Infant Massage – Loving Touch Techniques for Parents & Babies
Massage is a great way to connect to your baby. Studies have shown infant massage can help babies sleep better, gain weight, reduce fussiness, improve health and relax.
Massage has been show to support physical and sensory development infants.Parents who massage their babies often experience increased closeness to and understanding of their infants, reduced stress and post-natal depression, and simply enjoy a wonderful experience with their child.
Breathing Space offers private instruction, in-person or remotely, as well as group classes. Our instructors are experienced parents and early childhood educators specifically trained in infant massage education.
Infant Massage Classes – Live, Group Instruction
Classes through Breathing Space teach parents massage techniques in a progressive sequence over several weeks – focusing on different body parts each week, which provides an opportunity to practice strokes at home between lessons. The curriculum is progressive, so drop-ins are not allowed.
While massage is appropriate for babies almost immediately, the ideal time to start a group class is when your baby is 6 weeks-6 months old, but younger and older babies are welcome. The emphasis in class is on following the baby’s cues and learning the techniques to incorporate into your home routine. Upon learning the massage skill, infant massage techniques can be helpful all the way to adolescence.
Bring your baby and your partner, if available. This is an excellent class for fathers! Pack a towel or baby blanket you do not mind getting oil on, a change of diapers, and clothes. Class sizes are kept small to ensure lots of personal attention.
Please note: Fussing and crying are expected; Your baby’s voice is welcome. Please join us.
Upcoming Classes
Registration: Our classes are offered in 3-week series; registration is required. Each registration includes one child in the indicated age range plus up to two caregivers. Twins are welcome. No additional charge for 2nd twin when attending with only one caregiver; email to let us know you are bringing twins. Multiple caregivers attending with twins should register each child; sibling discount 50%.
Read our class policies here. Then, contact us with any questions.
Private Instruction - In Person or Remote
Breathing Space teaches time-tested massage techniques for a full-body infant massage and mini-sequences that can be worked into your family routines.
Instruction can be at your location or ours. Pricing varies by the venue to account for rent or travel.
Frequently Asked Questions About Infant Massage
Baby Yoga & Play classes are offered in 4-8-week series. Full registration required, no drop-ins.
We know it’s hard to get out of the house with a newborn, that naps are sometimes unpredictable, and life can be complicated . . . and that’s why we require series registration for this class.
Committing to the whole series makes it infinitely more likely that you actually attend. It far too easy to say “oh, I’ll go next week” if you are planning on dropping in. If you end up with an unavoidable conflict, illness, or disrupted nap-time, you can take advantage of our generous makeup policy.
Flexibility in Baby Yoga & Play
Because it’s hard to convince babies to be born and maternity leaves to be set on our schedule, we offer lots of flexibility:
- Generous Makeup Options – If students must miss a class, they are welcome to
- attend any other family yoga class as a makeup within the same timeframe, or
- bring a friend to class as a makeup.
See makeup class FAQs for details.
- Any of baby’s favorite grownups are welcome in this class – mom, dad, grandparent, nanny . . . and the same adult need not attend each time. Registration is for one adult-baby on a weekly basis, but occasional visitors are welcome to attend as well.
- Late or Partial Registration: If there is room in the class once the series begins, late registration will remain open for the first 1/3 of the series. Registration automatically prorates. If you can’t complete a series but can commit to 2/3 of the series in consecutive weeks – say because you are going back to work before our series ends – contact us about partial enrollment.
So what does this mean?
- If a full series conflicts with work or travel, feel free to attend multiple times a week during the weeks you can attend.
- If you are going back to work and baby will be home with a nanny or other caregiver, feel free to have them attend in your stead.
Still not sure if Baby Yoga & Play is right for you? That’s why we have a no-risk registration policy. If you attend your first class and decide it’s not a good fit, we make it easy to drop a class series. Read all of our class policies and FAQs.
See additional policies for:
Our classes are generally offered in multi-week series with students committing to multiple consecutive classes. There are lots of benefits to committing to a weekly class but we understand that modern life is busy and sometimes unpredictable. If you must miss a class, you have several options to make it up:
Family, kids, and family classes require a series commitment. Need to miss due to travel, illness, or another conflict? Take advantage of our generous makeup policy.
- Take another class.
Any family member of the enrolled student may take any other appropriate* weekly class during the same semester, even in advance – this means the same class on an alternate day or something different; Use our makeup scheduler. (See instructions here. Please email if you have any questions.)
Family members should take a class appropriate for them – for example, a younger sibling and parent may attend an early childhood class or a parent may take a mat-based adult class. Exception: Yoga Trapeze classes and infant massage are only open to makeup by students enrolled in that type of class.
- Bring a friend.
If space is available in your mat-based or family yoga class, you may bring a friend as your make-up (instead of option 1). This is not allowed in trapeze yoga. Please confirm space availability with your instructor. Guests will be asked to sign a waiver upon arrival.
- Practice with our video library.
If scheduling a makeup doesn’t work for you, you can view selections from our video library and practice at home. You’ll find recordings in the Parent Portal of our registration site.
- Carry over one credit to your next series registration.
Continuing students may carry one class over into the subsequent session by taking a registration discount on your next series. See below.
Additional Detials by Class Type
Weekly Mat-based Classes (non-trapeze)
Carry-over Makeup – Mat-based
We get that scheduling a makeup class isn’t always possible, so we extend the following courtesy to continuing students: carry the value of one class over into the next semester by taking a registration discount.
Use discount code “seriesmakeup” when registering to take your credit. This only applies to students registering again for a full semester and cannot be used as a drop-in, but it can be used if you are changing class type or even the family member enrolled. Note: If you are registering multiple family members who need to take the makeup credit, each student registration will need to be its own transaction.
No other makeups are allowed after a semester ends.
Yoga Trapeze
Space is limited in Yoga Trapeze by the number of rigs, however, we have two ceiling attachments that are not included in our class capacity count, so there is usually space for makeup students in those spots.
Trapeze students or a family member may make up in any other appropriate class during the same semester time frame. There are several ways to reserve your spot in a makeup class:
- Use the makeup scheduler to reserve another Yoga Trapeze class (Note: A family member may only take a trapeze makeup if they themselves are enrolled in or have completed a semester of Yoga Trapeze or a week of camp);
- Use the discount code “trapezemakeup” to drop in to any adult-mat class – all levels, prenatal, etc; or
- Email us to let us know you’d like to attend a family class.
Carry-over Makeup – Trapeze
Continuing students may “carry one class over” into a subsequent session by taking a registration discount on your next series. Use discount code “seriesmakeup” when registering to take your credit. No other makeups are allowed after a semester ends.
Infant Massage
Because instruction is progressive and space is limited, only students enrolled in infant massage may makeup in infant massage.
Enrolled students can access an online course reviewing all the material in the live class. Additionally, because the content is always covered in the same order, infant massage students who miss are welcome to make up that same class in a subsequent series – if you miss class #2, attend the next class #2. Just email to let us know.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which class can I take as a makeup?
The only multi-week classes with a makeup restriction are yoga trapeze and infant massage. You must be enrolled in one of those classes to make up in one of them.
Otherwise, take any class appropriate for the family member doing the makeup. You can even send different family members to do the makeup class. Students may make up in any location.
For example, if you miss a baby yoga class and there isn’t another that suits your schedule, you may bring your toddler to Little Family Yoga as a makeup (baby can even tag along). If you and your child miss Little Family Yoga, you and an older child may attend family yoga, you and a younger child may attend Baby Yoga & Play, or you may attend an adult class for yourself. Anytime we have a “Pop-Up” class on the schedule, that can be a makeup.
How do I reserve a makeup class?
Our registration system has makeup reservations. Log in to the system and look for makeups in the drop-down menu under classes (this option only appears for registered students). See instructions here.
Scroll back up for special notes for Yoga Trapeze students.
I really am only able to attend a couple classes, can I drop-in?
Making Up in a Pop-Up Class or Intro to Yoga Trapeze
Occasionally we offer “Pop Up” classes not associated with a series. Advanced reservation is required. Pop-ups with insufficient registration 3 days in advance may be canceled.
We offer classes in multi-week series. There are lots of benefits to committing to a weekly class but we understand that life happens. We have a very generous makeup policy. We allow students to make up in nearly any other class on our schedule in the same semester and allow family members to take makeups in the registered student’s place.
This is quite flexible. For example, if you miss a baby yoga class and there isn’t another that suits your schedule, you may bring your toddler to Little Family Yoga as a make up. If you miss Little Family Yoga you may take a prenatal yoga class or come to Baby & Toddler Singing Time (weekly class, not weekend workshop). Parents of children enrolled in a class make take any adult mat class on our schedule as a makeup. Students may make up in any location.
Note: Due to space constraints and safety considerations, students may only makeup in a trapeze class if they are registered in another trapeze class.
Makeup Scheduling Online
There is a makeup scheduler in the MainStreetSites registration system. You must be logged into your account for the makeup scheduler to appear and you must be enrolled in a class for makeup spots to be available.
Once you are logged in, simply choose an appropriate makeup from the classes that appear. The student drop-down must match the enrolled student. If you are sending a different student than the original enrollment, just note that in the text field.
Note that toward the end of the semester, there may not be any available makeups in your desired class. We recommend scheduling your makeup as soon as you know you will miss and when you can attend instead. Makeups do not carry over to the next semester.
Yoga Trapeze Makeups
Note: Due to space constraints and safety considerations, students may only makeup in a trapeze class if they are registered in another trapeze class.
Students who miss a trapeze class may make up in any other appropriate class, trapeze or mat-based.
- Use the makeup scheduler to reserve another Yoga Trapeze class or
- Use the discount code “trapezemakeup” to drop-in to any adult-mat class – all levels, prenatal, etc;
- Email us to let us know you’d like to attend a family class.
Workshop Makeups: Infant Massage, Birth & Baby Series
Many of our workshops are one time events and there is no makeup option if you do not attend. See our workshop enrollment and refund policies for details.
For short series classes such as Infant Massage, students may attend the same class in a subsequent series as a makeup. Those makeups are not in the scheduler. Email us to confirm.
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