How To Normalize Infant Massage

Infant massage has been around since the dawn of time. I'm sure that every mother learns very quickly the effect of touch of a baby. Vimala Schneider McClure brought this ancient art to the United States in the 1970's, after she observed the positive effect it had on infants in India. She practiced the Indian massage strokes on her own baby and observed its benefits first hand. Ms. McClure is the founder of the International Association of Infant Massage, and the author of "Infant Massage, a Handbook for Loving Parents". Swedish strokes, reflexology, and yoga along with the Indian massage strokes, make up the curriculum for teaching parents the art of infant massage.

The application of infant massage as a catalyst for normalizing a baby's physical and emotional life has a wide range of
This is the least intrusive way to begin a massage as the legs are touched constantly while changing nappies. To place your hands directly on the infant's chest or abdomen to begin massaging can be intrusive, and unacceptable to many infants. Use long firm strokes. Light, feathery massage irritates infants, as it does most adults. Hold one foot in one hand and use the other hand to "milk" the leg, moving from ankle to thigh. Then, hold the thigh with both hands (like you're holding a baseball bat) and use a very gentle twisting and squeezing motion as you move your hands from thigh to foot. Now roll the leg between your hands from knee to ankle. To finish, stroke the legs from thigh to feet. To massage the baby's abdomen, slide palms and fingers in a hand-over-hand circular motion, moving gently from the rib cage downward. Now slide both hands around the abdomen in clockwise, circular movements. If a baby has gas, picture an upside down U over the baby's abdomen. Start with a downward stroke like an "I" on baby's left side. Then stroke along the imaginary upside down "L" and then along the upside down