Babies cry. Babies cry for reason known (wet diaper, hungry, tired) and can be easily soothed. Babies also cry for a host of other reasons that may not be so easy to decipher. When your baby is difficult to soothe, often as parents we’ll go through a ritual of methods for trying to calm our baby. One method of calming your baby is infant massage.

Benefits of Infant Massage

You don’t have to be a massage therapist to effectively massage your baby. Research has shown that massage can have the following positive effects (and more!) on your baby:

• Can relieve discomfort from colic, gas and constipation
• Reduces stress hormones
• Increases alertness
• Relaxes and soothes
• Helps baby sleep better
• Strengthens bonding

You don’t need to take a massage class to massage your baby

You don’t need to be an expert in massage to effectively massage your baby. It can be as simple as massaging your baby while applying lotion after a bath. Avon’s Tiny Tillia Calming Lotion is lightly scented, light weight, and nongreasy and can be used on your baby’s entire body. This lotion absorbs quickly, isn’t overly fragrant (and I’ve taken to using it myself – my sensitive skin loves how it’s not irritating!). This lotion comes in a pump bottle, so it’s easy apply or get more lotion when you’re focusing on your baby.

Don’t try massage when you suspect your baby’s tired (it may stimulate baby right back to alertness!) or immediately after a meal.

Using a little lotion, or a vegetable-based oil, you can massage your baby starting with her legs, move on to her feet, arms, hands and chest. Though there are classes in infant massage, you’ll find that as long as you are gentle and mindful of your baby’s body, it will have many positive effects.

This post has been written as part of a Brand Ambassadorship program with Avon and was compensated. The product for review was provided but the opinions are the author’s own.