Massage Workshop

BABY MASSAGE WORKSHOPS

Come spend some fun and tender moments with your baby.

Learn about all the benefits of massage for you and your baby.

What are the age-appropriate techniques?
How do I guide my baby through the massage?
Find out how to relieve your baby’s aches and pains.

WHY DO BABY MASSAGE?

“Being touched, held, massaged and caressed is nourishment for newborns. This nourishment is as essential as vitamins, proteins and trace elements.” Dr. Frédérick Leboyer.

If we look across different times and cultures, we see that babies have all been massaged in every culture and country. As society progressed, and with the dawn of the 20th century, many traditions were cast aside.

Through scientific research on babies, we now know that massage is actually therapeutic for babies and improves their well-being from the start of life.

If we compare babies from different cultures, in places where they are massaged, cradled, breastfed and carried, the adults are less aggressive and violent, and more cooperative and compassionate.

Researchers now confirm that parents were given the wrong advice in the 1990s. At the time, people were actually very afraid that holding babies too much would spoil them as children.

They were scared of turning them into selfish overindulged children! Back then, pediatricians recommended feeding them at specific times, letting children cry on their own, punishing them for annoying behavior, and never allowing them to sleep in the parental bed.

Through years of hindsight and a number of studies, we know that babies who are neglected, punished, and have undergone such strict upbringings grow up to be adults with an emotional disconnect.This emotional disconnect has serious consequences on a child’s (and thereby an adult’s) emotional stability.

When you massage your baby, you share a special moment with her. You learn how to better understand her needs and soothe her anxiety—you are showing her love through your touch, voice and eyes.

You will discover your baby’s nonverbal language, and learn how to reciprocate through respectful listening and love.

• Massage enables parents to become experts on their baby. Day after day, you will learn to know her better.
• You will be more responsive to the facial expressions, movements, and gestures she makes to express herself without words.
• Your baby will develop in a calmer fashion if she feels understood and heard.
• If she receives love, she’ll grow up to be a caring child toward others.

Massaging your baby is also a chance for you to relax. You’ll build confidence in your ability to give her what she needs for proper development.

TOUCH:

This is the first sense that develops in the womb. It has been observed in human embryos at less than eight weeks. We are thus extremely sensitive to touch throughout our lives.

For babies, touch is just as important as sleep and food.
Receiving a loving touch is truly therapeutic for babies. Many studies done on premature babies have shown that massage helps them develop faster. Tiny premature babies who are massaged show more advanced neurological development than those who are not. This beneficial technique makes them more active and alert, and they often leave the hospital sooner.

The therapeutic and sensory stimulation effects of massage:

• Speeds up the myelination process in the brain and the central nervous system. Myelin is a lipid-rich substance that forms a sheath around each nerve to protect the nervous system and increase the transmission of the brain’s nerve impulses to the body. Cutaneous stimulation promotes this sheathing process, thereby accelerating neurological development and communication between the brain and the body.
• Reduces fluctuations of the blood’s oxygen levels caused by stress in the newborn.
• Relieves stress-induced disorders such as eczema.
• Stimulates neuronal circuits that help absorb food, lowers stress hormones, and strengthens the immune system.
• Affects the child’s emotional development and ability to react to stress as an adult.
• Creates a stronger bond between you and your baby for a heightened feeling of closeness, trust and security.

The beneficial effects of massage on babies have been proven beyond a doubt.

Share a wonderful bonding moment with your baby!This workshop ends with a discussion over coffee, tea and homemade organic treats, which is also a chance to meet other parents and their babies.

Baby Massage Workshop pricing in small groups of 2-4 babies: €40.00
One-on-one Workshop: €80.00
Length: 1 hour 15 minutes
Call me at: +33 (0)7 56 97 95 10