Teaching baby massage to new parents

In this paper the author reviews six years of running an on-going baby massage group in a health clinic and makes observations, based on experience, on the importance of offering these classes in health centres where they are accessible to all parents with young babies. As baby massage classes are becoming increasingly popular, private individuals are offering classes and, in some cases, there is doubt as to the qualifications of the instructors, their understanding, and their ability to give sufficient support to young mothers at a vulnerable stage in their lives. The quality of training given by the International Association of Infant Massage Instructors based in the USA is appraised and some thoughts are given as to the way ahead in making more baby massage classes available to all parents within the Primary Preventive Health setting.