A Hands-on Infant Massage and Movement Program
Learn to massage and move your baby to enhance brain development and integrate primitive reflexes
This program offers suggestions on easy things you can do at home to promote healthy brain development for your baby.
In this program, you will learn about
the Five Pillars of Healthy Brain Development
Touch - besides infant massage, there are many ways that you can touch and hold your baby to help your baby learn about their body
Movement - proper movement is key for growing brains. We will show you specific movements that are fun to do AND stimulate your baby’s brain at the same time
Primitive Reflex Integration - babies have automatic movements that they do after birth. In this section, we discuss what primitive reflexes are and how you can move and play with your baby to help these primitive reflexes naturally fade away (integrate)
Rhythm and Sound - here we discuss many different ways to include rhythmic touch, rhythmic movement, rhythmic sounds and rhythmic play in your baby’s day
Sensory Play - babies need to explore their world through their senses. We discuss in this section many ways to help your baby experience stimulation of all their senses
Best Beginnings includes:
A complete infant massage program
40+ videos for you to learn how to massage your baby
A pdf stroke guide that you can print out and keep handy
How to choose the best location
Easy things you can do to enhance the massage experience for you both
What oils to choose
How much pressure to use
When to start, when to stop and the quiet alert phase
Information on Primitive Reflexes
What they are, how they integrate and how to help your baby integrate their primitive reflexes
The 9 most Common Primitive Reflexes - why they are important and behaviours that can exist if they don’t integrate
Movement and Play guides
The importance of tummy time — when to start and how much time is recommended
How movement helps stimulate your baby’s brain
Specific movements that you can include in your play to stimulate your baby’s primitive reflexes
A pdf movement play guide for you to remember these movements
What to do if your baby is not moving properly
How to organize your home so that your baby can thrive
How to set up designated play areas
How to add sensory Play into your baby’s day
The importance of messy play
What is free play?
Additional Resources
an infant massage stroke sheet including pictures to help beginners remember the strokes
a condensed 2-page infant massage stroke sheet for confident parents
a guide to help you remember fun movements to add to play time
a one page summary of songs you can sing to Baby
a Geeky Summary of all the ways this program will stimulate Baby’s mind, to ultimately help integrate their primitive reflexes
150+ references
About Dr. Melanie Beingessner
Dr. Melanie Beingessner is a pregnancy and pediatric focused chiropractor with over 25 years of clinical experience treating pregnant and new moms, infants and children. She is the owner of Blessingways Family Wellness,
a multidisciplinary, chiropractic health clinic that focusses on family health and wellness.
Dr. Melanie is a breastfeeding counselor and a certified infant massage instructor with the International Association of Infant Massage.
She is the mother of three fabulous people. She lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband, Bruce, their kids and their two cats.
For fun, Dr. Melanie practices tai chi, she swims and she loves to quilt.