Parents of infants who are looking for ways to get out of the house and bond with their babies simultaneously, look no further. Elaine Ward is a Certified Massage Therapist of 16 years, and Certified Infant Massage Teacher, who has done classes through CARD and is about to begin a new series in April. Beginning April 8th, families can join Elaine for a 4-week class all about infant massage and baby bonding. The classes will take place at Cloud Social in Chico on Wednesdays from 11-12:15PM.
I am someone who is wary of the abundance of classes advertised on the internet, especially to moms. My first question is always, “what are their qualifications?” I want to know that the person I am paying to tell me how I can make my baby sleep has any grounds to be selling me that information. Elaine checks all of my boxes. She became a Certified Massage Therapist in 2010, and shortly after saw a program for infant massage. Before she was able to begin the program, Elaine became a mom and had to put a hold on that goal. During the pandemic, she loved the flexibility she had with massage and yoga: she could teach classes online or in the park. Over the last year, though, she continued to think about how she could grow in her profession, and came back to the program she saw for infant massage.
Elaine opted to pursue a path that would enable her to teach families how to perform infant massage, rather than providing the service herself. Her rationale was that infant massage is such a powerful bonding experience, and she wanted to be able to share that power with families. Infant massage, and baby-and-me classes in general, is also an area that Elaine felt was missing in our community. We have a multitude of classes for children ages 3 and up, but there aren’t many options for younger children.
When facilitating infant massage classes, Elaine says she has to be very adaptable. “Babies, and children in general, especially when they’re younger, they run our schedule … There’s no rule book for parents.” I had the opportunity to take a sampler class from Elaine through the Chico Mothers Club, and I loved how relaxed it was. Elaine is a mother, too, so she understands that it’s difficult to do anything too structured with an infant. In my class, we had babies eating, sleeping, pooping, and crying – and there was no sense of shame or embarrassment accompanying any of those things. Elaine creates an environment where families can come together and learn how to regulate their baby’s nervous system and their own, and meeting their needs as they come is a big part of that.
As a speech therapist, I also loved that Elaine narrated what she was doing; not just for the mothers, but for the babies. Narration is one of the best, and easiest, strategies we can use to promote the development of our children’s language. Talking about what you’re doing is so much more effective than asking “what color is that? Where’s the cow? What does the cow say?” She also discussed the importance of asking for consent, and while our babies can’t verbally express “no, I don’t want a massage,” they can tell us a lot through their body language. Elaine told me about her experience doing infant massage with her own children: her neurotypical daughter loved it, but her son is on the Autism spectrum and didn’t enjoy massage even as a baby. Through these classes, we can learn so much about all of the nonverbal cues our babies give us for their needs. If your baby is crying, tensing their muscles, or crawling away, there is no pressure to continue. Elaine encourages parents to find what their babies like, and focus on that – even if it means massaging baby’s tummy the whole time, or just offering snuggles.
Some other benefits of infant massage include supporting the digestive system and relieving constipation, longer stretches of sleep, and increased alertness. The benefits aren’t exclusive to our children, though; these classes benefit parents, too. When discussing the lack of things to do with infants in our area, I shared with Elaine the isolation I felt as a mom who works from home. My husband went back to work after six weeks, and I found myself home alone with our baby for 45 hours a week or longer. Even when I met with Elaine at nine months postpartum, the only adult interaction I really got was with my husband, my mom, and the people I saw at work the four hours I had begun spending in-person on Fridays. I told her how events like her infant massage class, where I got to be around other people who understood the season of life I was in, was a saving grace. It gave me a reason to shower, brush my teeth, put clothes on, and get outside during a time when the days otherwise all blended together.
If you need a reason, too, let this be your sign. Class information and registration can be found here.