I realise that everyone will have their own take on this and I know that some moms decide its not neccessary. At the end of the day your decisions as a parent are exactly that, YOUR decisions. Do what you feel comfortable with! But honestly, I can personally vouch for the good that massage therapy has done for Tayo. I’ve chosen to focus on 2 massaging techniques we have used with him since birth. It’s important for me to state that Tayo was born full term, just shy of 39 weeks, so the below methods were safe for him from birth. If your baby is born premature you should consult your doctor and focus on a lot more skin to skin in the beginning weeks. But thats a whole other topic for a different day. (See Baby Gooroo article on benefits of skin to skin here)
This first massage method is one you can easily do yourself at home every day. Lets call it the CRISS CROSS. This I was taught by a family friend who mentioned that it is big in her culture. The best is to do it after bath time while you apply their moisturiser. I tried my best to create a diagram below.
Staring at the top right shoulder spread the moisturiser diagonally down towards the left hip and continue along the left leg. Do this in a smooth, firm motion diagonally down your babies’ body, gently elongating his/her legs at the end.
You repeat this from the left shoulder to the right hip and leg. Moving on to your baby’s arms, lift them gently and apply the cream again in a gentle but firm motion from his should away from his body. Lengthening everything out. It’s kind of like giving them a nice little stretch. I would then turn baby over and do the same CRISS CROSS motion on her back from shoulder to hip and foot, both sides.
We also followed the below video demonstration, recommended by a qualified massage therapist, and incorporated both techniques at home after bath time.
Pre warning for first time moms - your baby may not like this at all when you start doing these massages. Tayo used to HATE being any kind of undressed or exposed so I was never really sure if he was getting used to the massage or just hated being naked. But he got used to it eventually and stopped fighting after a week or two. Not many newborns are super relaxed when they’re being undressed and/or manhandled. Just sing a song, keep smiling and reassure them lovingly. Or at least try to, through the screaming and crying…
The third form of massage, and in my opinion the most important, is one that only a qualified professional should do. From the time Tayo was about 3/4 weeks old we’ve taken him to the sweetest woman, who is a qualified Craniosacral Fascial Therapist in the Gillespie Method.
Now I’m sure a lot of you reading will be like “a crano-sackaface-what-now?”…
These are just some fancy (but accurate) words I have to add to this post so that I can be as correct as possible when presenting the information.
Like many of you I was completely clueless about what it is or what it does when we started. On a side note, I did realise that women have this innate ability to talk our partners into almost anything! I really doubt I would have been able to explain it then, to Tayo’s dad, the way I’m about to explain it to you, now. But he trusted my instincts, bless him, and agreed.
Photo from our first CFT session, done skin to skin because
Tayo didn't like all the handling, very normal for newborns.
So back on topic - what is Craniosacral Fascial Therapy??? CFT is a form of gentle massage therapy focusing on your central nervous system. More specifically freeing up your fascia. Bear with me through the Biology explanation, I myself left it behind in Grade 9, but it is important to understand when it comes to the well being of your baba.
Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that surrounds and holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber and muscle in place. The tissue does more than provide internal structure; fascia has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin. When stressed, it tightens up.
Craniosacral Fascial Therapy is a gentle healing modality that provides patients with a freely moving brain, spinal chord and facial web, all of which are critical to peak health.
Source: johnhopkinsmedicine.org
I was referred by a family friend who had also taken her son for CFT when he was little. It has proved to be super beneficial for new born babies. Whether born via natural or C-Sec birth. Being born is stressful for our little humans. We aren’t the only ones doing hard work. They are coming from a cramped, dark, warm space. Then being yanked or pushed through another cramped, dark, warm space and the next minute they are surrounded by these strange looking creatures and sounds. Imagine you went to sleep and woke up in a completely new world…
The great thing about CFT is that it can help with a number of everyday issues that small babies may face. Including breathing difficulty, chest strain, choking, diaphragmatic tightness, eye strain, fussiness, hiccups, nursing difficulty, and the list goes on! It is not a quick fix but the idea is that your body is made up of many parts and those parts need to essentially work together to heal whatever needs healing. And at its own pace. Hence, it is a very gentle method, as I mentioned previously.
Please understand that Tayo didn’t come out of my womb with an array of issues that needed sorting out. I decided to do the Craniosacral Fascial Therapy because it was recommended and I thought, well it can only do my baby good. But I’m pretty confident that it helped him avoid some issues that I know other moms have faced with their babies. All completely normal issues mind you, but avoidable in my opinion if you can incorporate a therapy like CFT. My advice, help your little one have the best start by making sure there is absolutely nothing holding them back.
It worked for us, it will definitely work for you.
And like I said, IT WON'T DO ANYTHING BUT HELP!
If you decide to give CFT a try, be sure to look for a Craniosacral Fascial Therapist, not just someone who is qualified in Craniosacral Therapy. Treating the fascia, your connective tissue, is the most important part.
Other sources: Clevelandclinic.org
Important note: I am not a qualified doctor, nor am I a professional in any of the topics discussed on this blog. The topics above are purely opinions based on my own real life experiences.
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