The neonatal period and up to three months is completely unique in the development of the child. In this short period, he adapts to a completely new environment for him, learns vital skills, for example, to maintain body temperature, moves from seeing a blurry image to a clear one.

The most important task of this period is to learn to keep your head. As a result, the first natural curvature of the spine is formed - lordosis. First, the child learns to raise his head from a prone position and, by the third month of life, holds it vertically while in the arms of an adult.

Many mothers brag that the baby still held his head in the hospital. This skill is due to the increased overall muscle tone, including the cervical. The most common reason for taking a course massage for newborns from 1 to 3 months is just increased muscle tone or hypertonicity.

Ideally, the increased tone goes away on its own by the end of the first month of life. But stress during pregnancy, unfavorable environmental conditions and many other factors lead to the fact that a neurologist prescribes a course of massage for almost every child after a monthly examination.

Appoint and recommend to carry out wellness massage for babies from 1 month of age. Until this age, increased muscle tone in a child is a physiological norm. Newborn massage up to 1 month carried out only under special indications and a specialist.

The tone may be asymmetrical in the left and right sides of the body, or more pronounced in the upper or lower extremities. Regardless of whether you are going to deal with this problem yourself or plan to invite a professional massage therapist, be sure to carefully ask the doctor where and how hypertonicity is expressed. It is better if it is written clearly and understandably.

How does hypertonicity manifest itself? How can parents recognize it themselves? These are clenched fists, bent tense arms or legs. Even in a dream. At the age of about two months, the baby should show interest in the outstretched toy, try to grab it. If you see that there is interest, but he reaches out to her with a fist, this is also a manifestation of increased muscle tone. In that case you can do massage for a newborn from 0 to 3 months at home.

How to do massage for 1 month old baby? There are general rules daily massage at the age of 1 to 3 months.

It is not always possible to carry out a massage at the same time, since the child has not yet established a daily routine, a change in mood and well-being depends on many factors. The main thing is that he was somatically healthy.

Make sure your little one is well-rested and not hungry. Wherein massage for one month old baby It is recommended to start no earlier than 40 minutes after feeding.

The room should be ventilated and not hot, no more than 25, and preferably 22 degrees. During the session itself, windows should not be opened even if it is summer outside. The main thing is the absence or shutdown of both cooling and heating devices (air conditioner, heater).

The massage is performed on a hard surface. In the absence of a couch, any table will do for such a crumb. The table is covered with a blanket or a thick towel. A sheet or a simple diaper is placed on top, you can put an oilcloth under it. The baby should be without clothes, including without a diaper. In order to avoid incidents, you can put another diaper between the legs.

No cosmetics are used during the procedure, including special baby and natural oils. Clean dry skin is physiological. Olive oil is used in the massage of adults to enhance the effect of the massage therapist's hands on the body. And for the delicate body of a two- or three-month-old baby, the efforts of your hands will be completely enough.

The hands of the massage therapist, of course, should be washed immediately before the start of the massage.

Massage and wellness gymnastics

So, how to massage a one month old baby? Where to begin?

The wellness massage complex includes massage and health-improving baby gymnastics.

Begins massage for one month old baby from the front of the body, in order to establish contact with the child. Do not rush and do not overdo it in the manifestation of friendly emotions. Speak calmly, clearly, in a normal voice. By establishing eye contact, you can tell the baby what you will do now.

The massage effect is on the following parts of the body and in the following sequence:

• legs;
• stomach;
• arms;
• back;
• buttocks.

Massage of the lower extremities and abdomen

When massaging the lower extremities, the leg must be taken with one hand by the heel. Easy to pick up and hold.

Place the second palm perpendicular to the leg and stroke on the inside from the foot to the inguinal lymph node. Try to keep the whole palm working, clasping the leg well. After, stroke the inside of the leg from the Achilles tendon to the inguinal lymph node. All movements are made in one direction, from the edge to the center (from bottom to top for the legs).

The next stage is tapping with your fingers in the thigh area and shaking the entire leg to the left and right.

We finish the massage of the lower extremities with work with the feet. With the thumb we draw under the toes of the foot, along the outer edge and on the heel; it turns out the figure of the seven. In the same way, draw a figure eight on the foot. We use reflex flexion and extension of the fingers (Babinsky reflex), for this you need to press on the foot under the fingers - they bend, on the heel - straighten.

Stroking with two palms clockwise will be a sufficient load for the abdominal muscles.

Upper limb massage

We fix the handle due to the grasping reflex - if the baby puts something in the palm, for example, his finger, he will squeeze it. With our hand, located perpendicularly, we stroke the entire arm of the baby from the hand to the axillary lymph node on the outside. We tap the shoulders with our fingers and shake the handle.

You can and should immediately check for the presence of the Babkin reflex. Press the base of the thumb on both palms and the baby will open his mouth. This is not only a reflex test, but also an exercise that is included in the course. massage for babies 1-3 months.

We finish by straightening the phalanges of the fingers.

Back and buttocks massage

The baby needs to be turned over on the tummy. If he doesn't hold his head yet, he will lay it on its side. This is also one of the protective reflexes of a newborn baby.

Back massage begins with stroking the outer side of the hand from the sacral section and along 4 conditional lines: to the deltas, to the axillary lymph node, to the oblique abdominal muscles, to the middle of the gluteal muscle. Similarly, stroke the inside of the brush.

We stroke the buttocks with our palms, draw a heart, knead them with our thumbs.

Do not be afraid to make movements until the skin is slightly reddened. In this period, only stroking and tapping are used as massage techniques, you are unlikely to hurt your son or daughter.

Passive gymnastics

An important change in the first three months of a child's life is the almost complete attenuation of congenital unconditioned reflexes. Their presence not only allows you to determine the degree of maturity of the nervous system, but also helps in passive gymnastics.

Having finished directly month old baby massage, check the presence of these reflexes:

1. Crawling reflex. Put your hand on the child's feet. He should push off and sort of crawl on his stomach.
2. Landau reflex. Lay your baby on his tummy and straighten his legs. He will arch his back and lift his upper body, leaning on his hands. This reflex is formed by 3-4 months, respectively, it will not be in a month-old baby.
3. Automatic walking reflex. Lifting the baby under the armpits and pulling forward, you will see how he is trying to walk. Passive gymnastics exercises are carried out by you and include the following exercises:

• raising the lower straightened limbs;
• raising the lower limbs bent at the knees;
• adduction and dilution of the hips (not circular rotations, namely inward and outward)
• diagonal connection of the hand with the feet;
• lifting the upper limbs up;
• circular movements of the hands;
• crossing the brushes under the chin;
• boxer movements;
• rocking the baby in the fetal position.

An indicator of the quality work of a massage therapist is the improvement of skin turgor and the relaxation of pinched body parts after the first few sessions. Massage for children can be done every 3-4 weeks, from 1 month life and up to a year at least. So you can ensure the well-being and proper development of the baby.