OTs and PTs that work in early intervention with families quickly find that infant massage is wonderful way to teach parents to take time each day with their baby, respond sensitively to their cues, and really connect with them, rather than just care for them.
For those in private practice, teaching a parent to massage their baby is a great way to help the family see baby’s health and treatment as their responsibility, too, not just the therapists. Teaching infant massage classes in the office is a great way to reach out to the community and develop relationships that lead to clients when a family has a need.
Infant massage is not just for babies! Families can be taught to massage their child with special needs up to age seven, and massage has been used in institutions and many other situations with older children than that.
Here are what some PTs and OTs and SPTs have told me after taking the Infant Massage Certification training:
“This teaching is so near and dear to my heart and has led me to further my career in so many ways! I am now an OT, a feeding therapist and soon to be a CLC! I use infant massage most in all of my parenting approaches across the board!!! Much love and gratitude to you!” – an OT in Springfield MA
“As a pediatric PT, this course has given me a great tool to help parents feel more connected to their children.”
“Amazing experience. i have learned so much and enjoyed . . . the whole training. I . . . [will] definitively [be] able to incorporate these resources as a speech & language pathologist. I recommend it! Very holistic. It will help round out my treatment approaches.”
“It was a wonderful experience. As a licensed physical therapist and massage therapist I have taken many manual courses. My instincts are just to go or dive in and to do the massage for those infants. But this class enabled me to guide/assist parents with having to be hands on with their baby. You get the satisfaction of knowing that you have a hand in promoting parent-baby bonding/attachment relationships.”
“This training truly exceeded my expectations. I feel fulfilled in so many ways and would recommend this course to others in my practice. The trainer was warm and knowledgeable and truly expressed a love for her teaching throughout the course.”
“I not only loved the class and trainer but found the diverse background of the fellow students extremely interesting and that made for great questions and feedback.”
“Teaching the class from start to finish was incredibly empowering and really affirmed how belief in how vital infant massage is and how impactful it can be for infants and caregivers. I was especially impressed with the varying impact as some caregivers reported greater sleep while others reported improved stooling. None of the caregivers reported exactly the same results but all had powerful stories of positive impact. I am looking forward to bringing the instruction and material to more infants and caregivers.” – OT who works in Children’s Hospital
“As a pediatric PT, this course has given me a great tool to help parents feel more connected to their children.”