Infant Massage

Mr. C had a wonderful time on Saturday (as did mommy and daddy). He was a baby volunteer at the Potomac Massage Training Institute in Washington D.C. They had about 5 baby volunteers that day. Mr. C did exceptionally well. The way it worked was the students used a doll as their baby while the parents used their own baby to massage. The students taught us different massage techniques which Mr. C loved. We worked with two of the students Jessica and Tracy. We attempted different techniques for about an hour. Jessica and Tracy were great. The massage was so great that later that night Mr. C slept for 8 hours. This is the longest he has ever slept in his life. I was very impressed. The next night (Sunday night) he slept 10 hours. We will definitely continue with the infant massage if they get Mr. C some extra Z's at night. Mommy is very happy that the little one is sleeping through the night (at least the past two nights anyway). 

Well we've decided to share what we went over with our readers. Below is everything we covered just in case you would like to try it on your baby.

Legs

• begin working on the legs
• touch and hold the leg
• use slow meaningful strokes from babies ankle to the top of the thigh
• use nice even pressure all the way up pressing of the leg from the ankle up

Feet

• bottom feet slow pressure points (you can also stroke bottom of feet. this tickled Mr. C so we use the pressure point technique)
• pressure on the top of the foot, small pressure points on each toe to the top of the foot
• touch hold on the foot

Back

• small circles on the shoulder blades
• when baby is sitting, support him/her in the front with your hands and continue with thumb spreading going from either side of the spine out (do this very slow)

Buttocks

• small circles on each cheek (one side at a time)
• fan fingers from the crack out (helps with constipation)
• hip circles with three fingers (more fingers better, it gives baby a little less stimulation which helps to organize the baby's mind. you don't want to overstimulate)

Arms

• press on the arms starting from the shoulder and going down to the wrist
• you can follow the same movements completed on the legs.

You can use grapeseed oil to do the massage