Why Have a Postnatal Massage?
Postnatal care for mothers is just as important as prenatal care. An expertly performed Postnatal Massage can not only help you recover from the rigours of childbirth, it can also help you cope with the challenges of caring for your baby.
Being a new mum can be one of the most fulfilling and emotionally rewarding times of your life. It can also be physically and emotionally stressful. (Often, it can be both at the same time.) Having spent the previous 9 months becoming accustomed to carrying a growing baby, your body now has to readapt to all the bending, lifting, carrying and lowering that comes with caring for a newborn.
You’ll often find yourself dozing or resting in awkward or uncomfortable positions – for most mothers a peacefully sleeping baby is worth a little discomfort. And that’s before we’ve even got to the mental and physical impact of breastfeeding and sleep deprivation.
All of the above can create areas of significant tension through the body - particularly in the back, neck and shoulders. It can also place extra stress on muscles you didn’t know you had.
Your massage therapist will be able to target and release these areas to ease any aches and pains, stretch out tight or sore muscles and help realign your posture. As a result, not only can you recover faster from the effects of pregnancy and childbirth, but you’ll also reduce the risk of strains and injuries that affect so many new mothers.
Call Studio Book appointmentIs Postnatal Massage Right for Me?
Physically, it’s normal to feel the stresses of caring for a new baby. Mentally, there are few new mums who don’t feel over-tired, over-worked, overwhelmed and/or overburdened, at least some of the time.
Either way, Postnatal Massage is definitely for you.
It helps with healing physically whilst preventing future injury too. And at a time when all your focus, effort and attention is on your new baby, an hour that’s all about you and your needs can offer a much- needed time-out for emotional and psychological recovery.
When to Start Postnatal Massage
Following a healthy pregnancy and delivery without any major complication, a massage can safely be given as soon as you feel ready. However, if you’ve had a caesarean-section you will usually need to wait at least 6 weeks for the scar tissue to heal. (Though you should always consult your doctor or healthcare professional before booking your first Postnatal Massage.)
What Is Postnatal Massage Like?
Postnatal Massage offers a number of important benefits to new mothers.
The carrying, lifting and lowering that is an essential part of caring for a baby means adjusting to new postures that your body isn’t used to. This inevitably puts additional stress on muscles that are unused to such positions, causing tightness, aches and pains. A post-natal massage will ease tight and sore muscles, and tackle any knots and inelastic tissue, allowing your muscles to strengthen as they adjust to their new load.
It also promotes healing by assisting the circulatory and lymphatic system to take toxins and waste products away from the tissue, while bringing in oxygenated blood and nutrients.
A Postnatal Massage will not just help you recover physically, it can help you relax and rejuvenate mentally and emotionally. Massage naturally produces both serotonin and oxytocin (both feel-good neurotransmitters) to restore mental equilibrium and leave you feeling positive, relaxed and ready to take on the world. Oxytocin is very important at this time as it encourages positive relationships with other people, including partners, family and baby. Serotonin is commonly regarded as responsible for maintaining mood balance - something many hormonal and sleep-deprived parents struggle with.
Benefits of Postnatal Massage
Some experts suggest that Postnatal Massage may be a good treatment for postnatal depression (more than 1 in 10 parents suffer from depression following childbirth due to the combination of hormone changes, psychological adjustment, and fatigue).
Additional and specific benefits of Postnatal Massage include:
– Easing back, shoulder and neck tension from breastfeeding and carrying your baby.
– Relieving muscle strain after the rigours of childbirth.
– Abdominal massages can help the uterus to shrink down back to normal position, promote pelvic floor healing and rebalance the spine and pelvis.
– Reducing swelling (edema) by promoting fluid flow in the lymphatic and circulatory system, draining excess fluid away from swollen areas.
– Assisting with healing from c sections after inelastic scar tissue has formed. Through manipulation, elasticity is restored to the tissue, easing tension and restriction, and reducing muscle tightness and pain.
And last (but for new mothers, most definitely not least) it’s a valuable whole hour of me-time, where you can relax and take a step back from the stresses of parenting.
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