CLEVELAND — Teresa Browning has worked at the Achievement Centers for Children for almost 10 years.
“Provide developmental screenings, provide information about child development, provide information about resources,” she said.
She’s a Help Me Grow home visitor, a role that is part of Ohio’s Help Me Grow Home Visiting Program.
“It’s just very valuable for new moms,” she said. “Then as we go along, as our children age.”
During her home visits, Browning said she sometimes provides infant massages.
“There are different strokes that we teach,” she said. “All of this is to help our little ones to not only just relax. It also helps with digestion. It helps promote growth. It helps promote better sleeping. It also is something, there is just a nice bond between caretaker and baby.”
This is how she met mother of nine, Darlene Barrett, and her youngest baby, Damon.
“I just know he absolutely loves it,” she said. “I usually do it, if not every evening, I’ll do it like every other evening right after his bath, because that’s usually when he’s, like, really relaxed and that even helps him relax more.”
Browning demonstrated various massage methods with the use of a doll while Barrett applied these methods to her son.
In addition to helping moms-to-be and caregivers with new babies, the Help Me Grow Program also helps families who have young children with developmental delays and disabilities.
“He has Down syndrome, so I noticed it’s helping,” she said. “Like with his legs, they’re stronger and he’s, like able to push. We were having problems with him with pushing and even sitting up.”
Barrett also said the massages have proven an increase in the bond she already has with her son.
The Achievement Centers for Children offer infant massage classes at their east and west side locations in Cleveland.
Classes are free to Cuyahoga County residents.
If interested, registration is available by calling 216-292-9700 x 312 or by emailing Administrative Coordinator Anita Hazelhurst.
