Baby Massage in Marbella

A while ago we had the pleasure to meet James and Amanda from InsideOut Health Magazine in Marbella. http://www.iohmagazine.com/ Their magazine is a great mix of news, advice and features regarding health, fitness, nutrition, children's health, sports and lifestyle in Spain. As with all the best magazines IOH is free and can be picked up at many sports centers, bars, shops and activity centers on the coast. Not only do they run the magazine but James and Amanda recently added little Poppy to their family ( congratulations! ) and now Amanda is running baby massage courses in Marbella.

When Bella was 3 months old, she and I did a course of baby massage together and it was great fun. It was lovely to learn how to massage her little body properly ( without worrying I might be doing something wrong! ) and at that young age it was nice to get a postive response from your baby. Once I'd mastered the massage it became part of our post bath routine for several months ( until she was old enough to crawl away! ) and was a really nice bonding time for both of us, so I'd def recommend it!!

Here are the details of Amanda's classes ...

Just wanted to let you know that I'm planning to teach a Baby Massage course on Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th February if anyone is interested.

Classes will be 1.5 - 2 hours on each of the days and held from 10.30am - 12.30pm approx. It will be in Aloha, Nueva Andalucia.

Cost is 60€ for the 2 day course.

After completing the course, you will be able to perform a full body massage for your gorgeous baby, which will provide huge health benefits and enhance bonding for the entire family.

To find out more about Amanda's baby massage classes contact amanda@iohmagazine.com or call 952 799 612

Plus don't forget Indybel sell a gorgeous baby massage oil!

Lansinoh

Due to popular request from our customers we are now pleased to announce that we sell Lansinoh cream.

Lansinoh is the world's purest lanolin and has been specifically developed for the treatment of sore and cracked nipples alongside help with positioning and attachment.

How Does It Work?

Lansinoh works by the process of moist wound healing. Studies reveal moist wound healing offers a soothing environment for sore nipples and as no scab is formed healing is accelerated.

Lansinoh lanolin can be used also to soothe: chapped lips, nappy rash, dry skin on elbows, heels and knees, itchy stretch marks, minor cuts, burns and skin abrasions. Useful for all the family

A must have item for pregnancy and birth, buy Lansinoh cream in Spain now at indybel.com

ARTICLE - Me Time!

At www.indybel.com we offer a range of spa pampering days for pregnant ladies and tired and stressed out mums! In the interest of our customers we thought it only fair to test out the treatments ourselves ... here's what happened when I went for day of 'me time'!

Mummy Pampering at the Thermae Spa, Villa Padierna in Marbella

So, here I was at the Spa ready for a day of ‘me time not mummy time’ pampering treatments and how did I feel? Well pretty exhausted actually. Having endured a week of sleepless nights while my 18 month old dealt with the onset of some rather nasty teeth, I’d offloaded her onto the grandparents and quite frankly the only thing I felt like doing was crawling back under the covers. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the bags under my eyes were pretty close in size to the bags of towels and toiletries I had bought with me, and when you arrive in such elegant and beautiful surroundings as the Villa Padierna you want to look, quite frankly, equally as elegant and beautiful!

Still the calm, beauty and effortless luxury of the spa had an immediate effect on my mood and tiredness and within minutes of arriving I began to feel much more relaxed and for the first time in at least a week, human again! According to their literature, the Thermae Spa promises it’s ‘exotic, opulent and dramatic surroundings will take you away from the stresses of daily life and lead you to a place of relaxation and calm’ … just what every tired and stressed mum needs!

On arrival we were ushered into the changing room where we found gowns, slippers and disposable knickers (this reminded me of labour!) waiting for us. As we emerged from the changing room we were greeted by the therapists who were to be in charge of our treatments and taken to our separate treatment rooms. As you’d expect from a Spa of this calibre the treatment rooms were a haven of peace and tranquillity, emitting amazing soothing smells and most importantly lovely and warm!

I started off with a body exfoliation. This involved having ESPA salts rubbed into my body. As soon as the treatment started I instantly relaxed. The spa policy is that the therapists are not encouraged to chat to you unless you insist upon it, so there was none of that tiring need to make pointless chit chat and I was able to lie back and really relax. After about 5 minutes I was thinking, hmmm I could really get used to this, this is really nice.

Everything about the treatments is luxurious. When the time came to wash the salts off my body (far too soon for my liking!) the therapist made a little aisle out of towels for me to walk the three steps from the bed to the power shower. I was given more towels and new knickers and told to make the most of the lovely toiletries and my therapist would be back in ten minutes to continue.

When she returned it was time for my facial. This was pure heaven. I had towels tucked under my knees which were amazingly comfortable and settled back to surrender my tired and spotty face. I lost count but there were several creams massaged on to my face over the course of the next 30 minutes and each was wiped off with a lovely warm towel. In between I was given an eye and head massage, absolute bliss for any tired mum. I lay there in a state of exhaustion but thoroughly enjoying every single second and mentally calculating how much time we had left and how much money I had with me so that I could think about continuing these amazing treatments for the rest of the day! I should also say at this point that for the next few days my make up less face was glowing.

Following my wonderful facial I was led to the relaxation room to well … relax. The relaxation room is a vision of white, white beds, white walls, white curtains .. and fruit. Here’s a tip, don’t eat too much fruit, I did and regretted it later! As well as fruit there was a lovely refreshing lemon drink to help you re-hydrate.

My treatments were now finished and I have to say I was feeling 100 times better and more glamorous than when I arrived. The afternoon was now to be dedicated to the pool and spa experiences …. the saunas and steam rooms, each one a treat in itself and each a masterpiece in interior design. The brochure promises that these ‘purifying steam rooms redolent of India and Bali transport you to where another world awaits you’ so I was interested to see where I would end up! I wasn’t disappointed, throughout the spa no corner has been spared in terms of beauty, sophistication and design. Every area and room has its own special ambience and much thought has clearly been given to lighting and smell and colour, all designed to relax and enchant. The steam rooms were filled with such ingredients as lemon grass, curry, mint and eucalyptus and ranged in temperature. The pool had amazing hydro jets and for the really brave and adventurous there is even a cold pool. ( freezing cold )

Having explored every room we smothered our hair in expensive conditioner and headed back to the relaxation room where we were served tea ( herbal of course ) and chatted ( quietly ) about our wonderful and thoroughly relaxing day.

So, did I feel that the ‘stresses and pressures of daily life’ had temporarily vanished, leaving me in a place of ‘relaxation and calm serenity’ … absolutely! And would I recommend the spa to other tired and stressed mums … in a second! Oh and if you can convince the grandparents to keep your baby for the night and get your husband to take you out to dinner after your spa day then even better!

To book a Pre or Post Pregnancy Pampering Spa day for yourself, a friend or loved one CLICK HERE.

Love is in the air at Indybel

We're big softies at heart, so we've dedicated our February homepage and special offers to the month of lurveeeee ... and St Valentine.

In celebration of the great man himself we've taken 15% off many of our lovely pampering products so dad can spoil mum and vice versa ... so for example all our gorgeous Natalia gift boxes, lovely Seraphine maternity nighties and the Diaper Dude for dad are all on offer this month!

Check out all these great offers and more at http://www.indybel.com/

If that's not enough we've taken a massive 20% off the Babydan playden, meaning you can save nearly 40€ if you buy now!!

Happy Valentines from all at Indybel !

Indybel Out and About

We're hoping to get out and about a lot more with our products this year. We'll keep you posted on when and where you can find us ....

Last week we had a great time at the Aloha Gardens playgroup in Marbella. For anyone who missed us we'll be there again this Friday 13th February from 10.30 - 12.30pm .... we'll have a small range of all our bestsellers including both pregnancy and baby products ...

Hope to see you there!
X

By the way if anyone would like more info about this great playgroup just drop us a mail at info@indybel.com and we'll give you the details.

Ante-natal Classes in Spain

Around 3 months before my daughter was due I attended antenatal classes in Marbella, Spain. I found these classes invaluable for several reasons. Firstly giving birth in a foreign country is very daunting, so to be able to attend a class run by an Irish midwife who had worked in the Spanish hospital system for many years was very reassuring. We covered everything from the many stages of birth including what might happen in the days before the birth and indeed if things became difficult during the birth to what to do after the birth including feeding and bathing your newborn baby. The other fantastic thing about these classes was that through them I met a group of girls who have since become great friends and confidents. We started to meet up from around the time our babies were all 3 months and have since swopped stories and fears, given advice and information and attended all sorts of groups and baby activity meetings together. Our little ones have also grown up together and are now all great friends and are so excited to see each other. The lovely midwife who ran our classes has recently handed themover to another Irish midwife on the Costa del Sol. If anyone would like more information about the classes just let us know.

When we began Indybel we immediately contacted the midwife who ran the classes above and she very kindly agreed to take some of our flyers to her classes. She was very pleased to see that we were selling raspberry leaf tea and birthing balls, two items she felt were very important to pregnancy and not easy to find here in Spain. She has also been a fan of our dream genii pillow. We'd like to thank Anne here for all her help and support over the past few months and wish her lots of luck for the coming months!!

Due to the success of our relationship with Anne we decided to contact other English midwives in Spain to see if they would also be interested in our products. We are now delighted to be working with two lovely midwives in the Madrid and Barcelona regions. If there is anyone who is pregnant in Madrid or Barcelona who would like their details or who is pregnant in the Costa del Sol and would like details of the ante natal classes in this area ... just drop us a line at info@indybel.com

Both our Madrid and Barcelona midwives were also really pleased to see we stocked the birthing ball and one was also delighted to find our stash of natural nappies being a great advocate of real nappies .... if there are any other English Speaking midwives working in Spain who would be interested in working with us please do get in touch ... we'd love to hear from you.

New for 2009 ...

We've been a little quiet on the blog front for the last few months, largely due to illness! Throughout December and January we have all literally been plagued by flu, bad colds, gastro bugs and an incident involving a hairclip and a stomach! Nursery culture means that if something is going round there is a pretty good chance your child will catch it, then your child brings it - as in the bug - home and gives it to the rest of the family. By the time the child has recovered everyone else has it and after that it's just a vicious cycle. I ended up on antibiotics and Lesley ended up spending numerous hours in doctors and hospital waiting rooms. We continued to work in on Indybel but it's not very pleasent for your customers when you are coughing and sniffing all over them at Christmas fairs and toddler groups, so thank you to all our kind customers who ignored our streaming noses and haggard faces!

February is supposed to mark the departure of the flu bug but my daughters just come home with a runny nose again. Still she was well for a whole two weeks, which is quite remarkable given the last few months ... so can't complain!!

We've been working hard at Indybel to source new products for the coming year. We're delighted to announce that we are now selling two brands of baby sling. Baby slings are becoming more and more popular here in Spain so we are really pleased to offer two alternatives to our Spanish customers with two different price ranges. The first is the Kari Me which has won many baby awards in the UK and has been tried, tested and loved by Lesley. The second is the baby Kangeroo which is a ring sling style of baby sling. Both have their merits so be sure to read the descriptions carefully on the site to make sure you know which is right for you, they can be found in both the Baby Store and Mum's Essentials and even in Dad's stuff because after all why shouldn't dad carry the baby?

We really hope the slings will be a hit in Spain. We feel there is a huge demand for them because when Lesley wore the Kari Me to our local shopping center in Fuengirola she was surrounded by people wanting to know where she found her sling .... so now you know!!

Other new products this month include the BabyBjorn Balance Chair, the new version of the popular 123 chair and two new Babydan bedrails for toddlers, one is the wooden kind and the other a super duper travel bedrail which fits into it's own travel bag. Ideal then for nights at the grandparents or in hotels.
We're working on launching ranges of organic baby clothing and UV protective products for summer, so keep an eye on either of our sites. Due to popular demand we'll also be adding a nipple cream in the next few days.