Some Tips To Follow For A Better Baby Massage Session

Here are some very good baby massage tips you can use to ensure that you and your baby can have a fun time during the massage sessions.

First off, massage your baby before or after taking a bath. It is a nice time to do massage sessions and can help your baby sleep but bear in mind that often after taking a bath, your baby will be tired or even hungry so he/she will not respond to the massage too well. Set up a consistent procedure of towel, oil, music or similar and build it into your daily massage routine. They will begin to expect and look forward to it and it's a wind down for you too. Just ten minutes is fine if you can't do all the techniques.

Next tip is to not get too hung up on the routine. It's better to just listen to your baby and use your instincts in finding out what works best. You can take a class, read more guides online or watch some videos for guidance of course but taking your baby's lead should always be your priority. If the baby doesn't like the routine you are currently doing, he/she will usually let you know through his body language so leave that routine and either go back to a move they were comfortable with or move on with the next. Don't forget to try again another day or after a few weeks have passed, as babies grow, their likes and dislikes change rapidly.

In relation to being responsive to their body language and non-verbal cues, try massaging just the hands or feet while baby is snuggled in a towel, or repeating the routine on the front if the baby looks like he/she hates being on his or her front. If your baby hates being undressed, then you can try the moves through their clothes or just leave a vest on. Smaller babies may feel more secure if they have a muslin draped over the half of the body you aren't working on. Aside from the comfort this brings them, this will also help to keep them warm.

And one more tip is to make sure you use a good amount of oil when doing massage routines. It nourishes the skin and also makes the massage much nicer for the both of you. You should use natural and ideally organic oil such as grape seed or olive. Modern mineral oils do not absorb well into the skin and can often be soaked with fragrance so those kinds are not recommended. Babies bond through smell and chemical scent can disrupt this progress. Warning though, the baby can be as slippery as a bar of soap when he/she is oily so be very careful in handling your baby.

Also, make sure you take off any jewelries you may be wearing to avoid scratching their delicate skin. Wrap your baby up snugly in a towel and use it to pat off excess oil, especially on their hands as they quickly go into their mouths, but if you took your time in choosing the oil carefully, there should be no problems. In case you're wondering how to choose the right oil for your baby, you can do so by putting a drop of the oil you want to test to the inside of their wrist and wait for a day in case of a reaction.

So now that you have more knowledge on how to massage your baby properly, why not give it a try now?