How to Baby Massage with Mustela

Hi All,

Parenting can be exhausting! Bringing home a newborn from the hospital changes the routine in the home I know it all a little too well. After having my second child I thought it would have been somewhat easier because I have been through this motion before. Well I was wrong! Getting Mr. Maksym to sleep for more than 4 hours straight was extremely hard. I tried all the wise tales and nothing seemed to work. One thing that works for us and may work for you is Infant Baby Massage.

Every time I’m stressed or need to relax I go get a massage.  So I thought to myself why not make Maksym feel like he’s at a spa getting a professional massage. I quickly googled techniques and then turned his room into a massage pallor.

First,  I will tell you the benefits of baby massage and then the how to do it.

• Daily infant massage is a great way to bond with baby
  • Helps to improve sensory and body awareness
  • Enhances neurological development
  • Helps baby/child to sleep deeper and more soundly
  • Helps to increase oxygen and nutrient flow to cells. Improves respiration
  • Helps to improve pain management; can relieve discomfort from teething
• • Helps with congestion, gas, and colic
  • Enhances release of hormones in the body. The growth hormone can be stimulated which helps weight gain.
  • Reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone
  • Provides all of the essential indicators of intimate parent-infant bonding and attachment: eye-to-eye, touch, voice, smell, movement, and thermal regulation.
  • Stimulates all of the physiological systems. Massage sparks the neurons in their brains to grow and branch out to encompass other neurons.

All of those Benefits are amazing for baby so I was very eager to try after reading.

How to Baby Massage:

I would give Maksym a bath with MUSTELA bath oil which I love smells so good. Plus I love their eczema line so moisturizing. After his bath I then would put on a small heater and lay him on the floor while listening to some lullabies. Keep in mind baby is alert and awake not sleepy at this point.

-Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together, forming a diamond shape with your legs. Drape the blanket or towel over your feet and between your knee.

• I use mustela Massage oil for Maksym it lathers really well and leaves his skin so soft and smooth. I also use for my 3yrs old as well. Here is the link for the massage oil. Mustela Baby Oil
•  I usually get close to Maksyms ear and whisper in his ear calmly hence I’m trying to get him very relaxed.  You can start with a gentle “hello” stroke from baby’s head to her toes. If baby stiffens, cries, or becomes irritable, move to another body part or simply end the massage for the day. If baby responds well, start gently massaging the body section by section.

So the Massage technique I use is from Parents.com (see below)

Please note you can do whatever comes natural to you. I don’t always start in this order but its your baby and you know what’s best!

Tummy

1. Hold your hand so your pinky’s edge can move like a paddle across your baby’s belly. Starting at the base of the rib cage, stroke down with one hand, then the other, in a paddle-wheel-like motion

2. Massage her abdomen with your fingertips in a circular, clockwise motion.

3. Do the “I Love U” stroke: Trace the letter I down your baby’s left side. Then trace an inverted L, stroking across the belly along the base of her ribs from her right side to her left and down. Trace an inverted U, stroking from low on the baby’s right side, up and around the navel, and down the left side.

4. Walk your fingers around her navel, clockwise.

5. Hold knees and feet together and gently press knees up toward her abdomen. Rotate baby’s hips around a few times to the right. (This often helps expel gas.)

6. Place hand on tummy horizontally and rock your hand from side to side a few times. Note: Avoid massaging tummy if the cord hasn’t completely healed.

Head and Face

1. Cradling your baby’s head in both hands, massage the scalp with your fingertips, as if you’re shampooing. (Avoid the fontanel, the soft spot on top of baby’s head.)

2. Massage her ears between your thumb and index finger.

3. Trace a heart shape on your baby’s face, bringing your hands together at the chin.

4. Place your thumbs between your baby’s eyebrows, and stroke out.

5. Again with your thumbs, stroke gently out over baby’s closed eyelids.

6. Stroke from the bridge of the nose out over the cheeks.

7. Using your fingertips, massage the jaw in small circles.

Chest

1. Place both hands on your baby’s chest and stroke outward from her sternum to her shoulders.

2. Beginning at her sternum, trace a heart shape bringing both hands up to her shoulders, then down and back together.

3. In a crisscross pattern, stroke diagonally from one side of your baby’s hip, up and over the opposite shoulder, and back down to her hip.

Arms

1. With one hand, hold baby’s wrist. Relax her upper arm by tapping it lightly.

2. Hold her wrist with one hand and hold your other hand in a C-shape around baby’s upper arm; stroke from her shoulder down to her wrist.

3. With each hand grasping her arm, one right above the other, stroke down from shoulder to wrist with both hands rotating in opposite directions, as if you were gently wringing a towel.

4. Massage her palm, moving thumb over thumb from heel of her hand to her fingers.

5. Stroke down top of hand from wrist to fingertips. Gently squeeze and pull each finger.

6. Massage her wrist by moving your fingers in small circles.

7. Roll her arm between both your hands.

Legs

1. Lift one of her legs by the ankle and relax it by lightly tapping the upper thigh.

2. Hold her ankle with one hand and hold your other hand in a C-shape, thumb down, around your baby’s upper thigh. Stroke from her thigh down to her foot.

3. With your hands grasping the leg at the thigh, one right above the other, stroke down from hip to foot with both hands rotating in opposite directions, as if you were wringing a towel.

4. On the sole of her foot, use a thumb-over-thumb motion to massage from heel to toes.

5. Use your whole hand to stroke the bottom of her foot from heel to toes.

6. Stroke the top of her foot. Gently squeeze and pull each toe.

7. Massage around her ankle using small circles.

8. Roll her leg between your hands, as if you’re rolling dough

Ok so there you have it on the how to. Please know that you can do  a massage for as long as you want generally I do anywhere between 10-30 mins then I can tell Maksym starts to relax and become sleepy. When he was a newborn he would fall asleep. Now he is 7 months and becomes very tired. After the massage I then breast feed him and he sleeps so much better and deeper.

I hope you guys will have good results as I did plus it is just so good for baby. Please share any of your bedtime rituals below!  I love to learn form other moms.

 *I was gifted Mustela products however I have used their products on my daughter as well. So like always all opinions and thoughts are my own*

Thanks for Reading,

Candace