Multiply the benefits of baby massage by choosing the right oil. Select the most nutrient-rich oil for a healthy baby massage, and avoid clogged pores and other skin irritations by eliminating chemicals in your skincare products.
Long before babies are able to speak or see distinctly, they interact with the world around them through touch and smell. The healing and soothing power of your touch is so profound it can reduce your baby’s level of stress hormones and improve their immunity, digestion and circulation.
Baby massage also supports parent-child bonding, so you naturally grow closer with each session of loving touch. Equally important, the right type of oil amplifies the health benefits of baby massage.
Why Use Oil in Baby Massage?
Research on hospitalized babies[1] indicates better massage results with oil versus a dry massage.
Oil is also more warming than lotion. A good massage oil makes it easy for your hands to move smoothly over your baby’s body, allowing you to make long, moderately firm, continuous strokes without causing friction or discomfort. Our BEB Organic Nurturing Oil made with naturally-derived ingredients moisturizes as it provides essential nutrients that soak into the skin to fortify your baby’s health.
Just remember that using too much oil on your baby may make your baby slippery! Be sure to remove oil from your own hands, and pick your baby up in a towel until all the oil has been absorbed into their skin.
Unscented Oil Is Best in Baby Massage
Isn’t it amazing to know you have a personal scent that your baby begins to recognize shortly after birth?
Early on, your scent signals safety, love, and connection to your baby. Babies have fuzzy vision at birth so the olfactory sense is a far more important channel for establishing their sense of security than sight.
Using strong smelling oil or a product that contains fragrance or “parfum” will obstruct your baby’s natural process of recognition and deeper bonding through their sense of smell.
In addition, strong, synthetic scents can confuse a baby’s brain and interrupt the way they experience and learn in the world.
Oils To Avoid in Infant Massage
Some oils are definitely not optimal for a baby’s skin. Avoid the following oils and ingredients:
Mineral Oil
Mineral oil clogs pores, traps bacteria and can promote skin infections. Additionally, it doesn’t contain essential nutrients that will enhance your baby’s health. Mineral oil is a petroleum-based product and, in our view, its use is not beneficial for the environment. By avoiding petroleum-based products, you are moving us toward a new Vivid Green Generation. Your choices make a difference, and serve as a role model to your children.
Essential Oils
Did you know that most essential oils are synthetically produced from petroleum-based ingredients? Synthetic scents can be overwhelming to your baby’s brain, especially for newborns, and disrupt the way they learn and experience the world. Essential oils can even be harmful if not used properly, because a young baby’s nervous system is not yet fully developed.
Fragrance or Parfum
Products that contain fragrance or parfum are contraindicated for babies. These are mixtures of up to 4,000 chemicals that are not specifically identified on packaging. When you use products that contain fragrance, you will never know exactly what you’re applying to your baby’s skin. But you can always trust that BEB Organic products never contain fragrance.
Nut or Seed Oils
These are fine for most babies, but use caution if your baby has any sign of being allergic to nuts or seeds.
Rancid Oil
Check the expiration date on the bottle and store oils carefully in a cool, dark place. You may want to buy a small bottle of oil for baby massage rather than a larger bottle that may spoil.
Oleic Acid
If your baby already has sensitive or dry skin or eczema, avoid the exclusive use of oils that are high in “oleic acid,” like olive oil or high-oleic sunflower oil. This fatty acid can increase permeability in some skin layers and aggravate already sensitive skin.
Safe Oils for Babies
Use a light, low-odor vegetable or fruit-based oil that is easily absorbed by the skin. Choose refined, fragrance free, and organic, if possible. For optimal health, select an oil or product that is nutrient rich, like BEB Organic Nurturing Oil, since babies can absorb the nutrient benefits through their skin.
These are some of the commonly used and generally safe oils for baby massage:
- Sunflower
- Safflower
- Coconut
- Apricot
- Jojoba
- Sweet Almond
- Canola
- Sesame
Always Conduct a Skin Patch Test
Although the above listed oils are generally safe for babies, every baby is unique and may be subject to allergies or skin reactions, even to healthy oils. Adverse reactions can include rashes, blotches, red spots, and discoloration.
Always patch test an oil on a small area of skin and wait before using it for a full baby massage. Here’s how to conduct a simple skin patch test.
- Place a small amount of oil on the inside of your baby’s wrist or ankle.
- Allow up to 30 minutes for a severe reaction to occur. Wait for a full 24 hours to check for a sensitivity reaction.
- If any sign of irritation occurs, do not use this particular oil.
- If there is no irritation after 24 hours, you can use this oil for your baby’s massage.
The Right Balance of Ingredients
As hinted above, it’s important to have the right balance of essential fatty acids in the oil that you use for baby massage. An oil or massage product that is too high in oleic acid can cause some layers of your baby’s skin to become more permeable. This can increase dryness or irritation, and aggravate conditions like eczema.
BEB Organic Nurturing Oil contains a specially designed combination of 4 organic vegetable oils – coconut, sunflower, rose hip, and cranberry – to specifically provide a balanced complex of oleic and linoleic acids that is nutrient rich with essential fatty acids.
This unique blend offers maximum benefits from each of the oils while maintaining the perfect balance for proper skin absorption and glide (making your hands slide easily).
These nourishing, organic ingredients work to increase skin moisture, balance skin flora, support the skin’s barrier properties, and help reduce inflammation and irritation – enhancing the benefits of your skin-to-skin contact with your little one.
Sources
J Affect Disord. 2001 Mar;63(1-3):201-7.
Infant massage improves mother-infant interaction for mothers with postnatal depression.
Onozawa K, Glover V, Adams D, Modi N, Kumar RC.
Infant Behav Dev. 2010 April; 33(2): 115–124.
Preterm Infant Massage Therapy Research: A Review
Tiffany Field,1,2 Miguel Diego,1 and Maria Hernandez-Reif3
Pediatr Dermatol. 2013 Jan-Feb;30(1):42-50. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1470.2012.01865.x. Epub 2012 Sep 20
Infant Behav Dev. 2010 Apr;33(2):115-24. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.12.004.
Child Care Health Dev. 2009 Jan;35(1):96-105. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00895.x. Epub 2008 Oct 30.
Indian Pediatr. 2005 Sep;42(9):877-84.
Indian Pediatr. 2005 Oct;42(10):998-1005.
Indian J Med Res. 2000 Dec;112:212-7.
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2844909/
