Helpful Baby Hand Massage - For Those Common Baby Health Concerns

Chinese medicine may be most known for acupuncture and herbs, but it also includes many other modalities, including massage called tuina, and exercises known as qi gong.

I recently gave a talk and demonstrated a few massage techniques that are most effective for children under 5 years of age, although they can be safely applied to infants and children of any age.

Because this info is in follow up to my demonstration, please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

I'll be covering the other techniques I mentioned in my talk in follow-up posts. So stay tuned....

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Tuina for infants and children is a natural extension of our instinct to help soothe and care for our little ones.

The techniques are safe, gentle and effective. They are also repetitive, so using a little olive oil or almond oil can be helpful.

-For babies under 2 years of age, use 100-200 repetitions.
-For children ages 2-5 years, use 200-300 repetitions.
-For children ages 6-12 years, use 400-500 repetitions.

The easy way, instead of counting, is to time your technique from 1 to 3 minutes according to the ages above, or based on the severity of the condition, using more repetitions for more stubborn conditions. Similarly, these techniques can be done 1 to 3 times per day.

In the picture above:

In the green circles, we are kneading the child's finger or thumb between our own thumb and forefinger. This is called the "kneading" technique.

For the yellow circle, we are using just one of our thumbs to make circles in the direction indicated.

For the purple arrows, we are using our index finger to trace the sides of our child's finger in the direction and location indicated.

The "pink eye finger" can also be used to treat irritability.

For the "cough/upper respiratory finger," you can also include the second joint (from the tip), and then move up to the finger pad, kneading along the way. 

Likewise, for the "vomit/hiccups thumb," you can begin kneading the joint closer to the hand, and move up the pad, for more therapeutic effect.

I plan to revisit the teething point at the center of the baby's wrist crease in another post, but I've included it here as well. 

While these techniques are effective, and can really turn a situation around, parents are encouraged to seek medical attention for their children when necessary.

In the meantime, have fun practicing and applying these easy massage techniques. And please do let me know if you have questions. I am easy to reach and happy to help.