Massage for the child
Massage you are doing with as a child, not as a child. This is an interaction, not a task that must be carried out at any cost. You will find out what touches your child likes, and, like in dance, obey the language of the body of your child. Although it is almost impossible to iron your child wrong, that's how to master the right touch to your child.
To start
Choose a warm, quiet place without drafts. Our favorite place is opposite the huge, from floor to ceiling, windows where the child is warmed by the sun's rays. Do this ritual anywhere, just for you and the child was comfortable: on the floor, on a table with a soft backing, on the grass, on the beach or on the bed. Turn on soothing music. Instructors for children's massage will be a good source of information about suitable music for massage.
Choose a time when you do not have to rush when there is less chance that you will be interrupted, and when the child has the greatest need for relaxation. Some parents like to start the day with a morning massage. Others prefer to do massage before daytime sleep. Children with evening colic are best to massage in the early evening, before the "happy hour" of colic arrives. Sometimes the massage performed in the early evening allows the child to forget about his nightly problem with painful colic.
Correctly choose the massage oil. Children's masseurs and their picky infant clientele prefer fruit or vegetable oils( "edible oils") enriched with vitamin E, not deodorized. Look for the inscription "cold pressing" on the label, which means that the oil was extracted from the raw material solely by pressure, without the use of high temperature or chemical solvents that change the characteristics of the oil. Avoid oil based oils. Massage oils that have stood the test of time include coconut, almond, apricot, safflower and avocado oil. Look, if there will be an allergic reaction within the hour in the form of rashes, especially when using nut oils.
Attention
Arrange yourself and the child so that you both feel comfortable. Sit on the floor, with your back against the sofa or against the wall, or kneel beside the bed. In the first months of life, children like to lie in the natural cradle formed on your lap when you sit cross-legged;or just pull your legs in front of you. Place the baby on a sheepskin covered with a diaper or on a heated towel laid over your feet and forming a semblance of a pillow. When the child grows out of the cradle of your feet, stretch your legs along the child. Be sure to keep an extra diaper on hand in case of an unforeseen fountain.
Experienced instructors in children's massage attach special importance to the need to respect the desires of the child. They advise, before touching the child with their hands, ask permission from him: "Do not you want a massage?" Children become attentive to the installation, or pre-event, ie.a group of events signaling the approach of a familiar event. When the child sees how you rub your oil in your palms and hears you say the key word "massage", see how his full approval of the face lights up. If the child cries, it is better to postpone the massage and just hold it for a while on your hands. Remember that you are doing a massage with with an baby;if he is not "with" you, wait until a better time. If he quits at any stage of the massage, stop and just pick him up. Massage is not a band-aid that you cling to a child when it hurts, but more so the process that prepares the child( and you too) to be able to better withstand life stresses.
If the child knocks with pens and legs or is tense, begin the ritual with a technique called relaxation to the touch: before starting, make eye contact with the child. Take the child's twisting or straining legs and make a "bicycle", while gently saying: "Calm, calm. .." Because of this beginning the child associates your movements aimed at relaxation to a touch, with a pleasant action that will follow. This is an opening signal for the child, meaning that the game is about to start. And relax yourself. A strained child will not relax from the touch of tense hands. Listen to the reaction of your child, instead of turning the massage into a mechanical procedure.
Marsh!
Begin with the legs with which to work the easiest and which the child will give you the easiest. Hold the foot with one hand and "milk" the leg( pinch movements) from the ankle to the thigh with the other hand. Then take the hip with both hands, like a baseball bat, and lightly turning and squeezing movements( like unscrewing clothes, but gently) lead your hands from the hip to the foot. Finally, roll the leg between your hands from the knee to the ankle. Moving down the leg to the foot, perform a series of clicks with the thumb of the hand, wrapped around the ankle and foot. As a finishing touch, gently stroke the legs from the hip to the foot before moving to the trunk.
To perform a massage of the abdomen, slide open the palm and fingers in a circular motion, holding the palm of your hand, from the chest down. Then lead both hands around the abdomen clockwise. To relax a tight, swollen tummy, try the movement "I Love You".Finally, pressing your fingertips, try to "walk" around the tummy.
Crossing to the chest, lead both hands along the chest from the center to the sides and again as if straightening out the pages of the book.
Handles and brushes are massaged in exactly the same way as the legs and feet, but start with a "stop in the hole"( lymph node massage in the armpit).
For the face there are very special techniques: stroking with open palms, light pressure and circles with your thumbs, and, finally, light pats of fingertips from the forehead through cheeks.
At the end, go to the back, the universal favorite. With your finger pads, lightly rub the entire surface of your back, drawing small circles. Then lightly comb the tips of your fingers from the back through the buttocks and legs to the ankles.
These techniques are the main ones that our instructor in the children's massage trains parents of our patients. There are many other touches that you and your child will develop together, learning how to do a child's massage.
Doing your child a massage is like reading a long poem. If both of you are in the mood to listen to the entire poem, you start from the very beginning and go line by line in order( the child knows what to expect).If time is pressing or the situation does not have poetic verses, you can read only a piece of several favorite lines that you know by heart. For example, if you already had a full massage earlier in the day, then before you go to sleep, you can keep the beauty of the whole, by doing a massage of your hands or back only, in order to send your crumb to a land of dreams. Because she is used to associating this with relaxation, you have a wonderful finishing touch of the ritual of sleep preparation, which can also be performed by the father.