Massaging Babies and Toddlers

Evolving Massage

I teach infant massage, and have been massaging my own daughters since the day they were born.  They are getting older, and although they still get their bedtime massage, the touch they get during the day has changed. 

It is much easier to massage a newborn, as they really can't move around much, and you and baby get use to the same massage routine each time.   When they learn to crawl, it becomes a bit more difficult to give an entire massage routine.  So what can you do?   Play massage games!  Below are some examples of massage games to play at various stages of childhood. 

**Remember to get your child's permission before you massage them.


Crawling Around

Get on the floor with your child. If you were doing a belly rub, and your child decides it is time to crawl around, massage whatever is up and facing you.  If it is his back, then rub his back, if it is her side, then massage her arms or legs.  You don't have to go in any specific order. 


This Little Piggy

I'm sure you are familiar with this nursery rhyme.  It is a great way to give a massage for your child's toes.  Roll your child's toes, wiggle them, but don't pull/tug so hard on them.  Make sure not to tickle their feet!



Learning Shapes

My older daughter loves this game.  I stand behind her as she stands in front, and I draw shapes on her back with my hands.  She has to guess the shape.  Sometimes she lays down.  Just be sure that you don't have anything going on that can be distracting for your child, ie...TV on or radio on.  You can do any variation of this game that you find appropriate.  Learning Numbers, or Learning Letters, whatever you are focusing on with your child.

Do you have any massage games to add to this list?  We would love to hear what you do to incorporate massage into your child's life.  Let us know by leaving a message in the comment section.

Parents love can affect child's brain size

Can a parent's love really affect a child's brain?

Apparently so. I recently read an article which showed the brain size from a 3 year old with a normal size brain, and a 3 year old who suffered from neglect who had a brain which looked very shrunken.  You can read the article by clicking here.  The picture from this article is posted below:

Photo : Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D./Child Trauma Academy) Neurologists say that the size-able difference between these two brains of two different 3-year-olds has one primary cause: the way that their mothers treated them.

Crazy picture isn't it?!?  It does make sense to me that the more you nurture something, or someone, the more it blooms/grows, and the healthier it/she/he is.   Perfect sense. 

"The latest study supports research released earlier this year that showed that children brought up by mothers who provide love and affection early in life are smarter and have a greater capacity to learn."

So on this Valentine's Day, a day known for giving love, I ask that you give the children around you the attention they are in need of to give them a good start at life.  Be gentle when you can, and have patience with them.  Try to attend to them before they begin to cry.

Mommy Snow Days

Being a mom isn't easy.  What can make it even  more difficult is not being able to take the kids outside to play.  Living in the Chicago area, we are no stranger to snow.  When a snowstorm hits, you can get stranded in your home for a couple of days. Here are some wonderful ideas to keep little ones busy when you are stuck inside for a while.

1. Have dance parties 
2. Play tag
3. Bring out the playdough
4. Bake some cookies
5. Make some snacks, and watch a movie
6. Make forts with the couch cushions
7. Read stories to each other, or make them up
8. Get some stickers and go crazy with them
9. Paint some pictures
10. Put together some puzzles
11. Put up your tent and go camping in your living room
12. Bring some snow inside and have a sensory experience (great for really little kids)

There are so many activities that can be done indoors, but as soon as the storm has cleared, and it is safe to do so, go outside and play in the snow!

What do you do when you are stuck indoors for a while?  Comment below.
     

Ways to Avoid Mommy Burnout

If there is something I've learned (the hard way) it is this:

If you can't take care of yourself,

there is no way you can take care of your child.

The demands of being a mother (especially  a new one, or one with infants and toddlers at home) can be intense.  You are the one to get u in the middle of the night to feed them and comfort them.  You are the one that gets up early with them.  You clean up after them, you change them, feed them again, you are constantly at their beckoning call.  It is an exhausting job.  You don't get a break from being a mom.  It is not a 9-5 job, but a 24/7 kinda job.

After a while, if you don't take care of yourself, you become overly tired, extremely cranky, you can't think straight, and your patience runs thin.

Here are some ways to avoid what I like to call Mommy Burnout:

1. Don't neglect your body. If you eat junk food, you will feel sluggish.  Add some healthy fruits and veggies to your diet, and you will feel all the more better.  Get your exercise in.  don't think you can do that with a baby?  I'll be writing another post later this month all about doing exercise with your kids.
2. Acknowledge that you are a good mom.  Don't be so hard on yourself if you see another child knows their ABC's before yours does.  You and your babe are just focusing on different tasks right now, and I'm sure your baby can do something that the other child doesn't grasp just yet.  It doesn't mean that your child is slow, or that you have failed as a parent.  It just means that you are both learning something else instead. 
3. Don't expect perfection.  If you have kids, you are not going to have a spotless house, every meal made, or any numerous other things that are on your list of perfection.  It is okay if once in a while you need to order dinner, or you wait a day to do laundry.  Kids grow up quick, so make sure you are spending your time with them creating memories, instead of worrying about the cleaning and the cooking.
4. Ask for help.  there are days that will test your patience, and you will feel that you are about to snap.  that is when you absolutely should ask for help from a friend.  Ask if they can come over and help you watch your kid so you can get some time for yourself, or ask if they can tag along on a shopping trip or other errand run to make it easier for you to get things done.
5. Change your perspective.  Instead of thinking how difficult it is to be able to take a shower without someone walking in on you, think about the big picture: the joy that comes with becoming a mom, and all the fun you have with learning from your children and watching them learn from you.

Take some time for yourself mommies!  One of the best ways to take care of yourself, is to get a massage.  You de-stress, which allows you to clear your mind to make better decisions for yourself and your family.  Visit me at Melrose Muscle Therapy.  We even have infant massage classes, where you can connect even deeper with your newborn baby.

The best things about fall

Top 5 Reasons to Love the Fall Season

I'm a fan of the fall season.  There are so many things that make you feel all warm and fuzzy.  Here is a short list of some of my favorite things about fall.

1. Apple picking season!

Apple pies, apple juice, apple cider....you get it.

 

2. Cooler, comfortable weather.

Don't you love sweater weather?  I do.  It makes for everything to be so cuddly!  =)  Great for long walks.

3. Creating funny, scary, different Jack 'o' lanterns.

My oldest daughter is the supervisor in this activity.  She doesn't like to get dirty pulling out the guts of the pumpkin.  She likes triangles for eyes.

4. Baking

What is the best way to warm up than to turn on the oven and make your favorite treats?  From cookies, to casseroles, it is a great season to begin baking.
Get some fun shaped cookie cutters and get the kids in on the action.  Makes for a great activity during the evening to keep them busy, and keep them learning.

5. Warm drinks

It's the season for hot cocoa with baby marshmallows melting on top.  That was always my favorite drink as a kid.

Daddy-Newborn Relationship - how to increase the bonding

New research has been done that shows there is another benefit specific to fathers for learning and giving infant massage.  This benefit is lowering the father's stress levels.

You can read the pubmed article here.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210630/?tool=pubmed

When men and women become parents, it is stressful for both parties.  Traditionally it has been the mom taking most, if not all, the responsibility in the early years.  Many fathers feel left out, or don't know what they can do to support mom and baby, and this becomes a new source of stress (besides having a new mouth to feed).  Increasingly, however, men have taken on more parental responsibility earlier in a newborn's life.  Taking a class on infant massage is great for dads.  It helps them to bond with their newborn children earlier in their baby's life and apparently it also decreases dad's stress levels too!.  There is so much more to learn in an infant massage class than just the massage strokes.  You learn how to communicate with your baby.  There are discussions with other parents and you find out what other moms and dads do when situations arise.  The class is an open forum for discussion, and fathers can meet other men who are in similar situations with whom they can relate.

I would love to see even more dads getting involved, and I can help you.  Click here to learn about taking an infant massage class with Luisa at Melrose Muscle Therapy. 

Moon Bounce and Leg Cramps

Yesterday my daughter Luciana had her 3rd birthday party.  Lots of activities for the kids that were there, and my daughter didn't want to stop to rest for long.  There was a moon bounce, and she was in there jumping around for hours.  After a while, she decided she need to go inside and take a nap.   When she woke up, she came outside again, and continued to run around and jump again in the moon bounce.  9pm rolls around, and her legs start to hurt.  She falls in the moon bounce, starts crying that her legs are hurting.  Party is over. =(   I ask my husband to carry her upstairs to "mommy's bed."  He runs to get me a heating pad, and some jojoba oil. 

My daughter is no stranger to massage.  She has been getting them everyday since she was born, heck she liked them when I received massage when I was pregnant with her. 

She knew what I was about to do, and she stopped crying, calmed down, and helped to guide me in my massage.  I begin to apply a small amount of jojoba to her legs, and Luciana tells me where she wanted me to rub out the pain.  As the heating pad warmed up under her legs, and I worked out the cramping, she began to feel better.  It didn't take much time for her to feel okay again.  Bodywork works very quickly with children, especially children that receive massage as often as my daughter does. 

This morning, I rubbed down her legs again, just as a precaution.  She thanked me with a big hug and the words, "you're the best mom!"  =)

Do you have any stories you would like to share?  I'd love to hear how massage has helped you in your life.

I feel like I'm melting like chocolate

I love learning about different ways that mothers massage their children.  While at the Taste of Melrose Park this past weekend, I met with so many people from around the neighborhood.  There was one mother daughter team that really caught my attention.  the mother asked me if it would be okay for her daughter to get a massage.  Of course, as long as she was present, and gave permission, it was fine with me.  The little girl was about the age of seven years old.  She loved her massage.  Her mother has been massaging her since she as a baby.  As she would massage her daughter, she would tell her to melt like chocolate.  As her daughter would imagine the chocolate melting, her body would relax completely. 

Would you like to melt like chocolate?

Mommy Martyrdom?

Take a moment to read this article from the Chicago Tribune the other day about how moms can get to the point where they feel they are the only ones that can care for their children, and have a hard time breaking away. I'm totally guilty of this one. Whenever I've gone somewhere, and I knew my daughters were not going to be sleeping, I feel guilty. Guilty for leaving them. It took a long time, (sometimes I still do it) to get to a point where I feel somewhat comfortable with leaving them with my parents for a few hours, or with my husband as I run to the store, or with a trusted babysitter. Even though I know they are safe, I still felt guilty. I'd call and check in just to hear their voices to put my mind at ease. After reading this article, I will make it a point to remind myself that I leave my girls in safe hands. To remind myself that it is okay for them to be looked after by someone else once in a while, in fact, it is good for them.

Mom and Entrepreneur, it's a Balancing Act

Today has been quite a busy day for work. Even though I am at home with my girls during the day, I am constantly working on my business. A few minutes here, a few minutes there.  While the girls are having a tea party, I can sneak away (still in the same room of course) and read an article, reply to some emails, or what have you. This weekend, I have a huge event that I am preparing for, and getting everything together has been pretty stressful, even though I plan ahead for it. Today I mixed together some sugar scrubs that I will offer for sale. I then made some other type of concoction so that my daughter could "help" me. The sugar scrub that I put together will be a new product offered by Melrose Muscle Therapy, so we will see how it goes. I also put together some more muscle soaks (mix of epsom salts and sea salts) that my clients love for those days they just need an escape. I designed and sent out an email blast to my clients. I feel pretty accomplished today. =)

Sometimes it can be difficult to balance being a mom and an entrepreneur.  I wouldn't have it any other way though. There are some days that I don't get anything done for my business, but I get to be Super Mom all the time.  There are times when I get so stressed out with upcoming deadlines, and a baby being sick, or both at the same time that I will cry in the shower just to release the tension.  Once the deadlines pass, and my baby feels healthy again, I will schedule myself in for a massage.  I try to plan ahead as much as I can, but something always comes up when you are a mom.  Not everything can be planned.  I've learned to always have a plan B and a plan C.  I have found ways to keep myself grounded, ask for help if needed.

I would love to know if you have any advice for other moms out there that may feel overwhelmed at times, and what they can do if they have a spare moment to themselves (as rare as that is).  Please comment below with any advice.

Benefits for the Parent During Infant Massage

September is full of community events for Melrose Muscle Therapy. On September 22, I will be teaching a free Infant Massage Workshop at the Melrose Park Library. I will be teaching it in English, with a Spanish translator. This will be my first bilingual class, and I'm super excited about it. There is pre-registration required, but it is a free class. It if goes well, we will offer it again soon, and possibly bring the workshop to other places such as the local hospitals, or doctor's offices as a program for their patients. Did you know that infant massage doesn't just benefit baby? It also benefits mom, dad, or whomever it is that is massaging baby.

Benefits of Infant Massage for Parents

• Caregivers report feeling more comfortable and confident in their ability to care for baby.
• Parents learn to understand and respond to baby’s cues.
• Parents learn techniques to comfort, calm and soothe their babies.
• Provides an additional avenue for close and nurturing contact.
• Infant Massage is one of the most natural and pleasant methods of providing this important early nurturing and an amazing tool for helping parents become closer to their babies.
  

(Information about benefits from Infant Massage USA @ www.infantmassageusa.org)

So if you are a new parent, a grandparent, expecting mother, babysitter, nanny, or any other caretaker, then please sign up for the free infant massage workshop.  I'd love to see you there.

Melrose Muscle Therapy at the Taste of Melrose Park

I'm very excited about some events that I will be doing in the neighborhood in the coming weeks. The first big event is next weekend (Aug 31, Sept 1 & 2) is the Taste of Melrose Park. Melrose Muscle Therapy will have an information booth there for the first time. I have been going to the Taste of MP for most all of my life (missed only one year that I am aware of). It is family friendly, lots of fun, and great food! This year there are over 70 food vendors, mostly family booths, and not restaurants. The food ranges in price from $1-$3, and the best part about it is that you can actually have lunch and dinner there and not be hungry, or out of money at the end of the day. There are a few booths that I look forward to every year: Sfingi (sugar donuts made by nuns), arancini (fried rice ball filled stuffed with meat and veggies), and quesadillas. There is so much food at this event, that I never make it to each booth. This year, I may have a good chance at it, since I will be there the entire time.

Melrose Muscle Therapy will have an informational booth nearby the crafts and other businesses this year. We will have giveaways, information, and free chair massage given by yours truly. I hope that you take some time out next weekend and join us at this year's Taste of Melrose Park. We would love to see you there!

Kids have it easy commercial

I saw a commercial today that left me feeling a bit horrified. It was a 14 year old boy talking to some younger boys about how they have it so easy nowadays. The younger kids were on the couch with their laptop computers. The 14 year old boy spoke about having to wait 1 whole minute sitting in front of his computer for something to download, and now he has back problems. As amusing as this may have been for the commercial, I couldn't help but think how the newer generation will most likely have more back issues due to sitting in front of their computers for hours each day. Technology has taken us all a long way. Many of my older clients that work at a desk position for 8-12 hours a day come in with persistent back pain. Many have smartphones, or ipads, or some other device in which they hold it in a way that they are looking down at their machines. They complain of neck pain, headaches, and other back related issues. As our society becomes more dependent on these devices. I can't help but think about the issues we will be facing in the future. Take this as a reminder to get up, move around, at the very least each hour. Set a timer at your desk while at work. Set a timer for your children when they are doing their homework. Make sure you stretch a bit. Just get up and move. The more mobile we are now, the more mobile we will be in the future.

Simple Pleasures

Each day I allow myself at least one simple pleasure.  One day it might be an extra scoop of ice cream, another day it may be a few extra minutes of sleep.  The other night, my oldest daughter, Luciana, gave me my simple pleasure.  We currently have a routine where after her baby sister falls asleep for the night, I help Luciana fall asleep by talking about her day, all the while massaging her back.  Last night she asked for me to sing to her a song that I would sing when she was a baby.  As I lay there beside my daughter, massaging her back, singing her lullaby, I could see her smiling as she drifted off to sleep.  By far, one of my favorite simple pleasures. 

What will you allow yourself to enjoy today?

How to fit in exercise with newborns and toddlers

I've been getting the same questions a lot lately from other moms:  How did you loose all that baby weight? How can you have time to exercise when you are taking care of your kids all day?

The following quote pretty much is the answer.

"PLAY with your kids.  Playing can be the single best way to really get to know your kids.

Get down on the floor, follow their lead, and PLAY with them."

~Lyle Perry

Do you need some ideas on how to get your exercise in while playing with your kids?  It is all about unstructured play.  If you have a newborn, get on the floor with her, and roll around, crawl, laugh.  Just get moving.  Hold him in your arms and dance around.  If you feel like you aren't moving because you are so tired, then that is more reason to get moving.  It will give you energy.

Lay on your back, have baby on your belly, and raise your knees up.  Now raise up baby over your head and lower down again, keeping your legs raised.  This will work your arms, back, abdominal, and thighs.

Do you have a toddler that has so much energy that you get tired just by watching them?  I have those days too.  There are so many things you can do with your tot that will get you moving, having fun, and enjoying time with your child.

• Play tag -Depending on the age of your child, tag may just be chasing them around and around until someone gets caught, and you will just do that over and over again.
• Freestyle dancing - turn the radio on, and dance like a crazy person with your child.  Do this for a few songs and I promise you will feel your heart beating faster
• Dance and freeze - a variation of the previous bullet.  Turning it more into a game. Also teaches your child how to follow directions
• Skipping - Teach your tot how to skip.  When was the last time you skipped?  I bet its been a while.
• Jumping Rope - There are a lot of games that you can play with a jump rope.  If your child is really young, you can lay the rope on the floor and jump over it from side to side. Teach them their left from their right.
• Hopping - An older toddler will be appreciative of learning this one.  Once you have the basics down, count how many hops you can do in a row without losing your balance.
• Hula Hoop - Your toddler may not be able to hula, but you can use a hula hoop to jump through, crawl around, learn inside/outside, and when your child is tired, you can try to hula yourself.  =)

What are some ways that you play with your child?  Post your ideas in the comments below.