Baby Massage: Why and How

Massaging the baby every day before bath has been a traditional Indian custom. Infact, it’s a common practice in India to hire masseurs/Bai/Aya who are proficient in this task on the baby’s delicate body. Initially, Tweety was given this massage by her expert Grand moms but later on when we started doing it ourselves, we searched online to look for correct movements to be made and right way to place the baby for maximum benefit.

Sharing few benefits of the massage, and after reading these, I am sure you would not hesitate to try it for your baby:

• Improved blood circulation and baby feels active and fresh

• Ability to assimilate and digest food becomes better

• Better growth of muscles and bones

• Improves flexibility

• Better hair growth on scalp due to obvious benefits of oil

• Moisturizes and nourishes the skin with nutrients present in oil (Almond, Olive, Coconut etc)

• Charged up baby enjoys the bath better

• Baby sleeps more peacefully and for longer duration

• The whole ritual becomes a fun playtime and bonding time with baby

Things needed:

• Best done on a thick mat(in summers), warm rug (in winters) spread out on floor

• A good quality oil (Tweety used pure almond extracted oil in winters, and coconut oil in summers)

• Plastic sheet/Nappy change sheet as baby would be without diaper

Process:

• Place the rug/mat on the floor in a closed, comfortable room ( In winters, it can also be done under the sun, but should not be done in air)

• Make the baby comfortable preferably in lying down position

• Sit cross legged next to the baby/ Another preferred way is to take the baby in your lap

• Take good amount of oil in your palm (oil can be warmed a bit in winters)

• Gently massage the baby’s tummy in circular motion moving the hand to arms and legs after tummy area

• Slowly repeat the process for all body parts, pay special attention to folds and creases of skin around neck, ear, private parts, inner thighs

• Turn the baby on back and repeat this for the backside of baby

The whole process should take anywhere between 15-20 minutes and baby should be left on the rug to play for sometime (15-20 minutes). The body needs some time to absorb the oil and get adjusted to the increased blood circulation due to massage. This should be followed by a warm, relaxing bubble bath (preferably with bath toys) making it a good fun time for the baby!

Here's a great video which helped us:

 

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