Post-Natal Massage: Helping the New Mommy to Unwind

Being a new mom is rough. You don't get very much sleep (three hours or less becomes the norm), you are always tired, and care for the baby is non-stop. The baby will want to be fed every three hours or more, and eventually your energy reserves, which were already somewhat drained by the last trimester of pregnancy, can feel completely used up. You feel burnt out and just want to some time to relax and unwind.

Post-natal massage can help the new mother to deal with some of the stress and anxiety that comes with a new baby. Our certified post-natal therapist is used to being interrupted by, or being delayed by, the feeding cries of the newborn, and it is always OK. Even if there are a few extra minutes before the massage starts, it does not come off your time. We have allowed for the extra time when we set up the appointment.

You will have the full hour to become fully relaxed, thus preparing you for the continued demands of the new baby. Although, as we all know, caring for this new bundle of joy is and will be one of the greatest joys in your life, and it is really short lived. Breastfeeding does not go on forever, and once it is over it does not start again until you have another new baby.

So this is a time that you want to savor as much as possible, but if you are completely exhausted and drained, it can be difficult to do (and even harder to remember if you are half asleep). So, a post-natal massage can help the new mom to relax and be strong and awake, thus being better prepared to become fully present to these first few months of her new babies life.

If you would like to learn more about post-natal massage, or to book an appointment, please visit our website by clicking here.

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Romantic Valentine's Day Ideas For Couples

While couples massage is a great idea for Valentine's day, there are lots of other ideas for things you can also do that are both romantic and fun. There is a great article on familylife.com where they surveyed their readers for their most romantic Valentine's day gift ideas. Rather than flowers and chocolates, their readers had some excellent ideas, some of which will be shared in this blog. You can read more at their article, linked to by clicking here.

My favorite romantic Valentine's Day idea that their readers suggested was to take the day off for both you and your spouse (with her bosses' permission, of course!), and have a romantic lunch, relax with spa treatments (or a couples massage at home), and then make her a special romantic dinner. The person who suggested this made the special dinner while his wife received a spa treatment and a tanning session.

Another excellent idea for Valentine's Day was to create either a book handwritten with all the reasons why you love your spouse, and all the things you love about them, or to write the reasons why you love your spouse on cards, and insert them into the pages of a photo album. Both of these are great ways to show someone you love them, although the second option might be a little easier and less time intensive.

Another reader suggested making a romantic breakfast for your loved one, where you make items that can be shaped into words, flowers, or hearts, such as a heart shaped tart or string beans that spell out I Love You. One of the cutest ideas was to have dinner or lunch at a restaurant where you went when you were first together. This is a great idea, especially if you haven't gone to that restaurant in a while. Another person suggested making dinner together at home while listening to romantic music.

Some of the best Valentine's ideas were finding ways to show the person you love how much you care. While having a couples' massage with your loved one is a great way to show you care, it can also be paired with creating lists of all the reasons you love them, or creating the photo album gift, writing them a note listing 14 or more ways why you love them and placing it next to a special breakfast meal, or writing the reasons for your love in a book, which you deliver with a dozen roses or beautiful chocolates. Of course, Russell Stovers candies (click here) are always romantic, and Hersheys (click here) has some great romantic candy available for Valentine's Day.

If you would like to learn more about couples' massage for Valentine's Day or any other occasion, please click here to visit our website.

Post-Natal Massage: The Many Benefits of A Post-Natal Series

As women from India have long realized, post-natal massage is totally essential to every woman. In India, massage therapists travel to the home of the new mom to provide massage therapy every couple of days for several weeks after she has had her child. This helps the new mom in a variety of ways.

First, and perhaps most importantly, massage can help the new mom produce enough milk. Very often, when it is a woman’s first child, her body is not capable of producing enough milk. This often leads to supplementation with store bought formula, since regardless of the mom’s capacity to produce; the infant’s needs are ever present. So, to avoid this, post-natal massage can help the mother’s body to produce more oxytocin. This hormone is responsible for stimulating the production of milk, so this can help to increase the amount of milk she is producing.

Second, this same hormone stimulation is well known for facilitating the bonding between the mother and her new baby. It is the bonding hormone, in addition to being the milk production hormone. Every new mom should have at least one post-natal massage session to help her body adjust to its new job of producing milk for the newborn.

A third benefit of post-natal massage is in reducing the amount of stretch marks, and the severity thereof. While one massage may not help much in this area, several massages over the course of the few weeks following birth can have a significant effect on stretch marks. Massage helps restore the skin to normal, and helps bring blood flow to the skin of the abdomen, conditioning it and restoring its suppleness and flexibility.

There are several other helpful benefits of post-natal massage that are only available when a trained certified massage therapist provides it. Restoring the uterus to its proper place in the abdomen is one of the most crucial benefits. If the uterus is not restored to its proper place, the abdomen will never return to its prior shape. Other massage techniques can be applied at the abdomen to help it return to its normal size and shape. All of these techniques are best applied by a certified peri-natal massage therapist, to have the best result.

There are other benefits of post-natal massage, many of which are enumerated in studies that can be found on our massage benefits page, linked to by clicking here. If you would like more information on post-natal massage, or to book an appointment, please click here to visit our website.

Abdominal Massage During Pregnancy: Helping Your Baby in the Womb

Abdominal massage during pregnancy is quite healthy, both for you and for the baby yet to be born. Pre-natal massage therapists have been practicing abdominal massage since pre-natal massage has been taught. It has been found that, in addition to the benefits it gives to the mother, there are also benefits to the unborn baby.

As far as benefits to the mother, it helps to relax the mom to be more so that just massage everywhere else. It can help relax the musculature in the abdomen itself, which can become tired from carrying the extra weight.

In addition to the relaxation benefits, there are also cosmetic benefits to abdominal massage. During pregnancy, the formation of stretch marks is normally a fact of life. While this is so, even in spite of interventions, sometimes abdominal massage can help to reduce the formation of stretch marks by making the skin more pliable and by increasing blood flow to the area.

Now, when it comes to the unborn child, abdominal massage can have some helpful effects. First of all, it can help to calm the unborn baby and reduce stress levels in both his and his mother’s bloodstream.

Perhaps the most important benefit to the unborn child is when the baby is in the wrong position. Several techniques of pre-natal massage are specially reserved for the time when the birth is drawing near, and can provide a non-invasive way to get the fetus into the proper position for the birth itself. These techniques can help to turn the baby around, or even sometimes to help the baby to turn from upright to upside down, so that his head is prepared to exit the birth canal. While it is rare that a complete turning upside down can be accomplished through abdominal massage, it has happened.

Most commonly, it is possible for the baby to be rotated into the correct direction if the rotation is simply from back to front. Abdominal massage is a non-invasive way to cause the fetus to be in the proper position for birth. Many midwives are already aware of these techniques, and have been using them for many years to turn the fetus to the proper position.

When abdominal massage does not work, the midwife will have other techniques in her arsenal to use to help the fetus come out in the proper direction. It is normally the desire of the midwife to do everything possible to ensure a natural birth rather than a c-section, so abdominal massage, along with other techniques, can be helpful for this. Of course, having a pre-natal massage therapist present during the birth is also very helpful, as there will be techniques specific to massage therapy that can help to reduce a woman’s pain, and accelerate the birthing process. These techniques are the specialty of every pre-natal massage therapist, and can be very effective and helpful.

If you would like to learn more about pre-natal massage therapy, or to book an appointment, please click here to visit our website.

Pre-Natal Massage and Circulation: The Dangers of An Untrained Therapist

There are many incorrect views and mis-conceptions about the practice of pre-natal massage. The first view is that all pre-natal massage is dangerous and should be avoided. As with many things, this is a popular mis-conception. The second view is that all massage therapists can give pre-natal massage. This mis-conception is made stronger by the fact that many massage therapists will provide pre-natal massage when they are not certified.

When a woman becomes pregnant, there are many changes that her body goes through that must be understood by her massage therapist. Especially when it comes to circulation, there are many critical changes that take place that do indeed make massage therapy by an untrained therapist dangerous. When a woman becomes pregnant, her body dilates all of the veins in her system. This is fine, but when receiving a massage, it can become dangerous if it is given in the wrong areas.

Most massage therapists who are not trained in this area do not know that certain areas on the legs should not be massaged on a pregnant woman for her own safety. If these precautions are not followed, there can be serious consequences to the woman. The most important and dangerous consequence is a pulmonary embolism, which can be caused by excessive pressure on the woman’s legs.

A pulmonary embolism can easily become damaging and potentially deadly if it is not treated. And since the symptoms of a pulmonary embolism resemble those of other problems, such as a heart attack, diagnosis may be difficult. In most cases, this condition does not lead to death, but if the clot is large and blocks a large portion of the lung, it can cause death.

Massage therapists who are trained in pre-natal massage and post-natal massage are familiar with these issues, and are able to avoid areas where a deep vein thrombosis may occur. While a deep vein thrombosis, or deep blood clot attached to the wall of a vein or artery, is somewhat common during pregnancy, it is when it is dislodged from its location that it causes a problem. For this reason alone, it is wisest to seek out a massage therapist who is trained in this area, for your own protection.

There are also other reasons to seek out a trained therapist as well. The more training a therapist has as it relates to your specific condition, the more techniques they will be aware of to specifically help you. For example, the aches and pains brought on by pregnancy can be better helped by someone who knows where they are likely to be. Also, a pre-natal massage therapist will be trained in abdominal massage, without fearing that she will hurt the fetus since she will be doing it properly, as trained.

For these reasons, among many others, a certified pre-natal massage therapist is a valuable addition to your pregnancy healthcare team. Mountainside On Site Massage Therapy has several trained pre-natal massage therapists available to provide massage to you during your pregnancy. Please click here to visit our website for more information, or to contact us to schedule a pre-natal massage.

Couples Massage After Birth: Fostering the Bond Between Mom, Dad, and Baby

A couples massage after the birth of your first baby is an amazing way to foster the bond between the three members of your family. Although the baby will most likely not be present, the bonding between new mom and dad in a couples massage will be invaluable for your family.

It has been shown in numerous studies that massage therapy stimulates the release of oxytocin, which is a hormone that helps with bonding. Since new fathers do not have the benefit of lactating, thus producing this hormone themselves, couples massage can take the place of this natural event that occurs in the mother’s life for the new father.

However, massage’s bonding benefits are more than hormonal, as humans are themselves multi-dimensional beings. In addition to the hormonal changes that occur, simply relaxing and being together in the same room also fosters closeness and bonding. And, as would seem obvious, if the mom and dad are strongly bonded, then the baby will find it easier to bond with both of them.

Returning to the hormonal changes that occur, it will also be easier for the mother and baby to bond during nursing because the release of oxytocin causes lactation and bonding in the new mother. Most often, it is the new mother who is in need of help with lactation, since her body may not be producing enough of this new hormone that has never been needed before.

So for women who are having difficulty producing enough milk, this type of post partum couples massage may be ideal. It is a much more relaxing and bonding experience to have a massage session, even a post natal massage session, with your loved one. Then the two of you can return to your new jobs as parents of a brand new baby with freshness, ready and able to provide the nurturing care that this new little one needs.

For more information about our couples massage services, or to book an appointment, please click here.
A couples massage after the birth of your first baby is an amazing way to foster the bond between the three members of your family. Although the baby will most likely not be present, the bonding between new mom and dad in a couples massage will be invaluable for your family.

It has been shown in numerous studies that massage therapy stimulates the release of oxytocin, which is a hormone that helps with bonding. Since new fathers do not have the benefit of lactating, thus producing this hormone themselves, couples massage can take the place of this natural event that occurs in the mother’s life for the new father.

However, massage’s bonding benefits are more than hormonal, as humans are themselves multi-dimensional beings. In addition to the hormonal changes that occur, simply relaxing and being together in the same room also fosters closeness and bonding. And, as would seem obvious, if the mom and dad are strongly bonded, then the baby will find it easier to bond with both of them.

Returning to the hormonal changes that occur, it will also be easier for the mother and baby to bond during nursing because the release of oxytocin causes lactation and bonding in the new mother. Most often, it is the new mother who is in need of help with lactation, since her body may not be producing enough of this new hormone that has never been needed before.

So for women who are having difficulty producing enough milk, this type of post partum couples massage may be ideal. It is a much more relaxing and bonding experience to have a massage session, even a post natal massage session, with your loved one. Then the two of you can return to your new jobs as parents of a brand new baby with freshness, ready and able to provide the nurturing care that this new little one needs.

For more information about our couples massage services, or to book an appointment, please click here.

Massage Therapist as First-Line Health Advocate: Trained in Observing Signs of Pathology, Therapists Notice And Report Health Issues Before Anyone

Massage Therapists, whether employed in a spa setting, or working with a mobile company like ours, are an invaluable part of your health care team. Chances are, if you are a regular massage therapy client, you see the massage therapist more than your doctor. And of course, that's a good thing, indicative of even better things! As a result, your Massage Therapist may be the first health care professional to observe and report to you that something might be of issue.

Of course, a Massage Therapist is not a doctor, and isn't qualified to make diagnoses. If your therapist is doing this, it might be a good idea to start looking now for someone new, and quickly. Massage Therapist training includes a lengthy module on Pathology. This includes identifying all sorts of skin issues, from tinea to melanoma. And that's important, because a massage therapist, working on a client's back every two weeks, can easily be the only one in that person's life in a position to notice changes in a mole on a client's back.

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Post-natal Massage: Helping to Restore Your Flatter Tummy

Most women who have had their first child are very disappointed with the speed at which their stomach returns to normal. In a normal situation, the stomach starts to flatten in a couple of weeks, and becomes more or less normal in a few months or more. I say more or less because without certain interventions, the tummy will not return to completely normal.


The interventions that I am mentioning specifically relates to reconditioning of the rectus abdominis so that it joins together again. Most women are not aware that the main muscle in the center of the stomach, the rectus abdominis, actually splits in half during pregnancy. If it did not split in half, it would become stretched and distended, thus becoming non-functional after the baby was born. Instead, our intelligent bodies preserve the form of the rectus abdominis by splitting it right in half down the middle, and sending half to one side of the body and the other half to the other side of the body.


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Pre-Natal Massage: Preparing For A Natural Healthy Birth With Fewer Complications

It has been reported many times in the past few years that women in New Jersey have among the highest rates of cesarean sections in the country. For many women who have become pregnant, this is an alarming fact. It is sometimes a statistic that they do not want to add to. It has also become known in recent years that cesarean sections are not the best way for a woman to give birth. It is a major surgery that is, usually, not life threatening. However, there are many risks that are associated with it that can become life threatening. Some of the risks that are involved with a c-section are outlined in this excellent article that can be accessed by clicking here.


However, there is also a much longer post-partum recovery period simply due to the fact that she has just undergone a major surgical procedure. Pregnancy massage has been studied with regard to natural birth complications, with positive findings being reported by the Touch Research Institute. Fewer complications often mean a better chance of completing a natural, rather than a surgical, birth.

After you have given birth, the long sleepless nights begin. Along with that, if you are nursing, the neck and shoulder pains from long nursing times also begin. This is certainly not the ideal time to be recovering from a major operation. Many people do not realize that a c-section is a major operation simply because it is so common. There are some women who even have a scheduled c-section around their due date, and arrive in the hospital to deliver their baby on their own schedule.

As with everything else, every person has their own decisions to make for their own body and life. For some women, childbirth is a natural end to the pregnancy. More and more women are choosing to have their child in a safe environment with a midwife, a doula, and very often, a pre-natal and post-natal massage therapist. Other research by the Touch Research Institute has concluded that receiving pre-natal massage can help labor go more quickly and more smoothly, which is a very desirable outcome. Considering the recent rise in popularity of doulas and midwives, it is possible that the statistics mentioned above with regard to c-sections will change in the next few years.

Undoubtedly, there are situations where a c-section is absolutely necessary, and where not performing one might lead to the death of the child. Situations such as placenta previa, where the placenta blocks the passage to the birth canal, might necessitate a c-section. However, many midwives are experienced in restoring a natural birth situation even when conditions exist where a physician would normally call for a c-section.

Perhaps it is not well-known, but I have known many pregnant women who have given birth to breech babies under a midwife’s care without the need for surgery. Nuchal cord babies have also been safely naturally birthed with a midwife’s care. A nuchal cord birth occurs when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck. A good midwife will begin the natural birth, and when the head appears, quickly and deftly unwrap the cord, thus saving the infant from asphyxiation. These types of situations are covered in the training that a midwife receives, and experience and intuition also help the midwife to know what to do in these types of situations.

Many women who are interested in having a midwife are also referred to a pre-natal massage therapist, and may also have a massage therapist present during the labor and birth itself. In this case, the therapist may be able to help with the pain of labor, reduce the stress of labor, assist with the process of labor with certain acupressure techniques, and provide emotional support to the new mother as she gives birth to her child. Then, of course, continuing with massage therapy in post-natal treatments after the birth is always a wise decision. Other blogs on this site have discussed the benefits of post-natal massage therapy in great detail.

For more information on pre-natal massage therapy, please visit our website by clicking here.