CalmBaby

Introduction

What is Baby Massage?

Baby Massage is an ancient tradition in many cultures around the world. Vimala McClure, founded the International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM), and she has brought us the wonderful gift of baby massage which is now widely practised all over the world. Vimala discovered the many amazing benefits of infant massage while working in a small orphanage in India in the early 1970s. She was touched by mothers, even those living in the worst conditions, massaging their babies as part of their daily routine. After she returned home and had her own children, she taught parents the art of infant massage from her home for years.

At the request of childbirth educators in the late 70s Vimala developed a training programme and began to train instructors to teach the programme she had developed from India, with the addition of elements of Swedish massage, reflexology and yoga. Vimala named the strokes, designed a special colic routine, and developed a course for parents that became the core curriculum for her upcoming organisation. Vimala trained a group of instructors to train other instructors and the IAIM was born in the United States. It has rapidly spread across the world and now has instructors in over 40 countries worldwide.

Why do a Baby Massage Class?

Baby massage gives mum and baby a fantastic opportunity to get to know each other better through loving touch while availing of its many benefits. It is also great for both parent and baby to take some time out from their very busy lives to communicate with each other and spend some loving time together.

What do we offer?

Classroom

I am holding the classes from my own home in Ballina. I have chosen to have the classes here as I feel a home environment is more familiar and relaxing to the babies, and I can pass on the savings to the parents. I normally have a maximum of 5 mums and their babies at my class. The room is set up with everything you need and all materials are provided for in class. I demonstrate the massage strokes on a doll while you enjoy massaging your baby for the first hour, then we have a chat and a cup of tea for the last hour. It is a baby led class and we always follow the babies lead. If baby wishes to feed, sleep, cry, have a cuddle, or just sit up and watch the other babies with mum, that is perfectly OK and we go with their needs.

1 to 1

1 to 1 sessions are available also, whereby I will call to your home go through some massage routines with you. This can be done in a single session or over 2 to 3 sessions.

Who is Baby Massage suitable for?

Baby massage is great for all babies from birth to pre crawling although it can be best to wait until the baby is about 4 weeks old. It can be especially beneficial for babies with colic, constipation, reflux, special needs and for babies who were born premature.