skin.
Q:
Is a quick massage better than no massage at all?
In general, yes.
The more detailed answer to this question is that
it’s really up to the baby. The baby determines
when the massage will begin, pause, resume and
end. Remember, infant massage does not have to be
about the strokes that are diagramed in books,
it’s about nurturing and compassionate touch –
so just a loving stroke on the foot while feeding
is ‘infant massage’.
Anecdote: A mother and father, attending the
student teaching hour of my class felt ‘left
out’ because her 3-month old baby started to
feed just as the hour began. When our student
instructor explained that massage is about
nurturing and compassionate touch and that it can
happen anytime, the parents instantly relaxed –
their baby relaxed and they spent the hour
listening, foot stroking, watching and left with a
very sleep-induced baby. Come to find out, the
baby normally cried & screamed after feeding -
until all her burping was finished. She hadn’t
burped at all this time – she went right into
sleep state.
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