7 Simple Baby Body Work Movements to Relax Your Baby

One of the benefits of using Treasure Valley Midwives for our prenatal, pregnancy and postnatal care was that they had a Lactation Consultant/Bodywork Specialist visit us at our home 4 days after Atticus was born. Melanie Henstrom from Baby Bonds showed us 7 exercises to do a few times a day for about 30 seconds per stretch with Atticus. She also found that he had a slight tongue tie. Body work helps tongue tie babies for a couple of reason: 1) they tend to be more tense, it helps release their tension 2) Body Work can help stretch the tether that is tying the tongue. Body Work is great for babies because it calms them. Babies that fuss through the stretches generally need it more because they are more tense. Here are each of the movements: 1) “Back Push Pull“. It works with babies cranial rhythm and calms the nervous system. 2)“Shoulder push pull“. It gives the baby a slight massage and stretches the shoulder. 3) “Rollio“. When doing this stretch make sure your babies cheek touches on each side. If your baby has a hard time touching on one side, it means s/he has some tension on this side. 4) “Ping Pong Rib Cage“. This stretch loosens the upper body. 5) “Cross Stretch“. This stretch is for babies arms and legs. It also helps both sides of babies brain to make connections. It can help baby to be a better reader and crawler later in life! 6) “Tummy Time Bum Rock“. Make sure that you roll your baby from back to tummy, don't just plop them down on their tummy. Put baby up on his/her hands. Gently place babies head on one side, then the other. Don't force baby to turn his/her head. This stretch helps loosen babies lower back and hips. 7)“Guppy Stretch“. This stretch helps stretch the neck muscles. It is also a great exercise to help babies with tongue tie. A baby with a tongue tie won't release his/her neck all the way. We have found these exercises are really helpful for relaxing Atticus throughout the day. He generally relaxes and sometimes even sleeps afterwards. It also helps with constipation, and is a wonderful way for us to bond with him!