Tips and tricks to help little ones sleep

Tiny acupressure points

There are a few places that you can use gentle pressure to help remedy some everyday troubles. For babies under 3 months very gentle pressure should be used for a total of only about 10 to 20 minutes a day. Just a few seconds of softly pressing on each point every few hours should be sufficient.

These points provide a great tool to have in your bag of parenting tricks. You can do them whilst your little person is breast feeding, whilst they watch their favourite programme or when they are having story time.I have been using reflexology on my little one since he was born and now he is 4.5 years old now he knows and understand these points help hm feel better and he often asks me to do them when he needs it.

Acupressure and reflexology  treatments should only be used in addition to the medical advice of your pediatrician, not as a substitute.

When your baby has a blocked nose it can really affect their sleep .  While using a little saline water and a suction bulb is a great way to remove mucous from her nasal cavity, the swollen tissue that is constricting her ability to breath through her nose is the real issue. Just next to the largest part of each of her nostrils is a pressure point that helps reduce inflammation of the nasal passages. Simply place a finger on either side of he nose at the widest part, and gently massage in a circular motion while counting to 10. This should provide her with some relief immediately, and help to resolve the underlying cause of the inflammation more quickly. You can use these points up to 6 times in a day, spaced a couple hours apart.

 A nagging cough will keep you and your little one up at night. This cough is usually a dry hacking one, but even if it is a bit croupy these pressure points can offer a little bit of relief. These pressure points are located on the top section of your baby’s index fingers just above the knuckles. Do not pinch when you apply the pressure, just holding onto your baby’s fingers will be sufficient. Try to hold on for about 5-10  seconds whenever your baby has a rough bout of coughing. The cough should be significantly calmed while you hold his fingers, and the duration of the cough over all should be reduced significantly

These pressure points can be used for pain located anywhere on your baby’s head like the sinuses, gums and forehead, these points are especially helpful for teething pain. There are two points one is  located on the largest part of the palms of your baby’s hands near his thumbs. You can press on one or both of them, with a gentle massaging motion for about 10 seconds at a time every two hours or so. The other is on top of all the fingers, just massage lightly from the top of each finger down towards the knuckle and back up.

This should not only help reduce the pain in your baby’s gums but also help their little bodies relax .

These 2 pressure points can be used for babies, kids and adults.. It is one of the most effective acupressure points for infants that I have found. If you are trying to soothe your baby to sleep, and you have addressed all of the usual causes for wakefulness (hunger, diaper, warmth, gas and burping), try these two pressure points. Between and slightly above your little ones  eyebrows on her forehead is what I like to call your baby’s “sleep button”. Just a soft stroking touch for anywhere between 10 and 20 seconds will prompt your baby to relax and close her eyes.

Pressure point number 2 is on the thumb pads, gently press and make little circles here for as long as you need. You might even find some crystals here which mean this point really needs to be worked on.