Coconut Oil Baby Massage Benefits, Tips to Do Coconut Massage for Infants

Babies are the most delicate, sensitive and tender beings who benefit greatly from newborn's body massages in their early life as it helps them in building strong bones and good blood circulation. We Indians almost have a routine chalked out for newborn baby massaging. Choosing the best massage oil for your little one can be marked as one of the tough tasks you would have to face early in parenthood, like I did.

Especially with the gigantic variety of baby massage products in the market i.e. almond oil, coconut oil etc. There is always a sense of doubt in the minds of new parents as to what is the best for their newborn baby. Some parents like to experiment and trust new age products while others vouch completely on traditional products because of the trust their elders have imbibed in them. 

Why Is Coconut Oil Preferred For Infant Massaging?

Being completely natural, hygienic, safe and light on your infant's soft and supple skin, coconut oil offers a great deal of benefits for your baby. One key role of massage oils is to moisturize and hydrate the skin. Coconut oil does exactly that and being light on the skin, it lets the skin breathe easily too. Coconut oil has been proved to have loads of therapeutic and relaxing effects on the skin. It has a tendency to heal, re-hydrate and moisturize the skin while being fast absorbent as well. It is a versatile oil and can be used to cool the skin in summers and warm the skin in winters. This property makes it an all-the-year-round oil for baby massages.Coconut Oil Baby Massage Benefits

Coconut Oil Baby Massage Benefits for Baby Skin

Focusing on more traditional choices, today we bring you some benefits of coconut oil for baby massage.

1. Treating cradle cap: Common in newborns, coconut oil helps in case they develop cradle cap. Basically a type of dermatitis which affects babies in early weeks of life causing a layer of flaky skin or dandruff like phenomenon on the top of the head, it can be dealt with by lightly massaging coconut oil on the scalp. Retain the oil for 20 minutes and then rinse with lukewarm water
2. Get long and smooth hair: If the TV ads have not yet convinced you, let me assure that coconut oil can do wonders for baby hair. A small amount of oil on your infant's hair every night will make them grow beautifully and have a great texture
3. Baby Eczema: When a infant's skin becomes very dry and itchy, the condition is known as eczema. Massaging with coconut oil helps with eczema by improving the areas affected. Helps by moisturizing and making the skin soft, hydrated
4. Effective to treat diaper rashes: Diapers are the new way of life for new parents now. Babies suffer from diaper rashes pretty often in their early life. Coconut oil can be greatly helpful in such cases as it helps in minimizing redness, pain and intensity of the rashes
5. Relief for chapped lips: Applying coconut oil slightly on your baby's lips will help with chapped and dry lips, especially in winters
6. Insect bites: Your newborn cannot fend off the pesky creatures who come in quest for treating themselves. Insect bites can look quite sore and the skin may appear red. You can apply coconut oil on mosquito bites to get relief and the newborn baby will benefit from it's anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties
7. Treating baby lice: A baby can catch lice if someone else in the house gets it. If this so happens, applying coconut oil will help in this regard and also control the spread and new infestation
8. Ease teething pains: Applying coconut oil on gums will help in reducing teething pain as it is anti-inflammatory and will soothe inflammation on the gums. Take a little coconut oil and lightly massage in your newborn's baby's gums. Alternatively, you can apply some coconut oil on your newborn baby's teething toys
9. Body lotion: Coconut oil is light and easily absorbent so it can be used as a body lotion as well. Dab a bit of oil into your hands and massage your infant's body thoroughly
10. As a cold rub: A infant's immune system is not very strong and he may catch cold often if exposed to temperature changes. Coconut oil can come to the rescue even then. Add a few drops of coconut oil to peppermint oil or eucalyptus oil, mix them up and warm the mixture in your hands. Now rub it on your baby's chest to get rid of cold

How to Use Coconut Oil For Newborn Baby Massage?

If you are using coconut oil for new born baby massage in summers, it can be used as it is without heating, whereas in winters you will have to slightly warm it up for use. Once you have the oil ready, you can start by applying some onto your baby's chest using upward strokes with gentle hands. Continue by applying oil onto your newborn baby's head, arms, neck, legs and feet. Massaging in circular and upward motions will help in increasing blood circulation. Since this oil is light and absorbs fast, it can be used more than once in a day. However, avoid using any oil near or in your new born baby's nose, navel, eyes or ears. It could lead to infection or fungal growth if left unseen.

Type of Coconut Oil For Babies Massaging

You must know these baby massage scientific benefits, and also gives some great one-on-one time for the mother and the baby. While I was also aware of mustard oil and olive oil being used for massaging a baby, I wanted to know everything about coconut oil. So, firstly, what is coconut oil and its types? Well, coconut oil is oil derived from the coconut fruit. It has the following types:

1. Virgin/natural coconut Oil: Derived from dried up coconut meat which is milled and crushed to obtain oil, it can also be used for massaging the baby
2. Refined coconut oil: Derived from refining of coconut using chemical processes like bleaching, deodorizing to make it odorless and colorless
3. Virgin coconut oil: Derived from milk of fresh coconuts to retain its antioxidant properties, pleasant smell and taste. Virgin coconut oil should be used for massaging the baby
4. Organic coconut oil: Derived from organically grown coconut palms without the use of any chemicals or preservatives. Many people nowadays use organic coconut oil for baby massage, since it is free from all additives

If the next question that pops in your mind is whether or not you can use coconut oil for baby massage, let me tell you, it is not just safe but also a preferred choice for mothers round the globe. Let's understand in detail.

There are many more uses of coconut oil which is why one can call it all-rounder oil for babies as well as adults. Being natural, chemical free and safe for babies, it has been used by parents for centuries. Use coconut oil in case of burns, bites or cuts to reduce pain and fasten healing without any worry of marks on the skin. So now you have an oil that you can blindly trust, like I do, however, as a parent you would know best !