About Nurture With Nikki

"My name is Nikki Sanders and would love to meet you at my Baby Massage classes. I am a qualified Postnatal Practitioner and after continuing to run the NCT Postnatal Courses in the local area for over ten years, I qualified as an Instructor to specialise in teaching Baby Massage. My passion is supporting new parents and helping them in their journey through parenthood. I am a mum to five children so have a busy home life but also enjoy socialising with friends and cycling or running whenever I can.

I provide Baby Massage Classes in Solihull and the surrounding areas to enable parents to take part in this wonderful bonding activity that also helps your baby in so many different ways. I offer classes both online and face to face to ensure I can reach as many parents as possible. Parents will learn the techniques needed to safely massage their babies, meeting other parents and sharing experiences along the way.”

What is Baby Massage?

Baby massage is the art of gentle loving touches of your baby’s skin using oils or moisturisers in a stimulating but relaxing way. It will release tension and help to nurture both their physical and emotional development. Using baby massage as part of your routine, you will find the soothing strokes of your hands stimulate the production of the feel-good hormone known as oxytocin in you and your baby. This lays down the positive emotional foundations for a strong bond between parent and baby and encourages love, trust and emotional security between baby and carer. This is the first step in positive communication with your baby through eye contact and touch and will help you to recognise your baby’s cues by noticing how they respond. Baby Massage has been used for generations in many different parts of the world and across all different cultures; it is widely recognised to have a great number of positive benefits to both parent and baby.

What are the benefits of Baby Massage?

There are lots of ways baby massage can benefit not just your baby, but your family as well:

Bonding and Attachment opportunities:

  • The first communication a baby receives is through its skin. As ‘Touch’ is the most significant and highly developed sense of a newborn baby.
  • Skin to skin contact increases the levels of Oxytocin, the body’s ‘love hormone’ which can be very soothing and relaxing for both baby and parent, lifting your mood as well as baby’s. This can be very helpful to mums who are at risk of postnatal depression to interact with their baby and gives them a positive action to take with their baby.
  • Eye contact and touch provide opportunities to get to know each other and be in tune with your baby’s cues. Combined with songs and chatting to your baby, this strengthens your bond and helps your baby to feel secure. Helping to create an emotionally secure baby will help them to become an emotionally secure adult.
  • All parents and carers can learn the massage strokes, this can provide bonding opportunities for the whole family. A regular massage can become part of your daily routine, perhaps at bedtime. This helps to bring you, your baby and your partner closer together.
  • By attending a baby massage class it gives you the opportunity to meet other mums with similar age babies and chat about the issues you face each day as a new mum – this can be incredibly helpful to everyone and can reduce anxiety and stress sometimes felt after having your baby.

    • Improves relaxation and sleep patterns:

  • The effects of massage on your baby are to soothe them and totally relax them in a nurturing way. This positive touch calms the nervous system which promotes regular sleep patterns.
  • During baby massage, the brain releases more serotonin and oxytocin which are the hormones that help your baby to relax. You will often find your baby will sleep more restfully after an infant massage.
  • An added benefit for breast feeding mums is that the increase in Oxytocin levels can help to increase milk production.
  • Regular massage provides our babies with an early stress management programme which will be valuable to them in years to come.

    • Provides relief from trapped wind, constipation and teething pain:

  • The massage techniques work with the natural flow of the digestive system, helping to move trapped wind through, ease constipation and provide relief from the discomfort this can cause.
  • Some of the techniques used will provide relief from teething pain in a gentle and soothing way.

    • Improves digestion, circulation, skin condition and muscle tone:

  • Stimulation of the digestive system allows more nutrients to be absorbed, promoting healthy growth. This is recognised as a technique to help pre–term babies gain weight more quickly. You will often find that your baby needs an additional feed after their massage.
  • Massage of the baby’s limbs will increase blood circulation and muscle tone which helps them to grow and develop and also become more aware of their own body.
  • The oil you use should be selected carefully to moisturise your babies skin during the massage but at the same time not block the skin pores or break down the natural skin barrier that protects your baby.

    What to Expect at our Baby Massage Classes

    ✓ Groups are small and friendly, in cosy rooms suitable for feeding and changing your baby.

    ✓ On arrival you will make yourself comfortable at one of the massage stations and will be introduced to the other mums attending the course.

    ✓ Please wear comfortable clothing as the massage takes place whilst sat or kneeling on the floor and please bring a towel or blanket from home for your baby to lay on – familiar home smells on your towel will help relax your baby.

    ✓ During the four week course we will cover all massage strokes for the full body, which includes the chest, tummy, legs, feet, arms, hands, back, face and head. Each week we will review the previous weeks massage strokes and add something new. By the end of the four week course you will know all the massage strokes for a full body massage for your baby which you can then repeat at home.

    ✓ Our baby massage classes are completely ‘infant led’ which means you can follow your baby‘s lead and respond to their needs as you see fit. The classes are very relaxed and you can stop the massage at any time and take a break to just watch and listen while you tend to your baby’s needs.

    ✓ At the end of the massage there will be time to talk about the massage techniques and discuss other parenting topics that are of interest to you. This is a great opportunity to get to know each other and learn from each other’s experiences.

    ✓ You will be also provided with a summary of the strokes you have learnt together with a visual prompt to help you practise the strokes at home.

    ✓ Online courses are available for those parents who prefer to have the option to learn from the comfort of their own home.

    How to Book a Class

    To see the dates, times and locations currently available please visit our Nurture with Nikki facebook page. To reserve your place on a course please email me:

    nikki@nurturewithnikki.co.uk