This is a great type of massage, that most people don’t think of, unless the baby has a condition, like torticollis or dropped foot. This is because we tend to view massage as something to help with muscular imbalances or to help with getting rid of stress. And even though, yes babies can be born with some types of muscular conditions, usually, because of a difficult birth, or a type of birth defect. It is also believed that because the baby isn’t walking around yet, that we still don’t think that babies can have something like this. Never mind stress, that one no one thinks about it at all, because, what is a baby going to be stressed about? It isn’t like they have to worry about finances or if they are going to be able to make that deadline at work right?

Well, let me tell you this. Babies do get stressed. And they can get muscle pain, cramping, and even spasms. Theirs is different from ours, but to the brain, they all mean the same thing. For stress, it can be from having a hard time being able to have a poop to them being a premature baby, where sounds, light and even sometimes touch can feel stressful to them. As for muscle pain, a lot of it tends to be from the fact that they’re growing so fast they have muscle pain, or like us, the first day that they can crawl or walk around they do it so much that they can sleep for hours later.

But baby massage isn’t just to help with lowering a baby’s stress levels or helping with growing pains. It can do so much more for the baby, and the parents if they’re the ones who are doing the massage. Yes, there are times that you may go and see a therapist to be able to have your baby massaged, this is usually for conditions like I mentioned, torticollis and dropped foot. We encourage parents to be able to do the massage for the babies themselves. And when I say parents I’m including both moms and dads, or legal guardians into this.

Benefits of Baby Massage for Babies

Well, there’s lots. I won’t get into all of them as it can be very overwhelming, but I will discuss a few here.

Help with muscle tone, which can help their motor skills development, from walking to being able to hold something in their hands.

Help them gain weight. Yes this is very important for very young babies, and premature babies. No this will not increase their chances of becoming obese later in life.

Relax their nervous system, which is going about a mile a minute, okay yes I’m exaggerating here, but it is working overtime with how much they are growing and the brain is having to learn how to make connections through the whole body.

Help their digestive system, this is especially true if they happen to have a lot of gas or constipation issues. Their intestines may be a bit sluggish, this can help it regulate itself better.

And the big kicker that everyone wants to hear, it can help them sleep through the night faster. This is a combination of calming down their nervous system and the babies being able to gain weight faster. Until the babies have a certain amount of body fat on them, they will wake up through the night needing more food. Their little systems are burning through all those calories from breast milk or formula from growing up so fast. Plus, when they are burning through their fat stores from growing, they aren’t able to keep themselves warm, because naturally, fat is needed to help us keep warm. They will cry so they can use the body heat from one of their parents to be able to get back up to normal temperature.

Benefits of Baby Massage for Parents

Baby massage can help with bonding as this isn’t always going to happen immediately after birth, sometimes it takes time. When you hold them for the first time, and you don’t instantly feel a connection, it’s okay. It happens often, so don’t be discouraged if you are among one of these parents. The instant bonding between mother/father and baby isn’t always the most common thing. If it doesn’t happen, most parents don’t like to talk about it, because they feel like this is how things are supposed to happen, especially if that’s the stories that they hear from family or friends who have had babies. Give yourself time, and be open to trying out different ways to be able to bond, because in the end, this is a new relationship and all relationships take time and work.

It can help you with getting back into a routine. This is more a side effect to the massage because if the baby is sleeping better, crying less, it means that you can start catching up on some much-needed sleep yourself or even getting back a bit of romance between you and your partner, or if you are a single parent, it can get you back into having a social relationship with your friends.

It can also help with postpartum depression, which can happen in both parents, not just the biological mother. I know now you’re looking at the screen thinking men can’t get postpartum depression. However, there is more than one type of postpartum depression, which yes the one type men can’t have, but both men and women can have the other form of postpartum depression. So the first is the one that only women get, which is most commonly discussed. This is from the major hormone drop that happens after childbirth, this is for either a Cesarean birth or vaginal birth.

As for the other type of postpartum depression, it stems from a lack of sleep, stress, and self-doubt. You can get relief if you have a network of support from a spouse, friends, family, and even health care professionals, who can encourage you, give you breaks by taking over some of the baby’s needs, and giving reassurance. However, for single parents, or even couples, this can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a family doctor, don’t have a lot of family in the area, or even you feel like if you ask for help you are bothering other people, even if you have friends who have offered to help you. or If your spouse works all day, you may feel like you can’t ask for help from them because you’ve put it on yourself that taking care of the baby is your job and your job alone. Unfortunately, when that happens, your stress hormones skyrocket, you can become irritable, angry and withdrawn. And let’s not forget the all famous words that every parent has uttered to themselves at one point or another, “I have no clue what I’m doing, and am I even being a good parent?”

Baby Massage and Postpartum Depression

So how does doing baby massage help with postpartum depression? Well, there are two ways, the first and most important one is having that skin to skin contact. With just a 10 second hug, it releases endorphins, your feel-good hormone, which can help fight depression of ANY kind. With massage, because you are only going to be using your fingers or full hand, it does take a bit longer to have these endorphins release, about a couple of minutes, compared to the 10 seconds. This is just because you aren’t getting as much skin to skin contact as you do with a hug. However, for your baby, it will still only take 10 seconds for them to release these hormones, because well, your hand can cover a lot of surface area compared to their body. The other way that massage can help with postpartum depression, is if you take a course on how to do a baby massage, you will feel more empowered that you know what you are doing, and that you can help your baby with some of the smaller issues that they might be experiencing, like constipation or even teething.

Learning How to Massage Your Baby

There are a few more recourses on this website if you would like to learn more about what baby massage can do for your family, including when to use oils or not and how tummy massage can help with gas and constipation.

If you would like to know what you can learn from a baby massage class, and if it’s a right fit for you, please check out my Baby Massage Classes page.

Or if you have decided you would like to book a session, offered by me, you can contact me here to book.