Why should you massage your baby?

There are a variety of benefits for both you, the parent and your baby when you set aside time for a massage. Each stroke tells your baby that they are loved and they will feel nurtured, thus strengthening the bond between you. Skin-to-skin massage releases oxytocin which, according to researchers at Florida Atlantic University, promotes neurophysiological development in the baby. The release of oxytocin also enables the parent to feel calm and relaxed. 

I’d be lying if I said that massaging your baby would result in your baby sleeping through the night but it is true that regular massage may help them to sleep longer and deeper. But babies are just small individual people and, just like massage can sometimes have the effect on stimulating us, so it is the same for your babies. Regular practice and observation of your baby while massaging means that you will notice how they react to the massage – does it wake them up, in which case do the massage as part of their morning routine. If it relaxes them substantially, make it part of their bedtime routine. Only you, as your baby’s expert, can judge when the best time to do this is. 

One thing is certain – massaging your baby regularly will bring you closer. You will be developing trust and learning their non-verbal communication cues and, during the massage, your baby will generally feel very relaxed. 

Baby massage can help to stimulate the body systems: the circulatory system, the digestive system – it can help with colic, constipation and trapped wind. Massage can also help to ease muscular tension and teething discomfort as well as stimulating growth in pre-term infants. Researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy also recently discovered that massage accelerates the maturation of visual function! This is linked to the way that massage accelerates brain development. 

You can start massaging your baby from birth but usually, by the time you feel up to getting out and about to classes, babies tend to be around four weeks old. You can start at anytime but I tend to only have babies up to pre-crawling in my classes only because it is harder to massage a mobile baby than it is to massage a baby that stays on their mat. I encourage adapting massages as your baby grows so that you don’t stop and continue for many, many years but there’s a difference massaging a baby that is used to it from a very young age and starting massage on a mobile baby whose mission in life is to explore and discover – they won’t want you holding them back for a massage. 

There are many positive benefits to massaging your baby but the most important one in my opinion is that it is just lush. Set aside around 20 minutes a day where it’s just you and your baby – some quiet time where, as you are massaging your baby, you are singing to them or talking to them and observing them. You will learn so much about your small person and you are creating a strong, emotional bond between you and that has a huge impact on both your baby and you. What’s not to love?