Sol Day Spa Colorado offers training on Baby Massage
Baby massage is a great way to bond with an infant, and Sol Day Spa’s Jennifer Dionne is teaching parents how to do it right.
The idea behind baby massage came when one woman was studying in India, Dionne said. She became ill and was given massage treatment. While that was happening, she noticed mothers doing a kind of baby massage on their infants and noticed how calm it kept them despite the conditions many were subject to in their areas.
Practitioners say massage helps babies gain weight, have more stable eating and sleeping habits, increases circulation and gives infants a chance to try out their developing muscles, said Melissa South, founder of Sol Day Spa.
“Touch is so important in the first year,” she said. Such touch helps the parent or caregiver and the infant to bond.
Dionne is the only internationally certified infant massage therapist in Northeast Colorado, and she is offering classes to those who want to bring its benefits to their babies and homes, South said.
In general, infant massage begins with gently massaging the baby’s legs, moving up and down to increase the circulation, using a cream to make it soothing, Dionne said.
She said it is best to start with the legs, because it makes the child most responsive.
From there, the parent moves to the stomach, arms, hands, tush, back and head, she said. That order is used to keep the baby most clothed at most times to keep it warm, she said.
Doing stomach massage can also help with gas or bubbles that bother infants, Dionne said.
Doing the massage in low light is best to keep the baby from becoming overstimulated, since the massage is plenty of stimulation, South said. It is also best to keep the room warm.
Often, doing the massage before nap time or after a bath can work well, Dionne said.
Dionne is originally from Connecticut and learned her techniques in New York City, she said. Becoming certified meant passing a huge exam.
She offers group classes which are extensive or abbreviated classes for individuals or families, and will travel to where people need her, Dionne said.
Dionne started at Sol Day Spa at the beginning of the year, joining South and Michelle Culbert, the other massage therapists.
Sol Day Spa was opened at 17208 Highway 34 at the beginning of December after South found she needed more room for her business and for a partner, which offers a full range of massage and other alternative therapies.
The building is west of where Ehrlich Toyota sits east of Fort Morgan.
Sol Day Spa also offers Swedish, therapeutic, prenatal and post-partum, deep tissue and hot stone massage.
Post-partum massage “is wonderful,” Dionne said, because it helps with the stress on the body.
Prenatal massage is also nice for those experiencing the strain of pregnancy, but must be done very carefully, especially during the first trimester, she said.
Culbert has a specialty in the hot stone technique, which loosens up muscles to make a massage work more easily, she said.
Patrons can also indulge in a Bellanina facelift, which is a relaxing facial massage that helps tone and tighten face muscles, lessening the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, South said.
Sol Day Spa also offers body scrubs with sugar or mud to go along with body wraps, which are meant to make skin smooth and supple and uncover more youthful skin, she said.
A shower room within the massage room gives clients a chance to clean up afterward, South said.
The spa also offers some additional pampering in the form of paraffin dips for hands or feet, aromatherapy, hot oil scalp treatments and foot scrubs.
