Some of the greatest experiences I have had as a massage therapist have been from performing infant massage and prenatal massage. Fortunately for me, I had a sister-in-law who was pregnant and had her baby girl while I was learning the techniques and she was willing to let me practice on her and her baby. I also have worked on several other pregnant clients including those who came into UCMT clinic.
My sister-in-law presented a unique problem with her pregnancy called Sciatica which I will spend more time on in a later post. But overall, she believes that because of regular massage therapy sessions with me, her pregnancy was the easiest of her three and she recovered more quickly after labor and delivery. Here, here!
Blessed as I was to work with her through her pregnancy, I was again honored when she asked me to be in the delivery room. During her labor contractions she asked me to massage her back. She wasn’t sure she wanted me to touch her during the contractions, thinking of her pior experience where her desire was to NOT be touched during the contractions. As it turned out, she learned the difference was massage as opposed to simple touch or rubbing.
Why massage helps aleviate pain.
When you stub your toe, what’s the first thing you do? Reach down and grab your toe, right? How about when you bump your elbow or arm? Do you rub it to sooth the sudden pain? The reason we do this is because our bodies know what they’re doing. Reaching to our owie is a reflex generated by the central nervous system (CNS) for good reason.
The same can be said for massaging a woman’s back while in labor. Manipulating the tissue at and around the area of the pain tells the associated nerves to be sedated, chill out, all will be well. Most pain medication works in a similar way–it’s about confusing the pain receptors. The medication sends a chemical to your brain that blocks the signal that says, “you’re in pain, you’re in pain, you’re in pain.” The pain is still there, your brain just doesn’t get the message.
In the end, sister-in-law said she wished I had been in the delivery room with her other two pregnancies.
And then came baby.
I went to visit my beautiful new baby neice in the hospital about 15 hours after she was born. When her mom told me that she was a little concerned because baby hadn’t nursed for more than 5 minutes at a time or had a bowel movement, I was eager to try infant massage techniques. I worked on baby for about 15 minutes and then said my goodbyes. Sis-in-law called me an hour later to share her excitement. Approximately 30 minutes after I left, baby filled her diaper and then nursed for 30 minutes straight. Of course I was excited and anxious to see if it wasn’t just a fluke.
After baby’s two-week check up, sis-in-law brought her to see me. She said baby had not had a bowel movement for a few days. I again worked on baby for about 15 minutes. The same thing happened as before. And a few weeks later when I saw baby, she was doing well, but I massaged her anyway. Next morning sis-in-law called to say baby had slept longer during the night than she had ever slept since she was born. We’ve tried these techniques many times since and continue to see positive results each time.
Infant Massage Classes for the Parents.
Just last night I was at a function where a woman in the party was saying her new infant (not her first child) doesn’t have regular bowel movements. Her follow up statement was basically that it was no big deal. While it’s not a big deal unless it goes on for too long, it is a great idea for baby to be regular, just as it is for an adult. While regularity also depends on the mother’s diet if baby is breast fed, there’s additional help in massage.
Coming up, I will be teaching an Infant Massage class for parents. The benefits for parents and baby are invaluable including, help with colic, regulates sleep patterns, imporved growth rate, stimulates brain development, babies cry less, helps the mother in post-partum, and more. Please stay tuned for the class scheduled date.