In the previous post, I reviewed the video, “Bonding Through Touch: Infant Massage for Adoptive Families,” produced by Joni Rubinstein.

Laura Christianson: What’s your background in massage therapy?

Joni Rubinstein: I have been a Certified Licensed Massage Therapist since 1978 and was certified in Infant Massage (IM) in 1987. I have three children, now 25, 23, and 19, who have been massaged since birth. My business, Three Hearts, is named for them.

LC: How did you get interested in infant massage (IM)?

JR: I was drawn to IM because I had taught and practiced Prenatal Massage for many years and this seemed like a natural step to take. After my certification, I began teaching new parents IM and it became a fun class/support group for new mothers and fathers.

Bonding was not an issue for these parents; they were delightful families who enjoyed and connected well with their babies. I enjoyed these families very much, but had a sense that something was missing for me as far as the meaning of the work.

LC: When did you begin working with adoptive families?

JR: I was contacted by an adoption agency in Tucson. This agency placed babies and older children with disabilities and from other countries and recognized the need for tools for bonding and attachment. I began to volunteer working with their parents, and that experience felt like just what I was waiting for. IM took on a deeper meaning for me with those families.

Shortly after that I was contacted by a Teen Parent program in a local high school. I started teaching IM to mothers, and a few fathers who ranged in ages from 14-18. This experience brought home the absolute necessity of bonding. Infant Massage was a simple and easy method for these teens to learn and apply.

Now I had two new populations to relate the work to; one was extremely prepared for parenting and committed to their children or awaited children, and the other unprepared and thrown into an age-inappropriate role of parent. What they shared, for vastly different reasons, was the risk for bonding. I felt like I found my calling for IM.

Continued in the next post