How to carry out massage and gymnastics for children under one year old

As a rule, a course of restorative massage and gymnastics at a certain age is recommended to all children, but in some cases, prescribe a massage massage. Why does the massage pay so much attention?

Massage and gymnastics are very useful for the baby's body: it speeds up the circulation of blood and lymph, strengthens the function of the skin and the musculoskeletal system, improves well-being and mood. They are necessary for harmonious development, this is a magnificent prevention of such ailments as rickets, flat feet, clubfoot, dislocation, dysplasia of the hip joints and other body systems.

Children's massage also helps in solving problems such as intestinal colic, muscle hypertonus ( many children suffer from it) and hypotension.

But massage and gymnastics are not only ways to prevent and prevent many diseases that lie in wait for your baby at an early stage of development. These are the necessary conditions for strengthening health and stimulating the timely appearance and development of motor skills in children of the first year of life.

The famous European physician I. Müller, author of one of the popular systems for the physical development of infants, wrote: "The strength and intelligence of each people develops from the child's physical health."The more you encourage the baby to move from birth, the faster the formation of the brain, the more mature and mature the cells will be and the higher will be the intellect. This was also the opinion of G. Do-man, the founder of the Institute for Human Development in Philadelphia, the author of the widely known method of early development.

First of all, according to G. Doman, it is necessary to give the child the opportunity to move from the first days of life. Newborns and young children spend most of their time lying down. As a rule, they are either in a baby carriage, in a cradle, in a rocking chair or in an arena. All these places or at all do not give the baby a move or severely limit his mobility."Have you ever seen the

, what joy is written on the face of a three-month-old kid, who is helped to stand and walk? If yes, writes G. Doman, then after that you will never say that such development is harmful. "

Lack of motor activity can make up for special exercises in gymnastics and massage. In addition, affectionate touch of parents' hands, exercises in the form of games not only give great pleasure to the kid, but also strengthen the emotional connection between him and adults.

However, do not forget that the massage - is a fairly intense impact on the child's body, so it is necessary to do it, having previously obtained the permission and recommendations of the doctor. As a rule, experts recommend that a professional massage course be conducted, and then maintain and fix the result independently.

Despite the fact that there are proven traditional massage techniques that an adult can perform at home, the doctor must choose the individual set of exercises that your child needs.

If all the recommendations for gymnastics and massage are properly implemented, you will notice the positive results after the first sessions.

Recently, such activities as aquamassage, baby yoga, dynamic gymnastics have become popular. If you decide to do it yourself with a baby, be sure to consult a pediatrician and take the first lessons with an instructor.

Recommendations for parents

What should be done to ensure that massage and gymnastics have a positive impact not only on the physical, but also on the mental development of the baby?

• Any solid surface can be used as a massage site. It is most convenient to massage on a table covered with a flannel blanket, oilcloth and a sheet.

• Before a session, ventilate the room, but make sure that the temperature in the room is 20-22 ° C. In summer, you can do gymnastics and massage with an open window or even in the fresh air, avoiding drafts.

• In the first months of life, the baby's skin is dry, thin and lightly handled, so do not forget to remove rings, watches, bracelets before hand to massage the baby's skin.

• Wash hands before warm water with warm water. In order for the massage to be pleasant to the baby,

your hands should be warm, soft and dry. Often the question arises: is it worth using special oils, creams and talc? It is best to massage without using these cosmetic products, as they clog the pores of the baby's skin, dry it, and gliding complicates the correct execution of the techniques.

Make the classes pleasant for both of you: for massage and exercises, be sure to talk with the child, smile to him, sing songs, joke. You can turn on soft music. This will attract the attention of the baby and will create a positive attitude in each lesson.

To begin restorative massage experts recommend from 1.5 months. Before this age it is better to limit yourself to easy stroking - sliding movements of the palms and fingers on the skin of the child, while the skin should not gather in creases. Start talking affectionate words and at the same time stroking the baby on the head, back, hands. Through certain nerve endings, the touch of your hands acts on the central nervous system of the baby and soothes it. In this way it is easy to calm down the crumbling crumbs.

* Do not try to do all the exercises in one session. Choose a time when the baby does not want to sleep and is not hungry.

• Do not perform gymnastic exercises and massage immediately after eating, bathing or sleeping at night. The best time for classes is one hour before the feeding or 45 minutes after it.

When belly massage, bypass the liver area( right hypochondrium) and do not touch the genitals. When patting your back, bypass the area of ​​the kidneys( lower back).When massaging the legs, avoid shocks in the knee joints, avoiding the knee cap from the outside, and do not touch the front of the shin.

• Conduct lessons regularly( preferably throughout the first year of life).

In order for gymnastics to bring joy to children, exercises should correspond to the age and functional capabilities of the child.

• The duration of the first classes is usually 5-6 minutes. Gradually, this time will increase to 10-15 minutes.

Contraindications

There are a number of contraindications for carrying out massage and gymnastics. These can be:

• febrile illness, as well as the slightest signs of malaise;

• severe forms of hypotrophy( atrophy);

• purulent and inflammatory diseases of the skin, muscles, bones;

rickets and diseases accompanied by fragility and painful bones;

• acute and purulent arthritis, tuberculosis of bones and joints;

• congenital heart diseases that occur with cyanosis;

hemorrhagic diathesis, hemophilia;

acute nephritis, hepatitis;

• With significant umbilical, femoral and inguinal hernias, sessions can only be carried out with the permission of the doctor and with the application of a patch.

So, you have a desire to deal with the baby, you understand the need for massage and gymnastics for the child. The specialists have developed a whole complex of exercises and techniques that you can use. However, when dealing with the child taking into account all modern achievements of science, do not forget about the experience of our ancestors. In Russian folklore there was a special genre of "poteshke-pestushek", special songs, which

sang mums, playing with the baby. And although in Russia it was traditionally accepted to tightly swaddle a baby with a "pole", restricting it to movement, the baby was tried as much as possible to untie and engage in "pulls" with him. These were special exercises in order to stretch the muscles of the child. A poteshki, which was humming mum or grandmother, asked the exercises a certain rhythm and turned the occupation into a useful entertainment. Do not forget the wise experience of our ancestors. In order to turn massage into an interesting and useful game, use nursery rhymes, songs and rhymes that were created not by one generation. Most likely, many of them you remember yourself. These simple rhymes will not only create a good mood for you and your baby. They are full of bright, expressively colored words, onomatopoeias, repetitions and contribute to the development of speech. Talk with your child during class. The more positive emotions from the lessons of

will be experienced by your child, the more willingness to participate in the classes he will show.

Do not do massage and gymnastics with the child, if you have a bad mood, feel well, or do not have enough time. An exception can only be your experience: if you know for sure that classes with your child will help you forget about troubles, - get in touch with him.

During the lessons, be sure to talk with the child. Children really do not like it when adults talk to each other during the session. Any child immediately begins to be capricious, does not allow to do gymnastics or massage. And if you apologize to him and say that you will only communicate with him, the kid will immediately begin to smile.

Do not forget to explain what you are going to do. Be patient and never speak out your displeasure. It is better to stop the occupation than to spoil it with a bad mood. Compare the child's successes only with his own achievements. All children are different and all have different

rates of development. Without looking back to other children, keep an eye on the development of your child.

Now you need to make the last preparations and enjoy the wonderful moments of communication with your son or daughter.

The basic techniques of massage

In the descriptions of the complexes of exercises you will find a number of words that are used by specialists. To not only understand their meaning in the field of massage, but also correctly perform exercises, see the explanations in this section of the book.

Massage, used in infancy, has a multifaceted effect on the baby's body. That is why the instructions "stroking", "rubbing", "kneading", "light pats", etc. should be taken seriously and carried out clearly.

Stroking

It is usually performed with palms with closed fingers. When stroking, your hands should slide over the skin of the child, slightly pressing on it, but not gathering it in the folds. Stroking is so natural that parents often do it without hesitation. As a rule, this method has a beneficial effect on the child in any condition. If the toddler is naughty,

stroking will calm him if the child seems sluggish - it will cheer him up.

Stroking begins and ends all the complexes of massage and gymnastics, as well as often used in the transition from one reception to another. When stroking the skin of the baby turns pink, the metabolic processes in it improve. This, in turn, increases the elasticity and elasticity of the skin, increases the contractile function of the skin muscles.

Rubbing

When rubbed, the hands of the masseur do not slip over the skin, but are displaced, shifted, folded. The very name of the reception accurately reflects its essence. However, we must remember that the skin of a newborn is very tender and rubbing a crumb, as an athlete, is unacceptable. When doing this, the baby's skin turns pink. But you can not bring to hyperemia - marked reddening of the skin. Rubbing contributes to better nutrition of tissues, increases the elasticity of tendons, joints, muscles. The use of this technique favorably affects the function of the joints. In children up to one year, rubbing strengthens metabolic processes.

Mashing

This method is used less often in children's massage, especially for newborns, as it is quite intense in effect. However, if you do massage yourself to a child, after a while you will feel that stroking and grinding alone is not enough, and your baby is ready to take more active procedures with pleasure. Kneading is performed as follows. Grab the massed and index fingers of the massaged area of ​​the body, and then "roll out" it, like a piece of dough pads of fingers of the other hand. While performing the reception, remember that the child should not show concern and negative reaction. Act actively, but gently.

Vibration

With the help of this method, any vibrational movements are transmitted to the baby. Vibration includes:

• ruble;

• patting;

• effleurage;

• Point vibration. Chopping is performed by the edges of the

with the palms of both hands, patting - with a relaxed brush with loosely closed fingers.

Fingering is performed by the back of the fingers of the hands.

The point vibration( acupressure) is produced by the pads of the fingers.

Slapping ( light beating) causes basically a reflex contraction of the musculature. There is a redistribution of blood throughout the circulatory system, and this leads the

to improve the overall blood flow of local blood circulation tissues. Pokolachivanie is especially recommended for well-fed babies

Some unconditioned reflexes( for example, the phenomenon of crawling) are used as exercises for activating the child's motor skills.

Passive exercises

Passive exercises with the baby are performed by the adult: flexes and unbends the handles and legs, turns, etc.

Active exercises

Active exercises the child does on his own for the second half of the year. At this age, he can already perform arbitrary exercises.