Searching for Infant Massage and Self-Soothing Techniques/ Classes

Hi C.,

I second the recommendation for Belly Bliss. Another place to try that is located in Denver is Amaryllis Therapy Network www.amaryllistherapy.net. I am a Birthing Doula in the area and these are the 2 places I recommend to my clients. Good Luck! :-)

A. Cowles, CD(DONA)

We had that suggested for our daughter when we took her to the county for an evaluation. They also told us about using a tickle brush. It's all we've done for the same reasons you mentioned. It's amazing the difference! We've done it for 10 days, and she has a completely new attitude! You might see if it's something you could do for an infant. GL!

I know a great massage therapist who specializes in pregnancy and infant massage. I have gone to her for massage during my three pregnancies and done the infant massage with all my babies-- really a great thing to connect with baby and help them relax.. her website has her info www.massage-elements.com her name is Karissa Spears. tell her N. referred you. Enjoy-

Hi C.,
You should call Theresa Dudrey at Belly Bliss.###-###-#### I'm positive she can provide the service that you need. It should be very helpful for your new baby. Good luck.
D.
The Franchise-Pro
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It's not exactly self-soothing, but it is wonderful for soothing and bonding -- check out "The Happiest Baby on the Block." A lot of books I've read said you cannot spoil a baby younger than 6 months, so I would enjoy as much time now cuddling, and just be careful about what habits you build for putting your daughter to sleep. With my second, I did all the soothing, but as soon as he was close to falling asleep, down he went, so he could finish off by himself. He's a great sleeper and I can put him in his crib for his nap when he's wide awake and walk out the door without another peep from him.

I went to Bryn Rath who owns Tranquil Massage out of her house in Highlands Racnch. She was great! Check her out at www.tranquilmassage.biz.

I took an infant massage class with Massage Elements (Karissa Spears) http://massage-elements.com/index.php

Karissa is great - she's a mommy herself, with another one on the way. The one I did was just a couple hours, and it was really nice to have that special bonding time with my daughter. I highly recommend her

you didn't say where you live, but Karissa works in the DTC and lives down towards Castle Rock.

Some of the hospitals offer classes...I took one at Swedish when my older son was born. I remember they didn't want babies with older siblings in that class (germs, presumably), though, so be sure to check on that.

Another resource you might like is ItsyBitsy Yoga. There are only a few places that teach it in Denver...you can find a list at www.itsybitsyyoga.com. There's also a book and I've seen videos at the Jeffco libraries. My son LOVED baby yoga and this one is different 'cause it's not baby-mom yoga; this one is JUST about the babies. It teaches some great ways to calm baby when they're upset (which I'd think would help her learn to self-soothe.

It may be a bit early for sleep training but the book 'Good Night, Sleep /tight' by Kim West & Joanne Kenen is also really good. (www.sleeplady.com) There may be some good, tear-free soothing suggestions in there.

A bounce on the yoga ball has always been a huge calmer in our house. Not sure I'd have made it w/o one of those!

Best of luck with the new babe! Hope your journey to getting her settled goes smoothly from here on out!

There is a book out there that is called "Infant Message, A Handbook for Loving Parents" by Vimala McClure who is the founder of the International Association of Infant Message.

Hope this helps and kudos to you for all you do.