Colic massage
1. Hot hands. Put your hands in a bowl of very warm water (as hot as you can stand to keep them in for a few minutes, until they're red, but don't scald them!). Then dry them, oil them and gently rub some oil onto baby's tummy. Now rest your hot hand on bubs belly, use both hands if it's a bigger kid with a sore tummy. Concentrate on being very relaxed yourself, breathe slowly and try to communicate calmness through your palms to your baby. Learning to be still and relax is a very important technique (how many of us used it during labour!) and you can teach this with your touch.
2. Stroke the belly from ribs to pubic bone, with each hand following the other, continuously. Think about scooping a hollow in sand but DON'T use the edge of your hand, try to use the whole palm with slightly more pressure on the last 3rd to pass across the belly. If the baby's holding their belly muscles hard then use a lighter touch. Next flex and hold the legs (either hold both ankles in one hand or hold one leg with your hand and have the other leg passing over your wrist) so their knees are above their hips or even closer to the belly - this helps them relax their stomachs if they are in pain. Repeat the scooping motion with the other hand, the belly should feel a little softer this time.
3. Hold the baby's knees together and push the thighs gently up against the tummy, holding for about 30 seconds. Straighten the legs but keep them raised a little and relax yourself, communicating your relaxation, then push them back up onto the tummy and hold them (you might get explosive farting/pooping during this, so lay a towel over your legs to avoid getting sprayed).
4. Imagine a clock-face on baby's belly. Starting at 7 your left hand strokes a full clockwise circle, as it reaches 3 your right hand follows a second semi-circle from 9 to 3, so that each stroke is one full circle and one semi-circle so the top of the circle (where a lot of the gas can get caught up as the organs are most layered there) is done twice.
6. Push the knees up again and this time press one leg gently into the belly, then release a little and press the other in. Alternate like this for 30 seconds. Again, be aware of explosive movement in the bowel!
7. Holding the feet, "pedal" the legs slowly in the air, with each thigh coming into contact with the belly alternately.
8. Rub slow circles, clockwise, with hot hands.
9. Knees up again, squeezing them in against the tummy and releasing.
10. Lay your hands still on the tummy again, communicating warm relaxation through your hands. Make sure your body is relaxed, and breath slowly and deeply and rythmically.
To do the colic routine it's best to slot it into a fuller routine unless your normal massage is done already and baby is in specific colic pain. At the least it's a good idea to do some chest massage, then the colic routine, then some leg massage, so you are moving the tension out of the body. Hips and thighs especially can get tight when a baby is pulling the legs up in pain and it's good to treat that tension at the same time. If you are laying a colicky baby on their tummy to rest (i know it's against SIDS advice, but i'll admit i did it when she was right beside me out of desperation for her and she never had particularly bad colic so i can imagine many other women get to the will-try-anything stage too) you can rub their back - anticlockwise this time, in the direction of the gut always.
Once you've tried these things you'll probably find that between your and the baby you start to find movements you both enjoy. Follow your instincts. Also use your own illness as an opportunity to learn. Next time you have a headache or bellyache practice your techniques on yourself (of if DP or an older child is ill, likewise - it's amazing how much quicker you can learn how things feel from someone who can TELL you about it!) and see what helps and what doesn't.
I got a lot of my info and most of my enthusiasm from two books: Infant Massage: A Handbook For Loving Parents by Vimala McClure and Healing Massage For Babies And Toddlers by Julia Woodfield. Both are excellent, hold FAR more than i've shared here and are VERY with the money if you're interested in all this.
Remember that you cannot do harm with sensuous touch. As long as your intentions are loving and your hands are warm and assured, it will matter very little what you do, you can only find things you both like.
If you have an older toddler and you haven't massaged yet, you can begin with little "touch ryhmes". Our favourite is Criss cross apple sauce. It goes:
Criss cross (stroke the back left shoulder to right hip then right shoulder to left hip)
Apple sauce (repeat)
Spiders climbing up my spine (climb fingertips up the spine from the sacrum to the neck and tickle the neck)
Cool breeze (blow on the neck)
Tight squeeze (hug child to you and squeeze them good)
Shivers all over ("shiver" with them held in the hug to shake you both a bit)
You can do this when thy're fully clothed and then again after bathtime so they have a chance to get used to massage touch. I hope i haven't bored anyone to sleep! I've really enjoyed writing this as it's reminded me of so many little things i'd forgotten.
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