OT Corner: Infant Massage
By Amy Wagenfeld, Ph.D, OTR/L
Originally printed in March, 2006

When you think about massage and babies, what images and thoughts 
come to mind?  Do you think about a peaceful and quiet space reserved 
for you and your little ones?  Infant massage is an age-old tradition 
that caregivers have shared with their babies for hundreds of years.  
It may not have always been called massage, but no matter the label, 
it was still a gentle time for moms to be with their babies.  Please 
forgive me dads, granddads, and grandmoms, but much of the baby 
research indicates that it is mom who engages in a majority of these 
‘caregiving’ tasks.  Don’t let the mom label deter you though, please 
read on, and be a part of this magical process!  Before we talk about 
the benefits and positive effects that massage might bring about, 
I need to remind you, that like anything involving ‘manipulation’ 
of the body, get a ‘heads up’ from your childrens’ health care 
provider before starting any type of massage program.
       
You may be wondering, why should I consider infant massage?  Research 
(and that’s clinical research), as well as the stories many moms have 
shared, indicates that a daily ten-minute infant massage may help a 
baby sleep better, may be soothing, ease tummy pain, provide muscle 
tone relaxation, increase sensory tolerance, and perhaps most 
importantly, infant massage may be one shared experience through 
which mom and baby grow even closer.  Just as there are benefits 
to you and your babies, there are also times when you should avoid 
massage.  Never massage your babies until they are at least one month 
old, and again, please check with your health care provider before 
initiating massage time into your routine.  Do not massage your 
infants (or children) if they have a fever, rash, or inflammation.  
It is also best to wait a couple of hours after a feeding to massage 
your babies.  Make sure that your nails or jewelry won’t scratch your 
babies, and that you are sitting comfortably.

I will pick up our discussion at this point next month.  Until then, 
I would recommend a very nice website for those of you who are 
interested in reading some more about touch in general.  It is the 
Touch Research Institute located at www.miami.edu/touch-research/home.html.  
Additionally, and I am sure that you will hear me speak of this book 
in the future, Stanley Greenspan, a well known child psychiatrist at 
George Washington University, has recently co-authored a lovely book 
entitled Building Healthy Minds.  It has become one of my fast 
favorites, and I would highly recommend it to all of you.  As 
always, I wish you a wonderful month, and look forward to our chats.  
Next month, Infant Massage: Part Two.