Is It Safe to Massage Baby During Cold and Cough?

Should I massage my baby during cold and cough?

Does baby massage help in curing the symptoms of cold and cough?

How to massage a baby during a chest congestion or stuffed nose?

What are the precautions while massaging a sick baby?

This post gives you answers to all the above questions.

Massaging is an important process that nourishes baby's skin and ensures that the baby gets sound sleep.It is also said to sharpen facial, features promote the growth and nurture baby's development. You can read on How to oil massage a baby.

Should I massage baby during cold and cough?

The sight of baby getting massaged when they are suffering cold is painful. It really hurts you to see your baby snuffing and crying due to troublesome symptoms of flu.

To your astonishment, you actually relieve your baby at great extent by massaging him. Yes, you may massage your baby while he/she suffers from cold and cough just like I did.

You can also refer to the 21 Home Remedies for Cold and Cough in Babies

My experience of massaging baby during cold and cough

My baby was only seven months old when she caught cold and cough for the first time. It used to feel so tweaky that she used to have noisy breathing and hoarse cry.

It was really heart breaking experience to see her discomfort and pain. She was on antibiotics and decongestants prescribed by her pediatrician.

Meanwhile as I learnt benefits of baby massage, I also used home remedy massage oils as suggested by experienced family members to comfort her, which did relieve her from flu and soothed her.

Of course, you can't replace these with medicinal treatments but these massage home remedies are must try if your baby is suffering from cold and cough.

Baby massage during cold and cough - the technique

Massage techniques when the baby has congested nose would be little modified than the usual massage. So you should be clear on that too.

The process for massaging the baby remains same as the regular massage pattern except a few changes.

• If you usually do not massage your baby, you SHOULD NOT TRY massaging your baby for the first time when he/she is unwell.
• See that the baby massage room is warm up before giving massage to your baby.
• Run your fingers with firm but gentle pressure under baby's cheekbones to relieve from the sinus pain.
• Gently massage your baby's nose to remove the nasal discharge.
• Massage your baby's chest, back, stomach, neck, forehead, palms and feet with firm but gentle strokes.
• If you bath your baby immediately after massage, then keep necessary things like towel, baby clothes, blanket, etc. so that baby is not left for long without clothes on.
• After giving baby bath also, rub your baby's palm and soles gently with baby massage oils that help relieve cold and cough.

You may use vapor rub your baby to ease your baby's flu symptoms. Use only baby-safe vapour for this purpose. Rubbing vapor rub on the tiny soles of baby's feet works wonders (Watch the proportion depending on the age of your baby). Note that vapor rubs SHOULD NOT be used in place of massage oils.

Baby massage oils during cold and cough

Following baby massage oils are home remedies that can be used to soothe cold and congestion in babies.

#1. Massaging baby using oil heated with carom seeds

You may use coconut or gingelly oil for this purpose.

Add a teaspoon of carom seeds (ajwain) into coconut or gingelly oil and heat the oil. After it cools down, use this little warm oil to massage your baby. Carom seeds are known to warm the body. In this oil, you may also add garlic pod while heating the oil. Garlic carries immunity boosting properties.

#2. Massaging the baby with mustard oil

In many regions, mustard oil is used for regular massaging of the baby. You may heat the oil with garlic pod in it and allow it to cool down. Use this warm mustard oil to massage your baby the same way as mentioned.

In addition to massage and precautions, you may also use the medicines and nasal drops/spray prescribed by your pediatrician, as it is very important to remove nasal discharge from your baby's nose. I suggest saline drops as they contain very mild decongestants (Follow instructions on the outer cover to administer correct proportion depending on the baby's age)

I hope this article on baby massage during cold and cough was useful.

Have you tried baby massage to relieve cold and congestion? Does your baby love getting a massage? Has baby massaging helped your baby?

Please feel free to share your views in comments.

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