Ayurveda gives us extensive information on how to formulate the perfect ayurvedic baby massage product. It should be nourishing, promote healthy bone and joint growth, and should balance excessive kapha . It should also stimulate appetite, help support healthy elimination and remove fatigue from the baby, deepening sleep quality.

Many plain vegetable oils have only one or two of these properties. For example, coconut oil is nourishing but it aggravates Kapha and is not ideal for bone and joint growth. Similarly mustard or sesame as oils have some good properties. But they also carry a few limitations making them unsuitable for certain weathers or skin types.

Is olive oil baby massage healthy and good for babies? #

Olive oil is extremely popular today for baby massage. However, this oil is not native to india and it is not nourishing to skin. We have written a detailed blog post on the properties of olive oil and why we believe it is not suitable for baby massage oil here.

However, to summarise our detailed post on olive oil baby massage, we do not recommend it as:

• It has a sour and sharp taste, with slight kashaya or astringent rasa – nourishing oils in Ayurveda usually have a madhura (sweet) taste
• It is penetrative and has “lekhaniya” or scraping effect with respect to fat and cholestrol – hence it does not aid in weight gain which is essential for baby massage
• It is also considered an excellent skin cleanser as it is able to break down fat, dirt and make up deposits on skin – this again means it is not nourishing for skin
• To promote healthy weight gain and nourish and support bone health, joint health and skin health, a baby massage product should have “brhamaniya” or nourishing properties with “madhura” rasa or sweet and nourishing taste – olive oil does not have either property

To overcome the limitations of individual vegetable oils, we follow the Ayurvedic process where we process the combination of oils with the right herbs in the classical ayurvedic manufacturing process. This adds many extra nutritive properties to the base, brings down some of its limitations, and makes it perfect for baby massage.

That said, using olive oil is not a good idea in any baby massage oil. An olive oil baby massage is not at all ideal as it has a scraping and reducing effect. It is also not native to our country.