Monday 3 June 2013
Saturday 20 April 2013
Sunday 31 March 2013
Are you giving your baby Vitamin T?
The Power of Infant Massage
How can you resist that delicious baby fine skin, beautiful smell or
the precious giggles and chuckles as your baby responds to your loving touch?
Touch is the first sense to develop, just days after conception and in utero, infants are exposed to
physical stimulation.
Massage is
one of the most gratifying experiences that your baby can enjoy emotionally for
healthy growth and development, and a beautiful and simple way for you, as a
parent, to express your love for your baby. “Vitamin T – for touch” is essential for
- better health and
growth,
- mentally and
physically and
- massaged babies turn out to be more intelligent than those children who are “touch starved”.
- Babies massaged regularly
have been found to be significantly better in neurological development and
mental functioning.
Skin to skin
contact between you and your baby at birth has been shown to
- reduce crying,
- to encourage mother-baby interaction and
- it keeps your baby warmer as his or her body
temperature becomes stabilised by your own body temperature.
- Additionally it helps breastfeeding as your baby
is programmed to seek the breast naturally and such contact stimulates the
release of oxytocin which makes milk flow.
Of course “Vitamin T” is essential beyond those
precious first few hours. A loving massage by a parent enriches a baby’s body
and soul, and softens many of the “bumps in the road” for a new baby and his or
her family.
Touch
welcomes the new baby into the family structure by demonstrating not only that
baby is safe and protected, but truly cherished. All parents have that power at
their fingertips. And the best news is you don’t need to buy expensive
equipment or make radical changes to your daily workload.
To begin
with gently stroke baby’s legs when you change his or her nappy and whenever
you can in between. Use long firm strokes as good massage must not tickle.
As you
introduce more formal massage it is important to choose a time of day that
suits both of you so that you are relaxed and baby receptive. The best time may
be 20 minutes or so after a feed when baby is calm and alert.
Infant Massage should only ever take place on the floor and not on a change table. Find an area which is warm and where light is not shining directly into baby's eyes. Prepare an area with extra towels, nappies, massage oil etc and ensure you have removed any jewelry which may hurt bub.
Infant Massage should only ever take place on the floor and not on a change table. Find an area which is warm and where light is not shining directly into baby's eyes. Prepare an area with extra towels, nappies, massage oil etc and ensure you have removed any jewelry which may hurt bub.
If you
introduce a little massage at a time starting with just one leg and adding
extra strokes gradually over several days or weeks, depending on baby’s age,
your baby is more likely to accept and enjoy the experience. It is essential to respect your baby’s cues
and level of tolerance and always cease massaging when baby’s body language
indicates he/she is tired and no longer wanting massage. There may be some
strokes that baby does not like and if that is the case stop those strokes for
several weeks and then reintroduce them slowly if baby allows.
For a young
baby (less than 5 months) a bath followed by a massage is far too
stimulating. Keep the 2 events separate
and never massage baby prior to the bath as a slippery baby covered in oil is a
recipe for disaster.
From
stroking the legs and massaging the feet and toes you can move on to stroking
around the abdomen in a clockwise direction which is very beneficial when baby
is suffering from wind or constipation. It is important not to massage baby’s
tummy immediately after a feed and never when he or she has hiccups.
The Permission Sequence Explained
Infant massage
includes the firm stroking of the legs, feet, abdomen, chest, arms, fingers,
face, head and back and should always be preceded by the Permission Sequence.
Making eye contact with your baby rub your hands together (as if you are
warming the oil) and ask baby “do you want a massage now?”
The
Permission Sequence indicates to baby that massage is available and allows you,
the parent, to assess whether or not baby wants stimulation. One of its most
important roles is that of teaching babies respectful/appropriate touch from
infancy. The sequence teaches your baby that if a person wants to have contact
with his/her body they must ask permission first. Babies learn that if they do
not give consent their decision will be fully respected. This is seen as one reason alone for infant massage.
What oil to use?
Pure, cold
pressed organic oil derived from seed, fruit, vegetable or nut is considered best
for massage as the oil will be absorbed by baby’s skin and find its way into
the mouth when toes and fingers are chewed!!
Do you have time for massage?
Adding
massage to your already very busy schedule may seem daunting but it can be
incorporated into even the busiest days.
You can give
baby a leg or foot massage as you change the nappy and a back rub (skin to
skin) after a feed when you are burping him or her.
A tummy
massage and a few leg bends will help a baby who is constipated or suffering
from wind pain. In fact nipping these
problems in the bud by regularly offering a tummy massage may well save you
time and baby the discomfort such problems can bring.
Infant
massage promotes the secretion of dopamine, serotonin and the happy hormones so
massaged babies sleep better than non massaged babies and again offering
massage may save you from walking the floor with a sleepless baby at 2am!!
To learn more about infant massage please contact
Rosemary
Logan, 2013 rosemlogan@gmail.com
Reference:
Pinky McKay, Certified Infant Massage Instructor and Infant Massage Information
Services
Friday 8 March 2013
Attitudes Towards Touch and Outcomes From the Lack of Touch
Attitudes Towards Touch
We all know too well that we live in a fast paced, goal directed, multitask oriented world but our need for touch remains – that’s one of the reasons why people keep pets, so that they can touch them and be touched.
The potency of touch holds immense potential for use and misuse, the potential for harm as well as healing. The tender, loving touch of a parent has long been recognized as a primal need. The simple kiss a parent plants on a toddler’s scraped knee is universally accepted as the best medicine.
But today, with our media full of terrible stories of child abuse some adults are becoming increasingly uncomfortable about touching youngsters. Dr Tiffany Field founder of Touch Institute of the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, Florida, says "We've become such a litigious society," "Children are touch deprived”.
As I wrote those words last year a Channel 9 News (NSW, Australia) report caught my attention. The story’s heading was “Touch too much: pupils protest at school ban on contact”. The report said: “Pupils at a Mornington Peninsula primary school have staged a protest on their school oval after they were banned from hugging or giving each other high-fives in a move blasted as ‘outrageous’ and ‘unbelievable’ by parents.” The ban includes contact sports and playing “tiggy”.
Outcomes from the Lack of Touch
Children raised with a lack of touch have abnormally high levels of stress hormones and a lack of touch can have a profound impact on the will to live. Abused, neglected or touch deprived children learn not to trust touch. They tend to have great difficulty feeling of value, feeling truly powerful, or of forming reciprocally supportive relationships as adults. They are injured by the lack of touch or by abusive touch.
Touch deprived children can demonstrate developmental delays, lack concentration and develop symptoms indistinguishable from autism. The effects of touch deficiencies can have lifelong serious negative ramifications. Frances M Carlson, author of “Essential Touch: Meeting the Needs of Young Children” says “What I think we don’t understand in this culture is that withholding touch from children from fear is as physically and emotionally harmful to children as harmful touch is”.
Numerous studies have shown that children who are appropriately held, hugged, cuddled and touched enjoy better health and growth, mentally and physically and turn out to be more intelligent than those children who are “touch starved”.
Infants and children who receive regular massage experience many benefits and an overall sense of well being and in their “earliest stages of development have higher scores on physical, emotional, and interpersonal skills”.
Teaching parents infant massage and encouraging them to see it as a lifelong gift for their children and hopefully their children’s children is, I believe, one of the cornerstones in the building blocks of parenting and child development.
Additionally, the ‘icing on the cake’ is that as many of these massaged children grow older they begin to return this gift to their parents offering them a massage too. One child has been quoted as saying “When my Dad is angry I massage him and he is not angry anymore”!!
But we need to be cognizant of the pressures of touch phobia and not allow this to cause significant health issues to our future generations. Infant massage may not be the cure-all for that. But it's a very good start.
Encouraging parents to massage their babies and to continue this practice for as long as possible, and hopefully into adolescents is good for humanity.
When we start touching one another it brings in trust, intimacy, vulnerability and kindness perhaps then there will be less violence, less disregard for human life and more understanding.
facebook.com/infantmassageexpertwww.facebook.cominfantmassageexpertwww.learninfantmassage.netwww.learnbabymassage.net
Thursday 28 February 2013
Infant Massage Techniques and The Power of Touch
Touch has been referred to as the ‘mother of all senses’ as it is the first sense to develop in the embryo, and all other senses-sight, sound, taste, and smell are derived from it. Humans crave physical touch and in utero, infants are exposed to physical stimulation.
Touch is a form of communication on the most basic, fundamental level, where there are no words or judgments or ego. It is simply the purest possible interaction between two people.
Touching a new born babe by family members and loved ones welcomes the new baby into the family structure by showing bub that he or she is not only safe and protected, but truly cherished. All parents have that power at their fingertips.
Touch is vital and establishes powerful physical and emotional connections between baby and his or her caregivers and touch plays an essential role for the development of attachment behavior and for the early social development of the young child.
“All humans need loving physical contact including babies. Parents can literally boost their baby’s immune function, accelerating healing and speed recovery from physical stress by giving their babies the gift of human touch. It’s powerful medicine.” (Mike Adams, natural health advocate USA). Touch is vitally important to communication and learning and is a powerful healing force.
“To be tender, loving, and caring, human beings must be tenderly loved and cared for in their earliest years, from the moment they are born. Held in the arms of their mothers, caressed, cuddled, and comforted.” - Dr Ashley Montagu.
The power of touch has been known for eons and infant massage has been around for centuries. Documented evidence of infant massage occurred as early as 2760 BC in China. It has been practiced for centuries in parts of South Africa, South America and the Far East as part of the mothering process. Infants have enjoyed its benefits as part of their daily lives in places such as Nigeria, Uganda, Fiji, New Guinea and Venezuela.
Within 3 weeks of conception, we have developed a primitive nervous system which links skin cells to our rudimentary brain. Because of this fact massage on any area of the body stimulates nerves which then effect different organs, relax muscles and effect secretion of a number of hormones and neurotransmitters for example, cortisol, serotonin, melatonin and oxytocin. All of these factors are critical to the maintenance of physiological and psychological regulation in infants, children and adults.
The Touch Institute of the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, Florida has conducted significant research on the importance of touch. When it was formally founded in 1992 by Dr Tiffany Field, The Institute was the first centre in the world devoted solely to the study of touch and its application in science and medicine.
Infant Massage is one of the most gratifying experiences that your baby can enjoy emotionally for healthy growth and development, and is a beautiful and simple way for you, as a parent, to express your love for your baby. A loving massage by a parent enriches a baby’s body and soul, and softens many of the “bumps in the road” for a new baby and his or her family.
Formal infant massage techniques involves the systematic touch by human hands in a particular sequence: legs and feet, buttocks, abdomen, chest, arms and hands, face and back.
Infant massage is composed of relaxing Indian massage strokes where the firm, deliberate strokes are directed away from the body, stimulating Swedish massage with strokes directed towards the body and some reflexology.
Parents who massage their infants become sensitive to and understanding of their baby’s cues and thus bonding is developed as parents engage and relax their child in a mutually pleasurable interaction. Infant massage contributes to infant-parent attachment.
Rosemary Logan ©Rosemary Logan 2013.
All rights reserved
www.learnbabymassage.net wwwfacebook.com/infantmassageexpert
Touch is a form of communication on the most basic, fundamental level, where there are no words or judgments or ego. It is simply the purest possible interaction between two people.
Touching a new born babe by family members and loved ones welcomes the new baby into the family structure by showing bub that he or she is not only safe and protected, but truly cherished. All parents have that power at their fingertips.
Touch is vital and establishes powerful physical and emotional connections between baby and his or her caregivers and touch plays an essential role for the development of attachment behavior and for the early social development of the young child.
“All humans need loving physical contact including babies. Parents can literally boost their baby’s immune function, accelerating healing and speed recovery from physical stress by giving their babies the gift of human touch. It’s powerful medicine.” (Mike Adams, natural health advocate USA). Touch is vitally important to communication and learning and is a powerful healing force.
“To be tender, loving, and caring, human beings must be tenderly loved and cared for in their earliest years, from the moment they are born. Held in the arms of their mothers, caressed, cuddled, and comforted.” - Dr Ashley Montagu.
The power of touch has been known for eons and infant massage has been around for centuries. Documented evidence of infant massage occurred as early as 2760 BC in China. It has been practiced for centuries in parts of South Africa, South America and the Far East as part of the mothering process. Infants have enjoyed its benefits as part of their daily lives in places such as Nigeria, Uganda, Fiji, New Guinea and Venezuela.
Within 3 weeks of conception, we have developed a primitive nervous system which links skin cells to our rudimentary brain. Because of this fact massage on any area of the body stimulates nerves which then effect different organs, relax muscles and effect secretion of a number of hormones and neurotransmitters for example, cortisol, serotonin, melatonin and oxytocin. All of these factors are critical to the maintenance of physiological and psychological regulation in infants, children and adults.
The Touch Institute of the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, Florida has conducted significant research on the importance of touch. When it was formally founded in 1992 by Dr Tiffany Field, The Institute was the first centre in the world devoted solely to the study of touch and its application in science and medicine.
Infant Massage is one of the most gratifying experiences that your baby can enjoy emotionally for healthy growth and development, and is a beautiful and simple way for you, as a parent, to express your love for your baby. A loving massage by a parent enriches a baby’s body and soul, and softens many of the “bumps in the road” for a new baby and his or her family.
Formal infant massage techniques involves the systematic touch by human hands in a particular sequence: legs and feet, buttocks, abdomen, chest, arms and hands, face and back.
Parents who massage their infants become sensitive to and understanding of their baby’s cues and thus bonding is developed as parents engage and relax their child in a mutually pleasurable interaction. Infant massage contributes to infant-parent attachment.
www.learnbabymassage.net wwwfacebook.com/infantmassageexpert
Friday 22 February 2013
5 Great Reasons for Learning Infant Massage Techniques
Feeling tired because your baby isn’t sleeping, anxious because your baby’s crying a lot or stressed because he or she is suffering from wind, colic, reflux or constipation and it seems there is nothing you can do? Then learning infant massage techniques could be the answer you are looking for.
Infant Massage has been practiced for centuries. Documented evidence of infant massage occurred as early as 2760 BC in China. It has been used for centuries in parts of South Africa, South America and the Far East as part of the mothering process. Infants have enjoyed its benefits as part of their daily lives in places such as Nigeria, Uganda, Fiji, New Guinea and Venezuela.
Western society has been slow to embrace this systematic loving process. It was introduced to the United States in the 1970’s and in the 1980’s there was slow but steady recognition, primarily by parents with “well babies” and the 1990’s saw an expansion of infant massage techniques into hospital-based inpatient and outpatient programs as well as community programs for families with ‘at risk and/or special needs’ children.
Infant Massage gained popularity in the late 1990’s in the United Kingdom and was introduced to Australia in the last 20 years. Research and clinical studies have shown that infant massage can benefit babies in a number of different ways.
A very important benefit includes relieving stress in babies, in parents, grandparents and caregivers who massage their babies regularly and in young children who continue to receive massage on a regular basis.
Infant or Baby Massage incorporating Indian and Swedish Massage and some reflexology is now very popular in Europe, the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa and in the Asian countries. It is now fast becoming a popular practice for Australian families, with over 1000 parents attending infant massage classes in the past year.
Some of the Benefits of Infant Massage includes:
1 Massage and Sleep
When practiced correctly infant massage can increase serotonin levels and regulate melatonin secretion rhythms helping babies sleep for longer periods of time and regulate sleep patterns.
2 Reduces Crying Time
Various research studies on infant massage have shown that there is a significant reduction in overall crying time with infants and toddlers who receive massage.
3 Reduces the Discomfort of Colic, Wind and Constipation.
Infant massage also helps stimulate elimination of waste from the body and correct massage of the abdomen can encourage bowel movement and improve wind, colic and constipation. Learning the special colic massage can be enormously helpful and for many babies colic completely disappears. Additionally it can help reflux.
4 Reduces Stress in Mums and Dads
Mums and Dads benefit too as they are less anxious with massage lowering their cortisol production (the stress hormone) as well as improving moods and self esteem.
5 Strengthens Bonding
Bonding between parent and newborn may take time and does not always happen in the days following birth. Infant Massage promotes the release of oxytocin which is known as the “nurturing hormone”.
Later blogs will explore and explain some of the science behind these benefits. More benefits are listed on my website.
Learning the correct techniques and strokes from a qualified infant massage instructor is not hard for Mum and Dad, grandparents or any caregiver and once learnt is a rich a beautiful gift which you can keep giving your child well into adolescence and you never know, your child may well give the gift back and massage you!!!
Infant Massage has been practiced for centuries. Documented evidence of infant massage occurred as early as 2760 BC in China. It has been used for centuries in parts of South Africa, South America and the Far East as part of the mothering process. Infants have enjoyed its benefits as part of their daily lives in places such as Nigeria, Uganda, Fiji, New Guinea and Venezuela.
Western society has been slow to embrace this systematic loving process. It was introduced to the United States in the 1970’s and in the 1980’s there was slow but steady recognition, primarily by parents with “well babies” and the 1990’s saw an expansion of infant massage techniques into hospital-based inpatient and outpatient programs as well as community programs for families with ‘at risk and/or special needs’ children.
Infant Massage gained popularity in the late 1990’s in the United Kingdom and was introduced to Australia in the last 20 years. Research and clinical studies have shown that infant massage can benefit babies in a number of different ways.
A very important benefit includes relieving stress in babies, in parents, grandparents and caregivers who massage their babies regularly and in young children who continue to receive massage on a regular basis.
Infant or Baby Massage incorporating Indian and Swedish Massage and some reflexology is now very popular in Europe, the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa and in the Asian countries. It is now fast becoming a popular practice for Australian families, with over 1000 parents attending infant massage classes in the past year.
Some of the Benefits of Infant Massage includes:
1 Massage and Sleep
When practiced correctly infant massage can increase serotonin levels and regulate melatonin secretion rhythms helping babies sleep for longer periods of time and regulate sleep patterns.
2 Reduces Crying Time
Various research studies on infant massage have shown that there is a significant reduction in overall crying time with infants and toddlers who receive massage.
3 Reduces the Discomfort of Colic, Wind and Constipation.
Infant massage also helps stimulate elimination of waste from the body and correct massage of the abdomen can encourage bowel movement and improve wind, colic and constipation. Learning the special colic massage can be enormously helpful and for many babies colic completely disappears. Additionally it can help reflux.
4 Reduces Stress in Mums and Dads
Mums and Dads benefit too as they are less anxious with massage lowering their cortisol production (the stress hormone) as well as improving moods and self esteem.
5 Strengthens Bonding
Bonding between parent and newborn may take time and does not always happen in the days following birth. Infant Massage promotes the release of oxytocin which is known as the “nurturing hormone”.
Later blogs will explore and explain some of the science behind these benefits. More benefits are listed on my website.
Learning the correct techniques and strokes from a qualified infant massage instructor is not hard for Mum and Dad, grandparents or any caregiver and once learnt is a rich a beautiful gift which you can keep giving your child well into adolescence and you never know, your child may well give the gift back and massage you!!!
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