How to massage your baby: the power of touch
The massage your baby they are an excellent medium for parents who want to give their children the best start of their lives. Babies get great benefits thanks to the massages: they help to alleviate the trauma of childbirth and make them enter a receptive state with which they achieve an adequate development.
Children who start to walk and receive Massages regularly they master locomotive skills more easily. Massage is a pleasant way to get to know the baby and to establish a rich and satisfying relationship with him.
The power of touch: massages as communication with your baby
Through massage we communicate with our baby through the skin and we try to do it in the most affectionate way possible. In this way, we stimulate all the senses in the child and establish a more intense, visual and tactile communication. Massaging your baby is also essential to develop the bond of attachment.
It is more advisable that we start massages from the fourth week of the newborn's life.
Remember that careful and loving touches are necessary, not a mechanical massage, so it is convenient to be flexible and not maintain a rigid routine in the exercises. For example, if the baby wants to change position during the massage, we must leave it and not force him to always maintain the same position.
It is important to choose the time of day in which both our baby and we are more relaxed.
For massages to be more effective, we must ensure that the Room temperature is warm and pleasant so you do not feel cold or hot (25-28 degrees Celsius). And once checked, we will place the baby on a soft surface so that he feels safe and we can both work comfortably, always having some cushions on the side.
How to massage your baby?
Massages on the arms and hands of the baby
- Hands that rest: We spread the palms of the hands over the baby.
- Underarms: We are doing circles in the armpits.
- Hindu emptying: as if we milked our arms from top to bottom.
- Compression and torsion: as if we were twisting a soft wet cloth.
- Finger bearing: we take each finger and make compressions and twists out finger by finger several times.
- Back of the hand: We massage the back of the hand gently.
- Circles with the wrist: we apply rotating movements on the wrists.
- Swedish emptying: unlike the Hindu emptying
- Bearings: We rub our hands with the baby's arm in the middle.
- Relaxation touches: taps to relax the area
- Integration: We caress the neck to start the treatment on the face
We perform a full massage on one arm and once we have finished, we start on the other
Massages on the face of the baby
- Open a book: We open a circle from the nose to the forehead, then from the nose to the eyebrows.
- Relax your eyes: massage on the eyebrows.
- Nasal and cheek muscles: We massage the cheeks and draw a rhombus that ends in the chin.
- Smiles: we pinch him gently at the corners of his mouth.
- Relaxation of the jaw: Circles from the chin to the ears.
- Ears, neck and chin: a gentle massage for the whole environment.
Massages on the back of the baby
- Hands that rest: We spread the palms of the hands over the baby.
- Come and see: spread the oil or cream on the skin sideways.
- Swept: We slide our hands over the skin, wrinkling, mobilizing the tissues.
- Circles in the back: We started by drawing large circles on the back. Then, we make them smaller until they become more analytical on both sides of the column.
- Hairstyle: once we decide we want to finalize the massage, we decrease the pressure and we caress the back very slowly with the fingertips as if we were combing it.
And to end a kiss with a lot of love so that the baby does not identify it as torture.
REMEMBER
- Repeat these exercises as many times as you think necessary.
- Do them at the time you think is best for you and the baby.
- Do not worry if the baby does not collaborate initially ... try again, a little later.
Helena Castillejo Physiotherapist at the Gynecological Institute EGR
