Infant Massage

When we had our daughter there was a lot to learn.  Of the two of us, my husband had the most experience with babies.  But that still did not mean we were remotely comfortable with having a baby to hold, comfort, and nourish.  She cried ALL.  THE.  TIME.  We self diagnosed her with colic.
According to Wikipedia colic is defined as a "condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or displays symptoms of distress (cramping, moaning, etc.) frequently and for extended periods, without any discernible reason. The condition typically appears within the first month of life and often disappears rather suddenly, before the baby is three to four months old, but can last up to one year."  Further stated, colic can be a "condition of a healthy baby in which it shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks."

Not to say that we did not speak to her doc about her incessant crying.  We did, it just seemed to be something normal since there wasn't much discussion.  The crying would start at about 9 at night and last til about 1 in the morning.  NOTHING helped.  Surinne fit the criteria so colic it was.  Apparently not many others I knew had experienced this effect with their babies.  I was told many things..."just nurse her" was at the top of the list.  The problem with colic is that the baby doesn't want to nurse...they don't want anything in particular.  All the little baby knows is that something is wrong or uncomfortable and in their efforts to communicate to us what exactly that is...THEY CRY!
  

 To our relief this craziness lasted about 2 1/2 to 3 months and then abruptly stopped (which is when I went back to work, thank God!).  Not sure how many people are actually relieved to go back to work after having a baby, but I was definitely in that small group.


Now during this time, there was much research.  I came across a class online advertised to become a certified educator of infant massage (CEIM)...What an amazing sounding concept!  Infant massage!  As an occupational therapist I was a bit disappointed in myself for not thinking of this, although my specialty is geriatrics so I have never been in the know with anything pediatric related.  I had done some massage with Surinne based off common sense, but nothing formal or concise.  One thing that did help was
 baby wearing, which I thankfully was able to tolerate, and thankfully a friend had gifted us a Moby wrap so it worked well.   


So I was able to take the CEIM course from the International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM) to become a certified educator.  This class was amazing and taught by an international trainer from the IAIM.  Learning about the massage strokes, process, and theory was so wonderful.  I'll just say that there is a specific routine that is done for colic.  I am left to wonder how much this would have helped our baby.  I know for a fact that it would have helped us and truly feel that this is half the battle with colic.  As my husband says if the baby wasn't crying, one of us was crying...



Who knows why I feel pulls to learn what I do, but I know it is something that I had to do, and now will be able to teach others how to cope through what potentially can be very difficult and trying times. 

The future will unfold with group or individual classes to learn how to massage your baby... Yay!  You will meet my massage doll that I use to demonstrate with.

You can see the how classes will be setup...so calming for momma/daddy and baby.  
Have you heard of infant massage, and if so did you try it?  Would you be interested in learning another simple way to soothe, calm, and bond with your baby?  

(check out www.infantmassageusa.org for more information)