When my oldest daughter, Rachel was two days old my father-in-law, Dr. Burton White handed me a book on infant massage. Just when Rachel was three weeks old, I realized that I was blessed with a colicky baby. Yes, blessed. Trying to soothe her, I started to teach myself the massage strokes from the book and awkwardly tried them on her with not much confidence. It seemed on the days that she was gi
ven a massage she was less fussy and I was more relaxed. We enjoyed this form of communication together. I realized that this massage time with my daughter started becoming a passion of mine. I decided to get certified by the International Association of Infant Massage and become a CIMI and teach classes. If I could get a B.A. in psychology how hard could it be to learn infant massage? It became my mission to help others learn this loving form and give back. Dr. White gave my husband and I private classes in his New Parents as Teachers Program early on. It is a program that was set up that followed along with his book “The First Three Years of Life.” A developmental book designed to guide parents on the best way to impact a baby in each early stage, emotionally, mentally and physically. When Rachel was two months old again my father-in-law handed me a book but this time it was about baby sign language. I was hesitant to use the gestures in fear that Rachel would simply sign to communicate and not be in a rush to use spoken language. After many conversations with my father-in-law I decided to give it a try when she turned one. We used a few simple signs and within a week she was signing them in the right context and I was amazed. I contacted Joseph Garcia and asked if I could put together a program for parents and teachers on the east coast. I started teaching these classes shortly after. Several years later I got certified in Joseph Garcia’s presenters network in sign language. Naturally, I have also always been curious about the effect of touch and touch therapies so to foster my interest I became a Reiki Master Teacher. I used massage and sign with my other two children, Matthew and Rebecca but I didn’t wait until they were one year to start signing, but started when they were only two months old. Massage was something that I shared with them from birth. I love my work and it is my passion. My role in the classes that I teach is to facilitate and help strengthen the connection between and infant and their caregiver through early communication. Massage from the start and then signing when their visual acuity is developed around two months old. It is so rewarding to meet with a client with a newborn at their home for a private consultation and to follow up a week later only to discover that their baby is unrecognizable because they are less fussy. To see the babies in group classes engage in learning and have the parents watch with amazement never gets dull for me. Watching teachers in the classroom while I show them the best way to reduce frustration when working with babies and help soothe a fussy baby is powerful because the teachers leave the workshops empowered with tools to make a difference. Here are the programs I offer:
Private In home consultation
Group classes
Parenting groups, meet-ups, mom's groups
Teacher Trainings
Baby Kneads baby gift of a session with me
To connect with Sheryl White: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylwhite
