A massage is a great way to start the day, end a bath session, or begin or end a bedtime ritual. The benefits for both parent and child are many in conducting regular baby massage classes for infants:

For Baby, a gentle massage:

Provides for relaxation, and promotes restful sleep.
Stimulates neurological development, and efficiency of baby's immune system.
Improves baby's digestion and circulation, and helps to relieve the pain of teething, gas, illness, and colic.
Boosts baby's developing nervous system, and promotes healthy weight gain.
Increases sensory awareness and provides baby with the much needed touch and connection.
Boosts growth - promoting hormones.
Provides huge physiological benefits for special needs babies and those who are prematurely born as any premature baby massage article research review would agree.
Most important, enhances bonding between parent and baby.

For A Parent, massaging baby

Helps improve his/her skills in reading baby's cues, and develop confidence in handling baby.
Provides for a special time with baby that is truly focused, and which helps deepens the bond with baby.
Gives the parent a tool by which baby can be calmed and made to relax and by which he/she can enjoy the soft feel of baby's miraculous little body.
Provides parents of special needs babies a unique way to bond with baby.
Helps provide parents with an amazing new way to settle a colicky or a fussy baby, and with a loving and tender method by which a sibling could be introduced to a baby.

The Right Setting To Conduct A Baby Massage:

Massaging baby is a time of special bonding between parent and child. For such a bond to develop and grow:

The parent has to choose a time when she/he is not going to be interrupted, and when he/she does not feel rushed. The baby also must not be too hungry or too full. A full half hour after baby has been eaten is the best time for a massage; and at a moment when both parent and child are relaxed and calm.
Undress baby completely, first making sure that the room temperature is suitably warm-approximately 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover those areas of baby's tender skin which are not going to be massaged, if the weather is cold.
Place baby on soft cushions to feel comfortable, snug, and secure.
From the baby massage kit, the parent or caregiver could use some baby oil or lotion on the hands and rub them together before starting the massage; so that they would feel soft and warm on baby's tender skin.
The massage should flow from the head to the toes- lightly starting from the head, face and shoulders, to soft and sure strokes on the chest and stomach, and finally ending w ith a gentle caress of the legs.
As the baby is being massaged, keep looking lovingly at baby and speaking tenderly and without inhibition to him/her, so that all of baby's visual and tactile senses are stimulated, and a very special bond between parent and child begins to grow.
Parents must remember to practice a more flexible, and always tender, massage routine, and not rigidly limit themselves to a set pattern.
If baby wants to change positions, allow for that; since the parent could always massage those areas later on.
If the baby has had enough of the massage, respect baby's feelings, and stop the massage.
If the baby has just been ill or has been immunized, defer the massage session for a later time until baby is fully recovered.

Baby massages are just one way in which parents show their love for their child; but it is one of the most satisfying ways as any baby massage research article or baby massage gallery would vouch for. Armed with the necessary baby creams and lotions from the baby massage kit, and having attended the necessary baby massage classes, the parent needs only his/her intuition as a guide to develop that special bond with baby something that every natural and premature baby massage article research review would agree with.

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