# After-bath massage

After the bath, you give them a head-to-toe massage, and they discover each part of their body through your hands.

To do with your baby in the first 4 months. It works on: touch, body awareness and gentle touch. You'll need: hands, moisturising cream or oil and bath towel.

## What do I need?

- Hands
- Moisturising cream or oil
- Bath towel

## How do I do it?

1. **Set up the spot.** After the bath, lay your baby on their back on a bath towel, on the changing table or the bed. Put a little unscented baby cream or oil in your hands and rub them together to warm it.
2. **Massage the legs.** Wrap your hands around one leg and slide them slowly from the thigh down to the foot. Then gently massage the foot and repeat with the other leg.
3. **Move on to the arms.** Stroke each arm from the shoulder down to the palm. Encourage them to stretch their arms out, but if they keep them bent, don't force it.
4. **Stroke the tummy.** Draw gentle circles on their tummy, going clockwise.
5. **Finish with the face.** With no cream left on your fingers, rest them in the middle of their forehead and slide them out towards the temples. Then gently massage the bridge of their nose. If they start to fuss, leave it for today.

### Take care

If they're on the changing table, always keep one hand on them. Massage their face without cream or oil, so none gets in their eyes.

## What are they learning?

Your hands soothe them, and feeling them on their legs, arms, tummy and face, they start to learn where each part of their body is. It's quiet, close time for the two of you. If you do it every night after the bath, it becomes part of the bedtime routine.

- **Touch**: Feels your hands and the warm cream gliding over their skin
- **Body awareness**: Senses where their legs, arms, tummy and face are
- **Gentle touch**: Settles with the touch of your hands after the bath

## What the research says

- Bremner AJ, Spence C. The development of tactile perception. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. 2017;52:227-268. doi:10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002 (https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002)
- Miguel HO, Gonçalves ÓF, Cruz S, Sampaio A. Infant brain response to affective and discriminative touch: A longitudinal study using fNIRS. Social Neuroscience. 2019;14(5):571.
- Rochat P. Self-perception and action in infancy. Experimental Brain Research. 1998;123(1-2):102-109. doi:10.1007/s002210050550 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210050550)
- Bremner AJ, Mareschal D, Lloyd-Fox S, Spence C. Spatial localization of touch in the first year of life: early influence of a visual spatial code and the development of remapping across changes in limb position. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2008;137(1):149-162. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.137.1.149 (https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.137.1.149)
- Filippetti ML, Lloyd-Fox S, Longo MR, Farroni T, Johnson MH. Neural Mechanisms of Body Awareness in Infants. Cerebral cortex (New York, NY : 1991). 2015;25(10):3779-3787. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu261 (https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhu261)
- Feldman R, Singer M, Zagoory O. Touch attenuates infants' physiological reactivity to stress. Developmental Science. 2010;13(2):271-278. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00890.x (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00890.x)
- Fairhurst MT, Löken L, Grossmann T. Physiological and behavioral responses reveal 9-month-old infants' sensitivity to pleasant touch. Psychological Science. 2014;25(5):1124-1131. doi:10.1177/0956797614527114 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614527114)
- Field T, Diego M, Hernandez-Reif M. Moderate pressure is essential for massage therapy effects. International Journal of Neuroscience. 2010;120(5):381-385. doi:10.3109/00207450903579475 (https://doi.org/10.3109/00207450903579475)

Reviewed by Javier Atance Ibar, PhD in Education.

https://papakoala.com/en-gb/activities/after-bath-massage/