While finally working through the baby massage manual I came across an interesting section on Nigerian baby massage. The concept is wholly new to me and I'll get down to some of the details in a moment but what really caught my eye was a paragraph on baby dangling..! Apparently Nigerian mothers are traditionally taught to stretch their little ones by actually dangling them in the air by one holding onto one limb at a time. You start with one arm, dangle dangle, then the other arm, dangle dangle, then you turn the baby upside down and dangle dangle twice again. This final stretching episode is finished off with tossing - and catching - the baby in the air. Must be quite a sight! I tried to google it but didn't find anything. Too bad. Let me know if you find a link! Gotta see this for myself.
Well, there's more to Nigerian massage than this monkey business and it sounds rather nice. They start by giving the baby a bath, then firmly pressing a warm towel all over the baby's body with special focus on such warm compressions to the head. They then vigorously yet carefully rub peanut or other local oil all over the baby's skin to warm up the muscles, work through any tension, and moisturize the skin. And then comes the monkey business!
Ps. Talking about monkey business we may do that tomorrow morning. No, no dangling for us Finns yet but we may head over to a playground with the same name ;)
Pps. If you want to read more on this and baby massage in general, I just found the whole of 'my' book online:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47383063/DK-baby-Massage
Well, there's more to Nigerian massage than this monkey business and it sounds rather nice. They start by giving the baby a bath, then firmly pressing a warm towel all over the baby's body with special focus on such warm compressions to the head. They then vigorously yet carefully rub peanut or other local oil all over the baby's skin to warm up the muscles, work through any tension, and moisturize the skin. And then comes the monkey business!
Ps. Talking about monkey business we may do that tomorrow morning. No, no dangling for us Finns yet but we may head over to a playground with the same name ;)
Pps. If you want to read more on this and baby massage in general, I just found the whole of 'my' book online:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47383063/DK-baby-Massage
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