Disclosure :: this post is sponsored by Zizu Bijou Infant Massage.
Are you trying to decide if an infant massage class will be helpful to your family? Are you unsure of the benefits of such a skill? Today Bella Bedortha, owner of Zizu Bijou Infant Massage shares her top five favorite reasons all mommies should learn infant massage.
Five Reasons All Moms Should Consider Learning Infant Massage
Growth and Development
Nurturing touch helps facilitate physiological, neurological and psychological development and function for all categories of babies, full term, preemies and those with heath challenges. Tactile stimulation can boost immune system function, promote healthy weight gain and aid myelination of nerves, improving brain-body communication. The vast majority of a child’s brain connections are made in the first three years of life, so enhancing the brain’s communication efficiency helps dramatically increase 
his learning capability. Timing is everything when we talk about enriching children’s development.
Bonding
When your baby first arrives your bond may begin immediately, or for some it may take you both time to “grow on each other.” When you massage your child, bonding and attachment develop.
As you maintain eye contact, skin contact, communication and vocalization during the massage, feel-good hormones are released, making this a pleasant experience for all involved. As your child experiences this safe, trusting environment, it sets the groundwork for him to learn compassion, warmth, openness and respect, as he grows. You gain confidence in yourself as a loving parent. Infant massage is a natural way that parents can learn about parenting, and that infants can learn about being loved and honored.
The benefits of bonding extend to all of baby’s caregivers in addition to biological and adoptive parents.
Even if Dad, Grand or nanny can’t make it to class with you, you will be able to share these fun techniques so that everyone can give the little one a massage! It is so helpful to the bonding that they will be doing and gives every caretaker a special way to connect with baby.
Health Benefits
Research shows and suggests that infant massage can have various health benefits. They include both physical and emotional benefits. For example, in addition to encouraging interaction between you and your baby, it can help your baby relax, sleep longer and more deeply, positively affect infant hormones that control stress and reduce crying.
In Zizu Bijou Infant Massage we will learn specific strokes to relieve gas, improve digestion, help ease teething pain, and aid relaxation! You will gain confidence with your techniques. When your child is experiencing uncomfortable 
times and compromising health challenges, there are tried and true things that you can do in an effort to relieve baby’s discomfort.
Support
When you feel safe and ready to get out with your new little one on an adventure, Zizu Bijou Infant Massage class is a great choice. It is vital for Mom to be part of supportive group sessions where parents can share experiences and learn from each other while having fun. The environment we create is relaxed, accommodating, and entirely baby friendly. Diapering, fussing, feeding and all things baby are welcome! We like to make things as easeful and comfortable as possible. Mommy can get out and about, connect with others, and have fun with baby all while acquiring important skills that benefit the whole family. Nurture yourself and your baby!
Family & Social Advantage
Infant massage is not only about massaging a baby, it’s about working with families, building nurturing relationships, assisting with bonding and attachment, furthering respect, trust and love, and training a parent to read the cues of the baby so the child in turn feels love and security. It is the parent who has the greatest impact on the life of a child, and it is the child who can has the greatest impact on that parent, laying the foundation upon which the parent-infant relationship grows.
Touch is essential for early social development of the young child. The primary infant-parent bond is crucial for infants-and-society because it is from this original relationship and bonding that all subsequent relationships will follow. The quality and quantity of the interactions between infant and parent enhance the development of bonding. Through infant massage you are able to expand a child’s repertoire of interactive behaviors and deepen the quality of life and the lives of their parents and the network of families that is our world.
ln our Zizu Bijou Infant Massage Class for precrawlers, you will learn to understand your baby’s body language and cues helping to form a strong bond of love and trust and improve your baby’s health and general well-being.
Infant Massage is an age-old tradition that has been passed down from mother to daughter since the beginning of time. We are now understanding, through modern research, just how far reaching the amazing benefits are and it is pretty impressive! The earlier you begin massaging your baby the easier and faster it will become part of your daily life together.
Are you ready to sign up for infant massage classes? Learn more about Zizu Bijou Infant Massage Classes on Facebook, check out the website, or call (504) 909-8881.
Since 2007, Bella has worked as a licensed massage therapist, a nutrition and wellness counselor, a registered yoga instructor, a massage teaching assistant and aromatherapy instructor, a clinic supervisor and spa manager. She has enjoyed her positions in a range of settings from local spas in Maui, HI and New Orleans, LA to award winning luxury spas in both places, as well as schools, medical offices, parenting centers and birthing centers. She is a student of Dr. Aviva Romm’s course, Herbal Medicine for Women. ella is a Kidding Around Yoga instructor, offering phenomenally fun yoga classes, with art and fabulous music to kids of all ages. She teaches parents and caregivers how to massage their babies in Zizu Bijou Infant Massage classes. Bella had her first daughter in 2010 and her second in 2012. Motherhood was a Gi-NOR-MOus shift for her that she dove into mind, body and soul. She and her family now live in Historic Algiers Point and enjoy the growing community of other families in the neighborhood, the parks, the community garden and stunning views of the New Orleans cityscape. Her favorite time spent is with friends or any of her insanely huge family. She loves organic food and skincare. Although she still hasn’t found a good place for snowboarding in NOLA, she and her family still find fun things to do outside. She volunteers as a Louisiana Master Naturalist and is part of the Louisiana Master Gardener program as well.
