{Local Class} Bonding with Baby
Today I want to share some information about Laura’s award winning baby classes with you, baby classes are a great way to get out with your wee one and meet other mums!
Hi, my name is Laura Henderson and I run ‘BONDING WITH BABY’. I am a fully qualified Nursery Nurse and have over 15 years experience supporting families. Although I have worked with children of all ages, babies amaze me so much and I became a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) in 2007 and a Rhythm Kids® Teacher in 2008, running courses from my previous workplace. I initially set up ‘Bonding With Baby’ on a part-time basis in 2011 and, due to its success, I have been running it full-time in various venues in Aberdeen since August 2013.
In 2015, I was ecstatic when ‘Bonding With Baby’ won the Best Post-Natal Activity in the UK at the ‘What’s on 4 Junior’ Awards, as voted for by local parents who had attended. I encourage parents to ‘Come relax and have fun with your little one’ so my ‘Bonding With Baby’ courses are supportive, non-judgemental and baby-led, therefore crying is accepted and if your baby has any needs during class, such as feeding; changing; soothing, I ask that you respond to their needs how you would at home – as you know your baby best!
I offer parents the opportunity to attend one or both of my 6 week Parent Education Courses with their baby or babies in INFANT MASSAGE and in RHYTHM KIDS across the city. I feel that the support new parents can provide for each other is invaluable, at a time where many new parents may feel vulnerable, so I try and offer my courses in a variety of venues with a range of times and days to suit so I can provide this opportunity for as many new parents as possible. These courses are designed to be attended once so that you can learn skills and ideas to develop at home with your infant, although I have had some parents choose to attend Rhythm Kids twice, repeating the course when their baby’s development had reached a new stage. Both courses start with a 15 minute arrive and settle-in period and end with 20-30 minutes for discussions, refreshments and social interactions between parents and babies, providing further opportunity for parents to make ‘parent & baby’ friends that often last much longer than my 6 week course!
INFANT MASSAGE is suitable for babies from birth up to the pre-crawling stage and promotes bonding and attachment between parents and their new baby. The massage strokes can help with minor baby ailments, such as colic; trapped wind; constipation; teething and colds. Designed by the International Association of Infant Massage, this course is specifically designed for infants using a combination of Indian Massage; Swedish Massage; Yoga and Reflexology principles and involves parents lovingly stroking their own baby, taking time to communicate verbally and non-verbally with them so that baby feels loved, valued and respected. The massage strokes are built up gradually over the 6 week course, at a pace that is right for your baby, allowing time for parents to become confident in the strokes so that massage becomes a life-long skill taking place between parent and child. Relevant weekly information is provided to enhance what is learnt in class, alongside useful resources for new parents in and around Aberdeen.
RHYTHM KIDS is suitable for babies aged from 3 months old to the pre-walking stage and is a baby exercise, music and rhyme programme which promotes baby’s love of movement whilst developing pre-verbal language. Designed by Touchlearn International Ltd, this course is an ideal follow-on course from Infant Massage for the growing baby, although can be attended without having completed an Infant Massage course previously. Continuing to understand baby’s non-verbal communication, the Rhythm Kids programme helps parents to support their baby to explore different types of movement, using exercises which help to train the senses to work together to develop your baby’s posture, balance and coordination thus supporting skills for sitting, crawling and walking. By singing nursery rhymes, whilst doing the exercises, parents enhance memory and language skills which help babies to develop sounds and gestures of a pre-verbal language on which more formal speech will be built. Weekly Exploratory Play, using scarves; puppets and instruments, takes place at the beginning and the end of the programme.
Exploring baby development and how it can be promoted at different stages, weekly sessions are enhanced with parent handouts which provide further ideas of play for infants and local parenting resources.
If you are interested in my ‘Bonding With Baby’ courses and wish to find out more – further information can be found on:www.bondingwithbabyaberdeen.com and you may contact me directly via text message or call: 07426 456810 or email: bondingwithbaby@yahoo.co.uk
