Infant Massage Instructor Training & Information

Baby Massage Programs and Support Materials

Baby's First Massage® provides high-quality programs and support materials for people who want to teach newborn massage to new families. Since 1992, we have trained several thousand people - from health care professionals to new parents - in the practice and art of newborn massage. The approach to massage with the newborn baby is based on sensitivity to the baby's responses and readiness of the baby, along with basic physiologic readiness. That would include being able to take feedings, weighing at least 3 pounds, and being at least around 31 weeks or more in gestational age.

Continuing Education and Home Study Available

Continuing Education contact hours for nurses, massage therapists, doulas, and allied healthcare professionals are available. The on site workshops offer 9-11 contact hours. The Home Study offers  17-22 contact hours (depending on professional organization involved), and the Certification Session offers an additional 5 contact hours to the Home Study (for a total of 27 contact hours), if a participant chooses that learning track.

The training for the instructor is based on research of massage with babies in the intensive care unit, and healthy newborns. The instructor learns how to teach new parents to interpret baby's cries, how to understand time out signals, how to comfort their babies...and a gentle massage that helps the baby with digestion, elimination, weight gain, and deeper more restful sleep.

Instructors have been able to implement Baby's First Massage® programs in hospitals, doctor's offices, lactation consultant practices, with doulas, in spas and private massage practices, in community centers, and many other places.

The training program takes the learner into the subject deeply enough that on completion, she or he would be confident to teach families of:

On site workshops are offered throughout the USA and our home study program is available worldwide. Certification Sessions combine the Home Study with a half day of "hands on" training. Click on "Certification Session" page to learn the details of this option. These Sessions are available in cities where there are "Certification Coaches." Certification as a newborn massage instructor is available with every learning choice, including the home study.

Infant Massage instructor training programs

If your interest is in learning how to teach parents of "older" infants,or learning to teach a more involved massage sequence usually taught in a series of classes, please consider contacting one of the following Infant Massage instructor training programs: Healthy Family Living, Infant Massage USA, or International Institute of Infant Massage for their 3-4 day certification training.

Baby's First Massage® featured in The AMTA Journal

The AMTA Journal, "MTJ" Winter, 2006 issue has a fine article on infant massage. Baby's First Massage® is included in the article! It's a well written, informative article. Enjoy! Read/download here.

Helping Baby's First Massage® Serve

We are all becoming aware this is a global family. In the big picture, Baby's First Massage helps families anywhere on our planet. However, in the practical sense at this time, the part of the global family in the USA can use some help! Your financial assistance will help babies and their families directly through several initiatives. If you are able to offer a financial gift to support these initiatives, please click on the section that says "Help BFM Serve." With your help, we can move forward more quickly and effectively. Please go to "Helping BFM Serve" for current updates.