Prenatal and infant massage

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · Vimala McClure, Audrey Downes · 1978 · India

What it is

This entry covers two different things that share a name. Prenatal (pregnancy) massage is hands-on massage of a pregnant client by a licensed or registered massage therapist, adapted for pregnancy in positioning, pressure and screening. Infant massage in the IAIM tradition is not massage given by a…

Format

• Phases. (1) Referral and the client's discussion with their prenatal care provider where there are complications; (2) intake: gestational stage, prenatal diagnoses, past pregnancy problems, medications, prior bodily trauma and massage history; (3) each session: re-check blood pressure, medications…
• Session count and format. Not fixed by sources; individual sessions, booked by the client.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Who delivers. In the USA, massage therapists are licensed in most states; FSMTB lists licensure in 49 states or territories, registration in Vermont, optional certification in California and no state regulation in Kansas, Minnesota and Wyoming; licensure typically requires postsecondary education, clinical experience, the MBLEx and continuing education. In the UK, massage therapy and sports massage are among the…
• This entry covers two different things that share a name. Prenatal (pregnancy) massage is hands-on massage of a pregnant client by a licensed or registered massage therapist, adapted for pregnancy in positioning, pressure and screening. Infant massage in the IAIM tradition is not massage given by a professional: a trained instructor teaches parents to massage their own baby, demonstrating on a doll, and the parent…
• Origins. McClure began this work at an orphanage in northern India; in 1978, at the request of childbirth educators, she created a training programme combining strokes learned in India with Swedish massage, reflexology principles and yoga adapted for babies, and designed strokes for colicky babies; with registered nurse Audrey Downes she founded the International Association of Infant Massage Instructors,…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Version followed: prenatal massage as described in the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Massage Therapy Journal feature on pregnancy (Salamon 2018) and the Mueller & Grunwald (2021) systematic review of relaxation massage in pregnancy; infant massage as the International Association of…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• comparison between babies in the group.
• the parent hearing the suggestion as criticism of their parenting.
• massage becoming another task the parent feels they are failing at.
• a parent exhausted by colic who needs mental health support as well.
• parents feeling they have 'failed' by not massaging; normalise skipping.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.