Infant massage classes
Women who deliver at Southview Medical Center get Scott's services in their hospital room, but Scott also holds infant massage classes for the public.
To sign up, call (937) 401-6517.
For more information, go to kmcnetwork.org/southviewob. Select "Classes" and then go to "Infant massage."
WASHINGTON TWP. Montgomery Co. — It’s been a tough day for Nolan Fox, arguably the most difficult of his three days in this world.
He thought Monday, the day he emerged at Southview Hospital, was difficult, but then came Wednesday, the day he received his circumcision.
If he could talk, his words would likely match the stress of his red, agitated complexion, tearing eyes and wailing cries.
But then Gloria Scott walks in his hospital room and tells Nolan’s parents she is going to help them soothe him.
“Nolan? Are you ready for your massage,” said his mom, Melissa Fox of Huber Heights.
Scott is the relaxation practitioner at Southview Medical Center who helps parents calm newborns through touch. She performs massage techniques on a doll that they then translate to their own child.
“It’s rewarding to give,” said Scott, 53, who also works as a surgical technician and has been at the hospital for 26 years. “It’s a gift to be able to give.”
First, Scott has Fox cup the baby’s hips in her hands and rock them back and forth. Then she puts pressure on his feet, rubbing them as well because the feet have 72 nerve endings.
Nolan goes on to curl his toes.
“That’s cute,” says Mom. It’s also healthy as it shows the baby is responding to stimuli properly.
Then Fox is taught to downstroke Nolan’s body from his hip down to his ankle. Nolan is no longer crying.
“You needed this after what happened today,” Fox says.
Scott approached hospital leaders about her idea to teach parents about massage after she completed courses at the Self Help Institute.
A surgeon who she gave a shoulder massage to after a long surgery supported her idea to administrators and the program began in 2003.
Infants delivered via Caesarean section will most benefit from massage. The reason is those babies did not get the final “push” from the pelvic bone through a vaginal delivery. That push indeed pushes out a lot of fluid the baby acquired through amniotic fluid.
Those babies tend to feel full and therefore will not nurse.
“The mom will say, ‘The baby just does not like me,’ ” Scott said.
Not true. The baby is just full. A massage gets the body working. Soon there is the little “toot” of gas leaving the body, Scott said. Then, it’s likely the baby will move its bowels.
And sure enough, suckling gestures will follow and the baby will breastfeed.
Massage isn’t just for newborns. Scott said babies can be massaged through their first year and even longer to help with constipation, acid reflux and good old stress. Not surprisingly, it also helps parents bond with baby, especially dads worried about handling the fragile newborn.
Mindy Morrison massages her one-month-old daughter, Evelyn, before bedtime and feeding. Morrison, of Dayton, said it helps calm her for better sleep and digestion.
It also helps when nothing else seems to. One day, Evelyn was very fussy and no amount of patting, bouncing or talking would help what ended up being constipation.
Her husband, Matt, took Evelyn and followed the massaging instructions.
“He took her from me and did a massage and she had an explosion,” Morrison said with a grateful laugh.
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