Baby Touch

Your infants and children can benefit from your giving them massage (and so can you). Research shows children who receive massage are more alert, gain weight faster, sleep more soundly, and suffer less anxiety. Choose from a 10-minute massage for a newborn to techniques for older children of any age, including a centuries-old Ayurveda massage from India especially designed for times when kids are overactive during the day or restless at bedtime. Photos and captions illustrate each move of a parent's hands and a baby's body. Soothing movements to the child's stomach can relieve colic, and other techniques can heal common ailments such as teething, earache, and congestion, as you make these loving touches a part of your child's daily routine. 

Wendy Kavanagh is the Director of the London College of Massage, and Editor of Massage World magazine. She is the author of Hamlyn's Massage Basics.