Health Volunteering Patan CH

Infant Massage Training

Patan Children’s Home is an organization dedicated to the care and education of rescued and orphaned girl children. It is situated in the suburbs of the metropolitan area of Lalitpur district in Kathmandu valley. Since its foundation, Amics del Nepal has been providing financial support to continue the children’s education and care. Furthermore, with the Infant Massage Training, we have also initiated providing support in other operational areas such as staff development and training. On 10th February, Amic’s staff along with a volunteer from Spain (a nurse with experience in the Paediatric unit) provided caregivers’ infant massage training to six staff responsible for looking after infants from 0-18 months old. There were four infants in the children’s home. A total of six women (three women staff working to look after the small children, three nursing students of the home) attended the training. The nursing students also supported as translators to the Nepali caregivers during the training.

The massage taught in the training was Shantala massage. Shantala massage is an Indian massage technique which helps to keep the baby calm, relaxed and sleep better. This kind of massage is healthier for infants below 18 months. The training session lasted around 30 minutes. A warm room and oil was used for the massage and was carried out practically with the babies. During the session, the babies seemed to really enjoy the massage, and the staff also found the session quite beneficial.