Infant massage is an age-old parenting practice used in many cultures such as Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America.

As a daily routine, mothers in India have been massaging their newborns since 3000 BC, much longer than their Western counterparts. It's only in the last 30 years that infant massage has taken hold in the West. For massage therapists specializing in infant massage, calming a baby never became so easy. There are many reasons for infant massage therapy, from serious problems preterm infants face to common discomforts healthy full-term infants endure.

For those familiar with infant massage, you are more than likely aware of the studies showing improvements in weight gain in preterm infants who receive infant massage; however, other benefits may occur from weight gain. The Journal of Pediatrics (July 2005) reported, "The weight gain experienced by preterm neonates receiving moderate-pressure massage therapy may be mediated by increased vagal activity and gastric motility."The study concluded that the weight gain in preterm infants might be directly related to "massage-induced increases in vagal activity, which in turn may lead to increased gastric motility and thereby weight gain."

For massage therapists interested in infant massage, put down the Baby Massage for Dummies text and listen up; the following techniques will be more familiar to you than you think. Here are some of the techniques you might learn after taking infant.