Best Way to Develop a Close Relationship with Your Baby Using Massage

When your baby is born, the first thing you instinctively do is lovingly touch her. Physical contact, whether it’s cuddling, stroking, kissing, or rocking, comes naturally and helps you develop a close relationship with your baby. It’s also vital for her emotional well-being, showing that you love her and building her sense of self-worth.

Lots of mothers and fathers use baby massage to enhance their relationship with their baby. It is a wonderful way of expressing your feelings while fulfilling your baby’s emotional need for skin-to-skin contact. But massage has physical benefits too, and can be used to ease lots of minor baby niggles.

The best times for a massage include:

•    between meals – if your baby has just eaten she’ll feel uncomfortable during a massage, and if she is hungry she won’t feel settled
•    last thing at night after her bath – she’ll be naturally relaxed and responsive
•    when there are no other distractions – if the house is quiet and you are not expecting visitors, you’ll be able to focus on your baby without interruption.

Don’t massage your baby if she is unwell, she obviously doesn’t want to be massaged, or if she’s just been immunized – the area of the injection may still be sore.

How to begin

•    Make sure the room is warm, with no distractions
•    Wash your hands and dry them thoroughly, and takeoff any jewellery.
•    Make sure your hands are warm; rub them together first if they feel cold to the touch.
•    Use a specially formulated baby oil or lotion that is labelled as 100 per cent sale. Don’t use products containing arachis oil since” this contains peanut oil and may cause a reaction.
•    Undress your baby and lie her down on a soft, warm towel on your lap or on the floor

Good for your baby

Massage has lots of emotional and physical benefits for your baby, including:

• helping develop a close and trusting relationship with you
•  calming her when she’s fretful – massage reduces the circulation of the stress hormone cortisol in the bloodstream
•   increasing her sense of well-being – massage also Stimulates endorphins, which can lift your baby’s mood
•   easing wind and constipation – stroking her tummy can help disperse trapped air
•   releasing tension caused by, for example, teething
•   relaxing arm and leg muscles and helping your baby become more mobile.

Baby massage can also be calming and relaxing for you and knowing that your touch is comforting your baby can make you feel happy and confident as a parent.