Infant Massage and Movement Therapy

A Training for Somatic Practitioners with Carole Osborne-Sheets

Most classes on infant massage are geared for non-touch professionals. This workshop teaches massage therapists, bodyworkers, and other somatic practitioners how to modify popular therapeutic modalities for infant clients.

Upon completion of this seven-hour workshop, participants will be able to:

• understand the benefits, contraindications, and research supporting touch therapies with infants.
• Modify Swedish, deep tissue, and other touch modalities for infants’ concerns. Perform appropriate, effective movement and massage routines for infants, from newborns to toddlers, developing specific protocols for addressing individual babies’unique needs.
• Use touch to address infants’ typical physical and emotional needs, as well as the special needs of babies with particular physical challenges.
• Organize instructional programs for parents to learn simple massage and movement routines.

Course developer and instructor:

Carole Osborne-Sheets, an integrative body therapist since 1974, began researching and developing infant and prenatal massage therapy programs in 1980. She has trained partners, hospital and agency staffs, and thousands of massage therapists in infant massage and movement. The author of Pre- and Perinatal Massage Therapy, Infant Massage and Movement for Somatic Practitioners, and of Deep Tissue Sculpting, Carole teaches workshops nationally and internationally.

Workshop Features

• Demonstration and practice of infant massage basics
• Reading and responding to babies' behavioral cues
• Demonstration and practice of passive exercise and developmental movement routines
• Massage therapy for structural deviations in infancy
• Guidelines for working with preemies, and with babies with cerebral palsy and other special needs
• Research summaries