If you’re looking for a gift to give a woman who just had a baby, I think a wonderful gift is a post natal massage.

Before the baby is born, an experienced massage therapist knows the areas of the body where a pregnant woman tends to particularly ache - the upper and lower back, the lower legs and feet, and the sciatica. For me, every week I brought to the table a different requested area of focus. As my baby moved, so did my aches!

Once the baby is born, a whole new series of issues come up, particularly if mom and dad are not used to weight lifting, because that little baby increases his or her weight daily and needs to be lifted many times a day! Dad now also needs more massages.

A particular area of concern for new parents are the wrists and hands. Make sure you are properly lifting the baby with your knees slightly bent and weight evenly distributed across the arm.

Yet, even with all the proper lifting techniques in place, a baby squirms and can throw all those techniques to the wind, so a regular massage to these areas of the body is quite worthwhile.

You can do this yourself simply by using one hand to massage your other. Focus long strokes between each finger. Move slowly all the way up to the elbow. Do at least several long strokes per finger.

When you are done, rotate the wrists in a circular motion. Make a fist with your hands, keeping the thumb inside the fingers as you do this. This fully stretches the top side of the hands

This type of massage is also good for the heart as it helps push the blood flow to the heart to heal and cleanse the blood that nourishes us. So, whenever you can give yourself a hand to your heart!