Baby massage skills on offer to parents of neonatal babies

Parents of babies who have been cared for in the neonatal unit at St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, are benefiting from learning baby massage skills.

Jeanette Barns, Senior Staff Nurse on the neonatal unit, has managed to secure funding from the special care baby charity, Bliss, for fortnightly teaching sessions over an eight week period which started in January 2009.

Parents are given an introduction to massage whilst their babies are still in neonatal care, but often it is not possible to physically massage them then as they are still too fragile. However, when they leave hospital and reach full-term age, they benefit greatly from the physical contact.

Jeanette, who is running the classes, holds the only recognised qualification in teaching infant massage from the International Association of Infant Massage. She said: “Because parents are not always able to fully interact with their child when they are in hospital they often feel there is little they can do for their baby. However, once they have left our care, massage is something positive they can do for their baby and it is an excellent way to increase attachment between parent and child. Studies have also found baby massage helps to reduce post natal depression.”

For more information about Bliss, visit www.bliss.org.uk