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Baby massage
I watched the women lay their naked golden babies along their legs in the shade of the mango tree. They chatted as they swept their hands firmly over the little bodies. It looked effortless. There wasn’t a squeak from the babies, as the mothers massaged them with mustard oil until they gleamed. When I had babies of my own, I tried to emulate what I’d seen in India but it was a pale imitation. I had no idea what I was doing.
When I had Tolly this year, my little late joy, I decided I would learn how to massage him properly. I could see how calm and happy the Indian babies were and thought it might be a relaxing part of the bedtime routine.
I joined Elizabeth Thompson’s class at the Coram Family Centre. In a sunny room five women sat around Elizabeth in a rough semi-circle. Their babies lay in front of them on towels draped over beanbags. Elizabeth is a calm and soothing presence, constantly praising your fumbling attempts to copy her actions. Because her own son is now two, she uses a doll, which she calls Susan. Susan is unprepossessing, and slightly grubby, but as soon as Elizabeth begins to massage her leg, this aesthetic doubt disappears.
I slicked my hands with sunflower oil and we began. We were encouraged to ask our baby’s permission before we started. I peered into Tolly’s smiling face and asked him. He looked obliging, I thought, so I seized a leg and began the first move: Indian milking. You hold the baby’s ankle in one hand and with the other, make a bracelet around the chubby thigh and slide it from top to bottom, in a gentle twisting motion. Then it was his little cushiony foot’s turn. I stroked down from toes to heel. Elizabeth beamed at me and told me I was a natural, while I tried to follow her actions, and Tolly took the opportunity to do his lawn sprinkler act. No one seemed to mind. Gradually, I relaxed. My shoulders dropped and the smooth movements cast a spell.
All day long with a little baby you run about trying to fit your chores around him; his sleeps, his feeds, his nappies. Far too little time is set aside for simply enjoying the baby. Massage is an excellent way to connect with him, observe his reactions and enjoy him to the exclusion of the washing’s siren call.
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