How to Massage a Baby

Whether your baby is cranky or not you should take the time to massage him or her. Massaging your baby enhances the emotional bond with your child and can calm him down, improve sleep patterns and help digestion. It’s also a fantastic way for dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents and other caregivers to get to know the baby and bond with it.

Additionally, research has shown that gently massaging babies actually helps improve their growth and development. Premature babies especially benefit from being massaged.

According to one study, preemies who were massaged three times daily for ten days gained almost twice as much more weight, were more active and alert and were able to leave the hospital a week earlier than other infants.

One word of warning…you should not attempt to massage your infant if he or she is full or hungry. This could actually make your baby feel sick. Make sure the baby is completely warm, well fed and comfortable before you do anything. You might want to burp a baby first to prevent nausea while you are massaging him or her as well.

It is important that you are relaxed and comfortable as you massage the child and that you will not be interrupted. If you are not relaxed you will transfer all your stress to the baby and upset him or her. You should also make sure the room is warm enough and that there is soothing music playing.

It is best to lay your baby on his or her back and then massage the front of your baby first. Then flip him or her over and do the back. Laying the baby on a soft mat or towel is also a good idea. Be careful not to tickle the baby as he or she could find that quite upsetting as well. The baby will let you know if it is over stimulated by crying or making a big fuss.

You get great results if you massage the baby with oil. You can use any kind of vegetable oil or baby oil and you can even put a drop of essential oil in the mix. Just don't put in more than a drop as babies have sensitive skin. Also never put the oil on the baby's head or face.
It is also important to remember that not every baby likes to be massaged for a long time. A newborn may enjoy only two to five minutes of massage, while a child over two months of age might love being massaged even longer.

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Perfume for Little Girls

My little girl loves wearing perfume but I would prefer she wear something less expensive than my Chanel No. 5. When a kid gets hold of an aerosol they have no idea how to conserve it. They just keep squirting perfume on themselves until the bottle is empty. Thank God there are children's perfumes out there that are cheap and that come in giant bottles to satisfy their youthful gluttony for scent.
Children's perfumes as a general rule are non-toxic and irritant free. This makes them appealing to parents who worry about their child (or a younger sibling) ingesting perfume or makeup, or having an adverse reaction to it. However, some kids still do experience allergies from kid perfumes.

It is not so much asthma that is a problem. It is rashes on sensitive skin. If you do not want your kid to have a reaction do not buy kiddie perfume products with geraniol, eugenol and hydroxycitronellal.
One very safe product is made by Mattel. It is called Barbie Princes Perfume and is a very demure mix of flowers, wood and mandarin notes. It is described as a very 'girly' scent. It comes with a bonus Barbie watch too.

Those two adorable twins Mary Kate and Ashley have been marketing perfume for tykes for years. They also make makeup for little girls including an eyeliner!

Warner Brothers created a perfume for the Powerpuff Girls. Named after one of the main characters, Buttercup is a combination of vanilla, musk and mint. You can also get scents named after the other two characters – Bubbles and Blossom.

For boys there is a scent called Superman! This is a neutral eau de toilette spray fragrance that comes with a bonus watch with the superhero's image on it. A lot of these scents seem to come with watches. It is as if the manufacturers want you to smell good as well as teach your kids how to tell time.

Believe it or not Mickey Mouse is a unisex fragrance for kids although it is marketed for boys. It comes as a seven ounce spray. It has a strong citrus scent that really makes your kid smell like he was eating a lot of tangerines. It is packed in a metallic lunchbox that can be taken to school.

The great thing about these fragrances is that they are not that expensive. Most of them clock in at under twelve dollars in terms of cost.

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