Wow! It’s been an incredible month – incredibly busy!
Alongside all my wonderful baby massage classes and workshops, I also enjoyed a school visit delivering a series of story massage sessions. Midlothian Ladies Club continues to go from strength to strength with over 3500 members now and our first sell-out Ladies’ Night this month. In addition, I’ve been completing my Breastfeeding Network Peer Helper training.
37 mummies and 37 babies have attended Baby Massage classes this November in Midlothian and Morningside – and also, 6 daddies! Parents are learning full body baby massage, with the tummy routine and colic routine especially well-received! I love the post-class updates on baby sleep (and nappies!). I’ve had some lovely feedback recently about how welcome the post-massage chats are. I’m delighted that courses are booking up quickly with this current Glencorse class being fully booked over three weeks before it started. I’m now taking bookings for January courses – don’t miss out!
Every couple of months, I run Dads only Baby Massage Workshops for the babies completing the five week course.
Daddies learned leg and tummy massage; sang lots of nursery rhymes with gusto; devoured my homemade flapjack; and compared notes on life as a working Dad. My next workshop will be on a Saturday morning in February – date tbc. 
Follow-On classes are lovely and continue to run on Wednesday mornings at the Glencorse Centre. In these sessions babies relax with a full body massage and we introduce some story massage ideas. I am offering mummies the opportunities of trying the Follow-On class this December on 5th and 12th – book a one-off session for £7.50 via the booking form.
If you’ve got a spare two minutes to answer 10 quick questions for me about Baby Massage classes, I’d be really grateful- this will give me some help when planning for 2019. Click here please.
I was thrilled to be invited to run a series of peer massage workshops in an Edinburgh primary school earlier this month. I taught the children some simple back massage strokes to practise with a partner and lead them through some story massages. The children impressed me with their own creative stories and proudly read them to their classmates. I left behind some stickers and activity sheets so the children could continue with their ideas. I am excited to say that I have already been invited back to this school and have more sessions planned for January.
“Claire was great with the children” Primary 5 teacher
“The children got to be creative” Primary 6 teacher
“It felt amazing, incredible, relaxing, SO GOOD!” Primary 4 boy
“Relaxed and sleepy. Best class ever!” Primary 5 boy
November’s Mum Meets Midlothian was busy and friendly and we welcomed Felicity along with a lovely display of Arbonne products. We are meeting again this Friday with a loose Christmas theme that’ll involve a bit of green paint….. See you at the Glencorse Centre between 10am and 12noon.
Midlothian Ladies Club has been keeping me busy this November too. So busy in fact that my eldest has now added it to one of my four official jobs and whenever we go anywhere out of the ordinary a child asks if we are meeting Julia! We’ve just reached 3500 members which is incredible – I wonder if we’ll hit 4000 by Christmas? We held our first exclusive MiLC event at the Restoration Yard in Dalkeith. Ladies were thoroughly entertained by Elaine Miller’s Gusset Grippers and we all enjoyed the delicious treats provided by local bakers. We’ve started an Instagram account (@helloMiLC) and there was a little appearance in the Midlothian Advertiser newspaper too! We’ve got some extremely exciting plans for 2019 – keep your eye on the Facebook page for all the info.
I’ve now completed all my Breastfeeding Network training to become a Breastfeeding Helper and as soon as I have passed (hopefully!) my assessment I will be able to offer peer support in Midlothian. I learned so much! Obviously, I learned lots about feeding babies – breastfeeding, bottle feeding and weaning. It was also a great opportunity to polish my listening skills. I have been working with some really incredible women and feel thoroughly inspired. 
Claire Houston Massage & Yoga for Babies & Children 