Healthy Touch, Healthy Child through Infant Massage
One Hour Private Instructional Session with you and your baby.
Session will include:
• How to prepare the environment, your baby and yourself
• Massage sequence for your baby's entire body
• "Baby Yoga" movements
Benefits of Infant Massage
Benefits for Baby
• Promotes bonding and communication
• Assists in overall growth and development
• Promotes sounder and longer sleep
• Improves function of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, eliminative, nervous and immune systems
• Reduces the symptoms of colic, gas and GI tract distress
• Gives relief from the discomfort of teething and congestion
• Improves sensory awareness
• Helps baby learn to relax, decreases production of stress hormones
• Reduces fussiness
• Enhances awareness of being loved, accepted, and responded to
• Assists in increased vocalizations
Benefits for Parents/Caregivers
• An opportunity to connect, interact and share quality time
• Builds a bond between parents and children that can last a lifetime
• Increases confidence in parenting
• Helps parents better understand and respond to baby's verbal and nonverbal cues
• Increases prolactin production- the nurturing hormone
• Increases parents' ability to help relax their child in times of stress
• Positive effects on other relationships, including partner or children
Touch Research
• Cross-cultural studies show that babies who are held, massaged, carried, rocked and breastfed, grow into adults who are less aggressive and violent, and are more compassionate and cooperative
• Recent research shows benefits for children with asthma, diabetes, and premature infants
• Mothers with postpartum depression have shown improvement after starting infant massage
The Touch Research Institute, established by Dr. Tiffany Field, is dedicated to studying the effects of touch therapy. The TRIs have researched the effects of massage therapy at all states of life, from newborns to senior citizens.
Contraindications
The following conditions represent situations where massage should be avoided:
• Open or weeping wounds
• Infected skin irritations
• Fractures or other acute injuries
• Bleeding
• No massage over an unhealed navel
• Burns, including sunburn
• Undiagnosed lumps
• No abdominal massage if infant has hiccups or has just been fed
• Wait 72 hours after immunization
Pricing
The all-inclusive price of $75 covers the initial one hour session, one half-hour follow-up session the next week (for any questions you may have after doing the sequence on your own), and a tote bag with helpful items for massaging your baby. Contact Health & Harmony today to set up your personal instructional session!