The baby massage course takes place over 5 weeks, and each week you will learn the massage strokes for a different part of the body, building up to a full body massage by the last week.

As well as learning a useful skill, the classes are also golden time for you and your baby to focus on each other. Baby massage increases bonding between parent and baby, and will help you to learn about your baby’s cues for communication too. The class is also a really enjoyable morning away from the house, and a great way to meet other local new parents.

The classes are led by the needs of the baby – you should always feel free to respond to the needs of your baby during each class, so if you need to feed, change, walk around, cuddle, or if baby is asleep throughout the class – that is fine! There will be lots of time to demonstrate anything anyone missed, and time at the end for tea, cake and a chat.

Baby massage is an ancient and traditional art, carried out by mothers for their babies in many countries. I trained with the International Association for Infant Massage, which exists to promote infant massage through training, education and research.