Massage can be an important way to help a baby with special needs. There are only a few situations where massage is not advised and these are chronic skin conditions and certain medical procedures or conditions where your baby may be inaccessible. Talk with a consultant to find out what you can do to help your baby.

If your baby is in an incubator, it may be possible to hold or stroke your baby’s hand. As much skin to skin contact is beneficial for both of you. With a special care baby who may be handled a lot by medical professionals, it is important to introduce touch so your baby can begin to associate physical contact as something loving and positive.

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Reflexology is the ancient art of foot massage. It is recognised as a treatment that brings about wellbeing in the whole body. Our feet are magnificently designed to carry our entire weight everywhere. Look after them and they should last a lifetime. Babies feet are very sensitive. Be sure to avoid using heavy pressure on any one point on the foot.

1.

Start with your baby’s right foot. Sandwich the little foot between both hands and rub quickly. This will warm chilly feet.

2.

Resting the ball of the foot in the fingers of both your hands, use your free thumbs to smooth down inbetween the toe webbing in an alternating rhythm. Start at the big toe, four strokes each, working towards the little toe.

3.

Supporting the heel with the inside hand, use the other to gently and slowly wiggle each toe, between your thumb and two fingers, beginning with the big toe and moving towards the smallest.

4.

With your fingers of both hands resting on top of the foot, use your thumbs underneath to draw upwards on the sole of the feet ending at the toes. Repeat this movement four times

5.

Repeat all these movements on your baby’s left foot. Finish with a kiss on each foot.

Smooth down in between the toe webbing

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This massage can be done as often as you wish.

Begin with your baby on its back, facing you.

The rocking movement helps loosen your baby's hips and lower back.

Legs

A baby's legs are constantly strengthening to eventually support entire body weight and movement. Massaging a baby's legs encourages healthy development and improves flexibility in the lower back and hip joints.

1. With well-oiled hands, take your baby’s leg with two hands and gently shake it. With one hand at the inner thigh and the other on the outside hip, firmly and evenly pull alternate hands down your baby’s leg finishing at the tips of the toes, making as much contact with the flesh as possible. Repeat several times.

2. Placing your inside hand under your baby’s ankle for support, use your other hand to stroke up from the knee and down the outside of your baby’s thigh to make a long circle. The upward stroke, beginning above the knee joint, should be angled slightly towards the inner leg, to then circle outward at the groin, and downwards on the outer side of the upper leg. Do this slowly to feel every contour of your baby’s body, releasing pressure slightly as you circle above the knee.

3. Place your outer hand under the knee, with the thumb gliding on top, gently stroking and pulling down to rest at the heel. At the same time, with your alternate hand, place your fingers behind your baby’s knee, ready with thumb on top, to pull down the under and inside of your baby’s leg, finishing at the foot. This should be an alternating and flowing movement as though climbing a rope.

4. Place your baby’s knee outward, to make a triangle shape. Supporting the ankle with your inside hand, use your outside hand to stroke upwards from the knee, around and down the outside of the thigh. This is similar to step 2 but you are massaging much more of the inner thigh.

5. Placing your baby’s ankle on its tummy and supporting it gently with your inner hand, use the palm of your outer hand to circle around and underneath your baby’s lower back, hips and buttocks. Do this several times, slowly.

6. Straighten the leg, giving it a gentle, playful shake, then stroke firmly from hip to foot with alternate hands as in step 1.

Repeat steps 1-6 with the other leg.

7. Now take your baby’s ankles and gently relax the hip joints with bicycle movements, gently and slowly peddling the legs, with one bending as the other straightens.

8. Place the ankles loosely together. With well-oiled hands, begin with both hands at each inner knee, and circle upwards and outwards with both hands simultaneously, curving around at the hip and pulling downwards to the outside knee. Do this several times.

9. Then repeat the bicycle movement, stopping to clap the soles of your baby’s feet together playfully. Kiss them, and blow on them, and repeat the bicycle movement again.

10. Bringing the soles of your baby’s feet together, bring the heels to rest gently on your baby’s tummy, holding the feet with one hand. Relax your baby with gentle rocking movements. This relaxes the hip joints giving greater flexibility. With you free hand, massage the buttock in large, slow, outward circular movements. Change hands and do the other buttock.

11. Straighten both legs and give a little shake.

12. Replenish your oil, and using your palms, pull down both sides of the body from your baby’s underarms, over the chest, hips and legs. Repeat slowly four times.

Massaging your baby's stomach aids digestion and helps ease colic.

Stomach

Your baby will adore its belly being massaged. It is comforting, helps release tension and encourages digestion and bowel function. In this part of you baby’s body, there is the diaphragm to assist breathing, the stomach, the lower part of the liver, the gall bladder and the bowel, comprising the small and large intestine. If your baby’s tummy is round and tight like a balloon, it is likely there is trapped wind. Be gentle. The stomach is highly revered in eastern medicine, regarded at the centre of “chi” or energy. It is also an emotional centre and houses the “solar plexus”, a nerve centre located in the dip below the ribs.

1. Begin by warming your hands by rubbing them together. Place one hand in the centre of your baby’s abdomen. Your hand may seem large compared to a little body. With your hand and wrist relaxed, gently and slowly move in a clockwise direction around the abdomen. Your fingers will extend over to the lower part of your baby’s chest. Keep your palm above your baby’s pubic bone. Repeat this movement several times.

2. Loosely cup your hand and place it horizontally across your baby’s stomach. (It may be easier to position yourself to one side). Lift your fingertips slightly and gently, pushing away from you, move your hand across the belly to the other side, so that slight pressure is coming from the heel of your palm. At the other side, curve your fingers down and around the side of your baby, positioned between its lowest rib and hip, then lifting the heel of your palm slightly, allow the hand to draw back towards you, dragging your hand slowly back across the belly. Repeat movement four times. This becomes a rocking rhythm, as though you are pushing and pulling. Done slowly, this movement stimulates your baby’s ascending and descending colon.

3. This next move is like doing a slow dog-paddle-swimming stroke at the side of your baby’s belly. Stay positioned at your baby’s side, and place one hand at a time on the side of your baby’s belly opposite you. Draw your hands up in long, slow, alternate movements, With every stroke, feel your baby’s flesh becoming warm under your hand. After 10 or so strokes, change side and repeat this movement.

4. Finish by holding your hands on your baby’s tummy, feeling the warmth between you, (if your hands are too big, place one on the tummy and the other on your baby’s chest).

Massaging this area helps respiratory tract problems and opens the chest and shoulders.

Chest and Shoulders

This area houses the rhythm of breathing and the core of circulation. Our lungs bring oxygen into our bodies, our heart pumps it around, and then our unwanted carbon dioxide is brought back to our chest and returned to the world.

Massaging this area helps respiratory tract problems and opens the chest and shoulders.

1. Beginning with both hands on your baby’s chest, smooth up and around your baby’s shoulders and back to the chest. Repeat six times.

2. Beginning again with both hands on the chest, smooth up and around you baby’s shoulders and this time extend outwards horizontally along your baby’s arms to the fingertips. Use all of your hand’s surface area and vary the angle on each stroke to cover as much flesh as possible. Repeat this movement several times.

3. Bringing your baby’s hands together, playfully tap the palms together, blowing on the fingers.

4. Then with your hands placed on the inside of your baby’s elbows and your thumbs protectively under your baby’s elbow joints, tap the arms gently but quickly against the floor. This loosens the shoulder joints.

5. Lifting one of your baby’s arms, skyward, use both hands at once but alternately to massage upwards, drawing the length of the arm to the fingertips. When one of your hands is at the fingertips, the other is beginning at your baby’s armpit. This is like the reverse of rope climbing. Repeat this movement on the other arm

6. Finish by stroking down the body from the front of the shoulders over the chest, hips and legs. Do this four times.

Massaging around your baby's lower back and buttocks is calming and eases constipation.

Back & Spine

Turn your baby over to rest on its tummy with the soles of the feet facing you. A natural reaction may be for your baby to raise itself up using its arms. This is a fabulous movement to help develop the upper back, also called the dorsal or thoracic spine, beginning at the base of the neck and extending to the 12th vertebrae. If your baby is young, it may not be strong enough to do this movement yet.

1. Begin with well-oiled hands stroking down your baby’s back from the top of the shoulders right to the base of the spine. The downward direction is calming for your baby. Repeat slowly six times.

2. Cupping your hands, relax your fingers and wrists and gently pat the muscles of each side of your baby’s spine right to the base. This should make a popping sound.
Follow By Repeating Step 1.

3. With your outside hand holding you baby’s upper arm, and your other hand holding the wrist, gently pull your baby’s arm downwards and backwards in line with it body. This is a stretch, not a tug, or jolting action. Follow this movement with well-oiled hands drawing down your baby’s arm to the fingertips. Repeat these two movements on the other arm.

4. Now do the same movements at the same time on both arms. Starting with both your hands placed on each of your baby’s shoulders, massage down the arms, gently and slowly pulling both arms downwards and backwards simultaneously. Repeat 3 or 4 times. Then repeat Step 1.

5. Massage all around the base of the spine and lower back with an open, relaxed hand making wide circular movements on both sides. Repeat this several times.

6. Replenish oil and simultaneously run both hands slowly down the back of the legs, straightening and stretching the legs. Do this four times.

7. With your inside hand, take one heel and press it into your baby’s buttocks, smoothing around the buttock with the other hand and circling to the front of the hip, back around to the buttock. Repeat 3 times then do the same for the other leg.

8. Cupping your hands, gently pat your baby’s buttocks and backs of both legs.

9. End with gentle fingertip stroking down your baby’s spine, getting lighter with each stroke.

When you have finished the routine, wipe your baby with a soft, clean towel to cleanse the skin and remove any excess oil before you replace your baby’s nappy.

The whole massage routine including Reflexology for Babies should take between 20-25 minutes.

The downward direction is calming for your baby.

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You may wish to begin with a small 10 minute routine of light massage while lying together on a soft towel. This massage can be done daily after bathing or integrated into a full baby massage. It is good routine for a newborn that is unable to stay still for long.

Angle your baby slightly on its side, and with well-oiled hands, gently stroke around the shoulders and down the side of your baby’s body. Try to make your strokes as continuous and long as possible. It is likely that your baby will wriggle at first. Making small clicking sounds with your tongue can sometimes centre their attention and often stop them from launching into a full-scale cry. Baby’s love rhythm.

Still tilted, use slow and sweeping circular movements down one side of the back to its buttocks.

Massage the back of your baby’s hips, lower spine and buttocks with slow outward circles.

Turn your baby to the other side and repeat the three movements.

Curving around your baby's buttocks pull both hands simultaneously down the legs to end at the toes.
Sitting up, gently centre your baby on its back. Place both hands at the base of your baby’s lower spine. Using firm and deliberate movements, curve round your baby’s buttocks and pull both hands simultaneously down the legs, gently straightening and stretching the leg as you go, with your thumbs gliding easily over the front of the legs, encompassing as much of the flesh as possible. You need a generous amount of oil on your hands to do this well. Vary each stroke by turning your wrists slightly, to cover as much of your baby’s inner and outer leg area as possible.

Beginning with both hands on your baby’s chest, smooth up and around your baby’s shoulders and out horizontally along its arms to the fingertips. Again, use all of your hand’s surface area and vary the angle on each stroke to cover as much flesh as possible.

Placing one hand flat on your baby’s tummy and hold for ten seconds. Then, supporting your baby’s side with the other hand, slowly and gently circle your baby’s tummy. This can be a sensitive area. If your baby resists, hold your hand still for a moment, before slowly resuming the circles.

Placing your baby on its tummy, skin to skin on your stomach, slowly stroke down your baby’s back with alternate strokes, gently over the spine. The downward movement has a calming effect on your baby’s nervous system. Then separate your hands slightly so one hand strokes one side of the back and the other strokes the other side, on alternate strokes. Keep the rhythm regular and continuous, all the time communicating with your baby.

Finish with a kiss on your baby’s forehead.

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• always wash your hands
• remove long nails so as not to scratch your baby
• remove jewellery
• wear something short-sleeved and nothing that you would mind getting oil on (as this is more than likely!)
• create a comfortable environment
• the room should be warm and draught-free
• Ensure you are sitting comfortably
• Try sitting on the floor on the edge of a cushion with your feet in front of you, If you are more comfortable standing, you may wish to use the changing table
• Place your baby on a soft, clean, cotton surface
• Turn off your thoughts
• Become aware of your breathing and create a rhythm, expanding both your chest and stomach as you inhale slowly
• As you exhale, slowly breathe out more than you breathed in

The Secret of a Great Massage

Throughout the routine, keep talking to your baby. Communication helps your baby relax. Look into your baby’s eyes. Your hands and wrists should be relaxed with your fingers together. The secret of a good massage is to create as much contact as possible, using the whole of your hand’s surface area, especially your palms. Aim for rhythm, with slow movements. Massage is like an intuitive dance. Be firm with your pressure. Your baby is stronger than you think. You can stop at any time, return and continue where you left off.

You do not have to complete the entire routine every massage. If your baby cries and does not stop, do not continue the massage. You and your baby should regard massage as a happy event. The following routines are guidelines. You may wish to vary the order, adapt them to suit or leave out certain moves until you and your baby become more at ease with each other.

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Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils extracted from flowers, roots, leaves, bark, seeds and fruit of plants, to aid the process of healing.

Oils Considered Safe for Babies

Lavender

Soothing, antiseptic and antiviral, lavender is gentle and builds your baby’s immune system, clears the airways and helps promote sleep. It is also suitable for burns and insect bites.

Roman Chammomile

Useful for its calming and relaxing properties, chammomile is anti-inflammatory, calms the digestive system and is a powerful sedative, fabulous to coax a baby to sleep.

Rose

Gentle and calming, rose is richly scented and noted for its emotionally soothing quality. Rose helps balance dry skin and is wonderful for a clingy baby.

Mandarin

Soothing and gently astringent, mandarin is wonderful for treating anxiety, tension and insomnia. It is useful to help regulate your baby’s bowel motions.

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Baby massage provides a perfect opportunity to share moments of intimacy, direct physical contact and positive interaction. It helps you both build trust and confidence in each other. Massage is mutually enhancing and the physical and emotional benefits for your baby are abundant.

Massage:

• Encourages muscle co-ordination
• Promotes sleep
• Relieves pain
• Soothes irritations and inflammations
• Stimulates you baby’s immune system
• Helps circulation
• Aids digestion
• Encourages bowel function
• Nourishes the skin
• Cleanses the skin
• Increases flexibility
• Enhances emotional security

Do not carry out massage if your baby:

• Is ill
• Is asleep
  Is obviously in pain
• Has just eaten
• Has just been immunised (wait two days for any reaction, then avoid massaging the injection site for a week)
• Has a reactive skin disorder
• Some homeopathic medications should not be used with aromatherapy essential oils. Check with your naturopath. A natural base oil can be used on its own.

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Baby massage first begins in the womb and is intensified during birth. The strong contractions of the womb massage the baby and stimulate the nervous system and organs, encouraging circulation and muscle development for life outside the uterus. The vernix caseosa, the white greasy substance covering the baby’s skin, is moisturising and protects the baby’s in the womb. It is rich in vitamin K and is regarded as the “ultimate massage oil”. Many tribal cultures leave the vernix on the newborn for two or three days before washing the baby by hand using only warm water. A natural oil is then applied to moisturise the delicate skin. Some hospitals recognise the benefits of the vernix and do not remove it immediately. It is thought that leaving it on for as long as possible reduces the incidence of your baby developing skin infections.

Massage can be done by both the mother and father and provides a unique opportunity to bond with your newborn. In your baby’s first few months, you will have a lot of hands-on contact. Wherever possible, introduce light stroking, with or without oil or lotion. It is a natural instinct to stroke your baby and your baby will love it. In the bath, use a natural baby wash or an oil blend as if lathering your baby. (Always keep products away from your baby’s eyes as it can affect your baby’s vision and may sting).
Pat dry with a warm, soft muslin swaddle cloth.

Oil Blends

A baby’s skin is more receptive than a mature adult skin. Therefore care must be taken in choosing what to apply to your newborn’s skin. Only pure, preferably organic, preparations should be used. Always read the label, as many commercial baby oils are mineral-based and contain derivatives of crude petroleum. These tend to block pores and inhibiting the natural secretions of the glands that keep the skin balanced, waterproof and resilient. Much commercial talcum powder contains metals, so use a product that has a natural base.

Try these base oils:

Grapeseed

Light, non-greasy fruit oil, free of scent, grapeseed oil is easily absorbed, inexpensive and available in most health shops and supermarkets.

Sweet Almond

A nut oil, light with a mild fragrance.

Coconut Oil

Native to Polynesia and Malaysia, the coconut palm produces a light nut oil with a mild fragrance. It solidifies when cooled but readily melts in a hot hand.

These base oils are edible and therefore safe when your baby puts its hands to its mouth during the massage.

Skin Test

Always test first. Applying the oil blend to a small area and leaving it for an hour easily does this. A reaction will produce red blotching or small bumps that will disappear again within a few hours. If this occurs, choose another oil or blend.

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