By
Karen Zeretzke
Baton Rouge LA USA
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 15
No. 1, January - February 1998,
p. 13
One
morning, when the first of my
high-need babies was a few days
old, I got a cryptic call from a
friend. She said "Turn on
Donahue!" and hung up.
Intrigued, I complied and tuned
my television to the talk show.
There I saw a demonstration of
infant colic massage. It has
literally saved my sanity with
two of our children-who had
colic-when elimination diets
gave us no respite.
I
found the colic massage did not
work during the actual crying
episodes, as the baby's abdomen
was too rigid to be massaged. So
I used the massage every time we
changed a diaper. We did this
for many months and if I skipped
the massage during the day, I
paid for it at night. The babies
and I enjoyed the time spent
massaging. It didn't take long
for my husband and the older
siblings to learn the massage.
They, too, liked the
skin-to-skin contact with the
baby-along with the chuckles and
chortles.
Here's
a description of infant massage:
The colic massage I was taught
consists of three parts. Before
you begin, drizzle some oil on
your hands and rub them together
enough so your hands glide on
your baby's skin but don't leave
his skin looking shiny. Some
people prefer to use a special
massage oil, however any oil
will do, even vegetable oil from
the kitchen. Undress baby, but
leave the diaper on loosely.
Sometimes babies pass more than
gas! Place the baby on his back
on a washable blanket, in case
the oil stains it. Always keep a
hand on the baby!
Part
One is called the paddlewheel.
Place your palm under the baby's
chin, with your fingers pointing
toward his shoulder. (It doesn't
matter which hand you begin with
since you will use both.) Draw
your hand down his chest, and
into the diaper area. Your
stroke should be smooth and firm
enough that you feel the
"dip" when your hand
leaves his ribcage. As your hand
is around the belly button,
place the opposite hand under
the chin and stroke downward, so
your hands are making circles
over the baby, with one hand
always stroking. Do this until
your hands/arms begin to tire.
Part
Two: Baby is still flat on his
back. Place the baby's heel up
next to his bottom by bending
his knee sharply. Move the leg,
still sharply bent, until the
top of the thigh rests against
the tummy. Get both legs in this
position. The baby may be a tad
confused at first, but later he
will actually assist you-babies
love this so! Grab the baby's
ankles and gently shake his legs
in an up-and-down motion,
unbending the knees gradually,
until his heels rest on the
blanket and his legs are
straight. Repeat many times. You
may also help the baby
"ride a bicycle" by
holding his feet and pumping his
legs. This is not part of the
"official" massage,
but my babies loved doing it.
Part
Three: Using as much of your
fingers/palm as possible, circle
the belly button in a clockwise
motion. This gets any remaining
gas moving in the proper
direction for the baby to easily
pass it. Another way to do this
is to rub clockwise
"parentheses" around
the belly button, i.e., if the
belly button is the center of a
clock, one hand moves from ten
to one o'clock and the other
from four to seven.
There
are books on infant massage that
offer more detailed information
about how to do massage and why
it is helpful. One that I found
helpful was Infant Massage: A
Handbook for Loving Parents,
by Vimala Schneider McClure
(Available from LLLI, No. 360
$12.95).
The
entire massage can take as long
as you and the baby are having
fun. I found that about five
minutes minimum per diaper
change was what it took for a
bearable evening!
This article
is copyrighted, and used
with permission of La Leche
League International. All
information on Slumber Sounds is
for educational purposes only,
and is not medical
or healthcare advice, nor a
substitute for medical and
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familiar with your personal
situation. For medical advice,
including diagnosis and
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