Infant Massage

You can soothe your baby’s fretting and ease him into sleep with a gentle massage.

A recent study suggests that bedtime massages may increase the level of melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate sleep, in 8- to 12-week-old babies. Babies who were given massages 30 minutes before bedtime were shown to have waking and sleeping cycles more like their mothers’ own waking and sleeping rhythms.

To give your baby a massage, place him on his tummy across your lap, and use your fingertips to stroke his back, leg and arm muscles.

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