Tiny Toes Amber Valley with Louise

23/09/2022

Looking forward to seeing a baby and his mummy this morning for their Tiny Toes Reflexage session ❤️👣❤️

17/09/2021

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Babies love faces, so it's no surprise they enjoy looking at themselves in a mirror! ⁣
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Which is great because mirrors create lots of opportunities to support your baby's development:⁣
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* Mirrors improve their visual senses.⁣
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* Placing a plastic mirror on the floor during tummy time keeps your baby entertained and allows more time to exercise & develop their muscles.⁣
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* Mirror play creates opportunities to talk with your baby, laugh and play together.⁣
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* Having conversations in the mirror and pointing out & naming parts of their face and body supports their language skills.⁣
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* Being silly and pulling faces is great fun and will make you smile as well as them.⁣
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* Mirrors develop self awareness which generally progresses as follows (please remember all babies are different):⁣
0-8 months -looks at own reflection⁣
6-18 months - smiles at reflection or makes sounds when looking at their image in the mirror.⁣
18 months and up - start to know the reflection is theirs.⁣
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Whichever stage your baby is at there's lots of fun to be had, so try some mirror play & let us know how you get on in the comments 🥰⁣
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27/03/2021

Does your little one love books? 📚

👶 It's never too early to start sharing books. Reading with your baby has many benefits and can be great for:

💕Bonding - when they're in the womb you can read a story so babies get used to your voice. Once born reading gives them some lovely 1:1 time with you.

👫Social & Emotional Development - the cuddling up during story time helps your baby feel safe and secure.

👀 Visual Stimulation - choose books with bright colours and sharp contrasts to catch your baby's eye as their eyesight improves.

🤸‍♀️ Physical Stimulation - board books that are robust enough for little hands (& mouths!) to explore are great and of course books with lots of textures.

🗨 Language Development - the more words your baby hears in the first weeks, months and years, the better their language skills are likely to be later on.

👂Listening - chat to your baby about the books you read. Newborns won't understand every word in the beginning but the rhythms and sounds in your voice stimulate their hearing.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Best of all book sharing can simply be fun & a lovely way for the whole family to come together and share a story.

The 'That's Not My...' series were among the first books I shared with my children. Now my 19 month old loves 'Bedtime Bear' by Julia Donaldson and 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' by Eric Carle 🐻

What are your children's favourite books? 🥰

17/03/2021

💕Postpartum depression💕
There are so many pictures I can look at when my daughter was a baby and see only sadness in my eyes.
This picture was taken when she was around 18 months old...and I can see happiness again 💕
My daughter had severe reflux and a dairy intolerance...days and night were a struggle, with little sleep my energy levels dropped, hormones became unbalanced and I struggled to cope.
But from my experiences I wanted to reach out and support other mums. Tiny toes was born 💕 I wanted mums to have a safe place they could reach out too for help.
I now train experienced reflexologists in Tiny Toes Reflexage...together we are supporting so many new mums across the UK.

13/03/2021

That wonderful moment after some baby massage and reflexology...feeling calm and happy!!
I love training reflexologists to become Tiny Toes Instructors...part of the training involves learning sequences that combine massage and reflexology.
Alicia Thomson is training with me at the moment and is able to practice on her baby son!!! Much more wriggly than a doll but much more fun!!
Alicia sent this wonderful picture to me after his massage!!
Please send me a message if you would like further information about training in Tiny Toes Reflexage 💕

01/03/2021

Hello to all of my lovely friends! I hope you have all stayed safe and well since the beginning of this lockdown.

I'm so happy to say that, all being well, I am able to start treating you again from 12th April. This is, of course, providing that the government are happy for this date to go ahead, which they should confirm the week before.

My diary is now open and I am making appointments from Tuesday 13th April, if you would like to book in with me.

I am so looking forward to seeing you. I feel this last lockdown has really taken its toll on a lot of us, particularly our mental health, and I have been researching different ways and using techniques to help in this area.

Please continue to take good care of yourselves and each other and I'm here if you need any help, advice and to get you booked in.

With love, Lou ❤👣👣❤

30/12/2020

10/10/2020

Good morning everyone and I hope you are all having a lovely Saturday 😍

With it being world mental health day, I thought I'd share this piece I wrote for the Tiny Toes UK page a while ago. Reflecting back on when I had Florence, I found it hard to accept that it was ok not to be ok. Please have a read and be kind to yourselves. And give me a shout if you'd like to have a chat with me about Tiny Toes or reflexology. Don't cope alone ❤👣❤

Hi there. I'm Louise and I'm a qualified reflexologist and fully trained Tiny Toes reflexage therapist. I live in Heanor, Derbyshire, with my husband and three children aged 16, 14 and 7. We have two cats, who I also class as my children!

I qualified with a level 3 diploma in reflexology and anatomy and physiology seven years ago, just before I gave birth to my third daughter, Florence. Previous to that, I had a career in the travel industry but was made redundant. This led me to train in the therapy I fell in love with and have always found beneficial, having suffered from migraine brought on through stress and anxiety.

I thought that being pregnant and giving birth to my third daughter would be a breeze as I'd 'been there, done that' and looking back, although I found motherhood with my first two children very hard at times, it was nothing compared to how difficult I found the birth of Florence and the following months to come.

I had a very traumatic birth with Florence which then led to her contracting an infection and us staying in hospital for a week. Once we were home, things seemed to be fine, Florence was feeding well and although I found it all very exhausting, I thought 'I've got this'.

However, after around seven weeks, Florence decided to stop feeding from me and wouldn't take a bottle either which resulted in her not gaining enough weight and being very unsettled with pain and constantly crying. The health visitors wanted to see me every two to three days to check on her weight which hardly seemed to change. I began to feel very anxious all of the time and obsessed, almost manic. I felt like a terrible failure as a mum, not only to Florence but to my other children too as began to feel unable to cope with anything.

After going to the doctor's so many times, Florence and I were finally admitted to hospital with a letter from my GP, stating that my baby was 'failing to thrive'. There, she was diagnosed with a cow's milk protein allergy. I changed to a dairy free diet which helped and eventually Florence finally took a bottle. She was put on a cow's milk protein free milk and things slowly began to improve.

Today, Florence is a beautiful, healthy little girl. It's only as time has passed that I realise how terribly bad I felt during the first months of Florence's life. I felt constantly anxious, scared, a failure and alone. None of my family could help as they didn't know what to say or do for me. Looking back, I should have got some help for myself.

I wish there had been a group such as Tiny Toes back when I had Florence as it would have been a mountain of support for me. The support we are able to give as therapists to mums, is amazing - not only to help with the different issues babies struggle with during the first months of their lives, but to help with the emotional roller coasters us mummies go through too. We must never struggle alone and there is always someone out there to give us the help and support we need to get through. I feel Tiny Toes would definitely have been on the top of my list for just that xx

05/10/2020

This post is from a lovely lady who practices Tiny Toes reflexage in Northampton. See how content her beautiful new born baby boy is now after his little session 👣💙

My turn to post a pic of my own bubba after reflexology tonight 💙⁣
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He’s 5 weeks old and gosh I forgot how hard it is to have a newborn!! Plus he’s really struggling with colic and constipation at the minute which just makes it that much harder! I remember when my eldest had reflux I felt so helpless but at least this time I have some tools to help this one.⁣
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Reflexology and massage has been the only thing that has helped to relieve his pain and discomfort. We were prescribed laxatives by the doctor but I really didn’t want to go down that route. After a lot of time and patience, ensuring we used the Tiny Toes techniques and routines, he finally passed a lot (and I mean a lot!) of poo 💩 ⁣
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I’m going to make sure every night as part of our routine, we use the techniquesto help with his issues. It really has made such a difference. It’s not a magic wand and it won’t ‘fix’ him straight away, but I’m hoping with time and patience we will get through this difficult period.⁣
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If you’re experiencing similar, don’t suffer in silence. There’s help out there. Please get in touch because I know first hand how hard it can be 💕

23/09/2020

Good afternoon my lovely friends. I hope you are all still keeping safe and well and that the government's most recent announcement hasn't left you reeling too much! 🙄🙄🙄.

Just wanted to pop something on here this afternoon about our children's welfare and the affect lockdown appears to have had on the young people around us.

From talking to fellow parents and listening to my client's experiences, it appears that lockdown has affected our kids more than we may have realised. It also seems that the affects are becoming more apparent to us now that they have started on the next stage of their lives, such as a new school year, moving schools or leaving school to go onto college or apprenticeships.

Our youngsters have been through something that we, as adults, have never experienced before as children and for lots, the reality of returning to the new kind of normal, has given their confidence a knock and has left some feeling anxious, emotional and insecure.

Reflexology can help to provide the calm that our children may need during the challenging times we are all living with at the moment.

The treatment works by helping the body to regain balance and heal itself. By calming the body and mind, this means that our children may find it easier to re-adjust to the world around them, allow their thoughts and feelings to feel less daunting and to help to reduce stress and anxiety.

If you would like any more information about how reflexology could work for your child, I'd love you to get in touch with me. Let's help our kids though this 💙❤.

With love, Lou 👣👣❤👣👣

18/06/2020

I’ve been a bit quiet recently on social media...like so many parents at the moment I hit exhaustion point!!
Finding balance is particularly hard at the moment, with so many things requiring our attention and time.
But we are not superhero’s and need to be kinder to ourselves!! It’s ok if we have a day off from homeschooling, if we don’t do the pile of washing, if the kids have pizza for dinner, if you want to sit in the evening and just watch tv....it’s ok!!
What is important is that we take time out, stop and recharge .

28/05/2020

The spinal reflex when stroked (located on the inner side of the foot) can instantly relax and settle your baby. Give it a try when you’re having some precious cuddles 👶🏼 👣💕 pic credit: Tiny Toes Reflexage UK for parents

21/05/2020

Stroking the side of your babies foot represents the spine in reflexology. There are millions of nerves that reach out from the spine to all parts of the body.
Stroking this area is deeply relaxing for a baby and children!
Next time you are having a cuddle gently stroke this area and see how your baby or child reacts 💕

11/05/2020

👣👣👣 Free online Tiny Toes taster session for parents and babies👣👣👣

Hey everyone. I am hoping that this post will find you all safe and well and you are taking good care of yourselves.

Due to the latest government announcement, it seems that I will not be able to return to practicing reflexology or hold my Tiny Toes sessions until the beginning of July, earliest. I have had a few conversations with new mummies who have given birth just before and during lockdown, who feel so sad that they have been unable to have a 'normal' maternity leave with their babies since the pandemic started. They have been unable to visit friends or family and also haven't had the opportunity to meet new mums or join any groups such as Tiny Toes.

Because of this, I have decided to run my sessions online, via pre recorded video links, giving new parents the opportunity to learn our unique reflexology and massage techniques to help to comfort and relax your babies. Pre recorded will mean you can watch the videos at the most convenient time for you, fitting in with your baby's routine.

To kick start my online classes, I am offering a free video taster session for anyone who would be interested in learning more about Tiny Toes, our techniques and how we can help you further.

If you are interested, I'd love to hear from you! Just drop me a message and I'll contact you with all of the information you'll need to join in!

With love,

Lou xx

18/04/2020

So these are my babies. 16, 14 and 6 years old. But no matter how old they are, they'll always be my babies. Evie who is 16 and Florence, 6, love a reflexology treatment. It helps Evie to relax, especially since she finished school without being able to take the GCSE's she has worked so hard for. For Florence, a treatment after bath time and before bed, gives her some lovely down time with mummy. And Ollie, well he doesn't enjoy it as much as his Xbox, but although he won't admit to enjoying a treatment, I know deep down he does 😉😉.

16/04/2020

Did you know that there are points on your baby’s feet you can touch to help them calm and relax?

The solar plexus, seen in this picture as a sun is a great spot to hold and calm your baby!