Peter Walker - Developmental Baby Massage: Therapeutic Touch Techniques for Making Your Baby Stronger, Healthier, and Happier

THERAPEUTIC TOUCH TECHNIQUES FOR MAKING
YOUR BABY STRONGER, HEALTHIER, AND HAPPIER

PETER WALKER

Text 2000, 2009, 2011 Peter Walker

Illustrations and compilation 2000, 2009 Carroll & Brown Publishers Limited

First published in the UK in 2009 by Carroll & Brown Publishers Limited

20 Lonsdale Road

Queens Park

London NW6 6RD

First published in the USA in 2011 by

Fair Winds Press, a member of

Quayside Publishing Group

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-483-4

ISBN-10: 1-59233-483-0

Digital edition: 978-1-61058-134-9
Softcover edition: 978-1-5923-3483-4

Digital edition published in 2011

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Managing Art Editor Emily Cook

Photography Jules Selmes

The moral right of Peter Walker to be indentified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All the techniques given in this book have been practiced safely for the past 30 years by the author, his certified teachers and thousands of mothers and babies. The publishers and author, however, accept no responsibility for any injury claimed to have arisen as a result of practicing these techniques.

Since its first publication in 2000, my illustrated guide to developmental baby massage has introduced many thousands of parents to one of the most useful skills they can acquire. Through a parents loving touch, babies receive many physical and emotional benefits. They relax and gain confidence and closeness with their parents and, as they develop, they lose the physiological flexion imposed by their position in the womb and start to gain a fuller range of movement.

Parents also benefit, as these techniques encourage loving attachment and more confidence in holding and handling, and can also be used to secure the full structural health and fitness of their baby.

This new edition has been fully revised and includes additional sequences that can be successfully used from birth onwards. It also features a spiral binding, enabling the book to be placed at eye levelon or alongside your massage surfacefor easy and accessible, hands-free guidance.

The most powerful massage that your baby will ever receive during his lifetime is birth itself, which comes with the contractions of a vaginal delivery. During this time, the prolonged contractions of the uterus both pushed your baby through the birth canal and stimulated his peripheral nervous system and major organs in preparation for life outside the womb. By continuing a similar pattern of physical stimulation as your baby develops, you are following natures way of boosting your babys resilience. And, if your baby needed to be delivered by Caesarean section, this could prove to be even more necessary as he will not have had that early stimulation.

The techniques in this book are specifically devised to give you and your baby all the benefits of orthodox massage, while also helping your baby to fulfill his physical potential at each phase of developmentfrom birth to sitting to standing and mobility. Acting on both the muscles and the joints, these techniques convey all the benefits of a loving touch and also ensure that your baby achieves full flexibility as he becomes mobile. Moreover, they ensure a level of relaxation that means that as your baby developsboth physically and emotionallyhe is more likely to be trauma free, maintain good posture and enjoy the self-confidence that accompanies a wide range of physical movement.

Developmental baby massage is highly therapeutic; both preventative and curative, it offers a form of immediate and convenient treatment. It can be used to alleviate stiff or floppy joints, wind, colic, constipation and other minor ailments and to bring an element of relief and assistance to children with additional needs. It also can enable you to uncover any potential physical problems.

How to use the book

The first page of each exercise explains the purpose and the benefits of the massage, and the following pages show you how to do it, step by step.

Boxed text highlights any contraindications or important issues to bear in mind while you massage your baby.

Developmental Baby Massage begins by introducing you to the physical and emotional benefits of massaging your child.

shows you how to use touches and strokeseither with your baby dressed or undressedin order to develop a close relationship with him in his first few weeks and to help him relax more fully and thrive.

demonstrates an effective full-body massage routine along with everything you need to knowabout the preparation, strokes, oils and ambienceneeded to make it successful. Practiced regularly, this toe-to-top routine, along with the early touches, will promote emotional security and the prime physical attributes that constitute good posture, health and fitness. It will enable you to promote and maintain your babys strength and suppleness. The techniques can also bring to light and alleviate any hidden areas of muscular tension and joint inflexibility.

shows you how to use massage in later babyhood to help your baby to secure and maintain a healthy and comfortable sitting posture.

keeps pace with your baby who, as he becomes more mobile, will want to explore his wide range of physical movement. This is the time to introduce some soft baby yoga, fun and games that engage your baby in versatile movement. These movements are designed to maintain existing suppleness and promote strength, balance and good posture while sitting and standing. At the end of this chapter you also can discover which time is best for you to massage your mobile baby.

covers some common complaints and shows how massage and movement can be used to prevent and alleviate these conditions. Additional needs are also discussed, and there is advice on how massage can complement existing forms of treatment and therapy.

Introduction
The Benefits of Touch

Chapter One
Introducing Your Baby to Massage

Chapter Two
Toe-to-top massage

Chapter Three
Securing your Babys Posture

Chapter Four
Mobility and soft gymnastics

Chapter Five
Therapeutic Touch for Sickness and Additional needs

Touch is the newborns first languageit is her prime means of communication and plays an essential role in the forming of early parentchild relationships. Massaging your baby allows you to express emotional affection and to fulfill your babys need for physical contact. The benefits of massage are both emotional and physical, so your baby will achieve all-round wellbeing.

Emotional

With every emotional change there is a muscular reaction. By easing muscular tension, baby massage calms the emotions and helps to relieve some of the trauma and anxiety associated with birth and a new environment, and later on, with weaning. There is also a variety of other emotional benefits. Massaging your baby: