I took Esa for his first session of infant hydrotherapy at the LifeBaby Spa in Fourways, Johannesburg. It was so much fun seeing him get accustomed to the water. I won’t lie, there were definitely some tears too, after all he is six months old and recognising faces and new places, so being in a new environment did freak him out a bit. But he got over that quite quickly once he was in the water.
So this is why infant Hydrotherapy is good for babies:
- It can help babies with trapped winds and cramping as the independent floating helps strengthen and stabilise their core.
- Continuous sessions carry babies into more stimulation and development cognitively, auditory and visually are heightened and strengthened.
- On average ‘water babies’ are usually 6-20 months ahead of non-water peers in oral expression, math and reasoning on pre-school entrance testing 5 years later.
- The independent movements help baby develop their own natural balance of their bodies creating a natural placement of muscles and bones, it gains functional mobility in comparison.
- These hydrotherapy techniques are specialised to accommodate each baby gaining different strength or aspect from the water – sleep, muscle tone, development, assisting in rolling, walking, teething pains, independence and confidence.
- The Massage therapy is highly beneficial too – it has led to weight gain in pre-term infants. They have also been shown to increase vagal activity, gastric motility, insulin and IGF-1 levels following moderate pressure massage.
- The infant massage has also shown to significantly decrease paternal stress.
In short – this is totally worth it! I couldn’t believe Esa’s first session was just seven minutes long but as they told me, this is the equivalent of a 30 minute treadmill run – this how intense it feels to a baby to do less than ten minutes in the water.
Have a look at Esa’s full experience here…
If you are interested in taking your baby for a session – babies can start hydrotherapy as early as two days old!
You can contact Life Baby: 011 465 7777 or email them on fourways@lifebaby.co.za
Wardah
Happy Healthy Fabulous
