1. Baby gets massage even before born! Baby is influenced by your touch, feels the massage, and experiences a difference in the intrauterine environment as the mother relaxes deeply during a massage. Belly massage allows the therapist and mother time during a session to acknowledge the baby’s presence and experience.
2. Relieve Pain: Belly Massage techniques relieve round ligament pain, hip pain, pubic bone and groin pain that may develop as a pregnancy progresses.
3. Unity: Incorporate the sides and belly while working on the back to help create a sense of unity in the body. There is a lot going on in that belly! Why avoid it?
4. Attunement with core and baby: In the first trimester, gentle massage on the belly, or at least holding the belly and lumbar region simultaneously can be settling, relaxing, and reassuring for a new mother. It gives her a chance to attune with support to the growing life within. It may help her make contact with emotions she wants to release if she has had a prior miscarriages, and wants to make space for this new life and opportunity.
5. Birth Preparation: Certain strokes support birth preparation, relaxing the ligaments, creating space for the baby to move into an optimal pelvic-oriented position, and sometimes (after 38 weeks) stimulating contractions.
6. Yummy! It usually Feels Good—to Mom, baby, and practitioner!
