Early psychological and sensory input is essential in facilitating the development of all infants. Infants Massage is a preventative program that provides a loving touch right from the start. Understanding the benefits and beginning touch early in life can improve the quality of parenting and promote the well being of the infant.
The Need For Infant Massage
The growth in popularity for infant massage instruction is due to positive research outcomes, our changing lifestyles, and a desire for parents to provide better care for their infants and children.
In situations where both parents are working, daily massage helps compensate for the separation by re-establishing the bond and providing quality intimate time for both parents and baby.
For fathers, creating and maintaining a close physical bond with their baby is particularly important. They often lack the time or opportunity for nurturing. However, the practice of infant massage can help a father experience a nurturing feeling in a way unlike any other. the mutual interaction gives both child and parent more self-confidence and a special time together.
A Study conducted in Australia where fathers massaged their infants showed greater involvement and less avoidance behaviors. (Scholtz, K., & Samuels, C. A. (1992)
Importance of Infant Massage
Early psychological and sensory input is essential in facilitating the development of all infants. Infants Massage is a preventative program that provides a loving touch right from the start. Understanding the benefits and beginning touch early in life can improve the quality of parenting and promote the well being of the infant.
Infant Massage contains such critical elements of bonding as eye-to-eye contact, smiling, soothing, vocal sounds, loving touch, caressing, smell, and mutual interaction. Studies show that bonding increases a parent’s feeling of attachment as well as the desire to nurture and care for their infant.
These interactions “increase pleasurable biochemicals in the child’s brain, thereby strengthening neural pathways associated with pleasure and motivation; it strengthens the parent’s bond to the baby and the baby’s attachment to the parent.
Why Infant Massage
Benefits for Baby
*Enhances bonding and attachments
*Creates loving, intimate communication
*Promotes social, emotional & cognitive development
Helps baby relax & releases tensions of daily stimuli
Decreases irritability and excessive crying
Reduces gas and colic, intestinal difficulties
Regulates behavioral states 7 Promotes sleep
Strengthens and regulates primary organ systems
(i.e. respiratory, circulatory, nervous, musculature, digestive and endocrine
Premature Babies & the NICU
*Facilitates weight gain in preterm newborns
*Reduces stress hormones
*Counterbalances pain responses
Increases stable state organization
Promotes more mature motor behavior
Improves immune function
Improves gastric motility
Improves clinical and developmental scores
Helps reduce hospital stay (2)
Provides greater parent involvement and satisfaction
Promotes better practices for improved family-centered care
Benefits for Parents
*Promotes better understanding of infant cues
*Enhances communication and emotional ties
*Increases confidence and handling skills
Provides quality one-to-one interaction
Helps parents to unwind and relax
Increases vocalization and direct eye-contact
Gives fathers a special time to connect & bond
Infant Massage Class offered by Nurture and Nature
There are up to ten families to a class and families can include Mom, Dad and Baby(s). We have class times throughout the week to fit your schedule, and they are all taught in our University Hills class room in Denver.
Ages range for infants: 7 weeks – 8 Months (earlier the better before they start crawling and walking.)
Classes include:
- 2 hour class time.
- Step-by-step teaching guide for parents. The 24 page booklet contains all the strokes in sequential order and have additional information about the benefits of infant massage.
- Infant massage oil made specifically for babies. Organic sunflower oil, lavender, and chamomile to moisturize and relax. It’s 100% natural and 73% organic ingredients.
Investment :
$85.00
Important Please Read
*Please do not schedule a class around a time babies have received vaccinations. Chances are they will not be feeling well and we don’t want them to associate massage with not feeling good.
*If anyone in the family is sick and is running a fever, please contact me and reschedule. We don’t want anyone else getting sick too