Motherhood is a journey full of questions and discoveries. The millennial moms today get all their questions answered on google along with the ton of advice that they get from family, friends, and doctors. One of the very important questions to answer is about self-care. A woman’s body is constantly changing as the bump grows. Prenatal massage is something that can be a helpful tool of self-care for a mom-to-be to navigate through the journey. 
Women generally take 10-60 minutes of massage sessions, 1-2 times a week during second and third trimester depending upon the doctor’s recommendation. Generally, grapeseed, coconut and olive oil make for a good choice for the massage. The biological issues like lower back pain, muscle tension, swelling around joints as well as the psychological load due to sleeplessness, anxiety and hormonal changes demand major care and massage is a major tool to tackle these issues. 
Massage also improves blood circulation and helps with getting a better sleep. Postnatal massage is good to normalise weight, tighten and tone the skin of the abdomen, thus helps in maintaining a good posture. Prenatal massage is discouraged if you have certain pre-existing conditions, such as high risk pregnancy, asthma, pre-eclampsia, hypertension, cramping, pulmonary embolism, and a few other illnesses or issues. 
The certain precautions that everyone should take care of are:
- Always consult with a doctor before starting any kind of pre-natal or post-natal massage.
- Get a professional masseuse only to massage you.
- The best body position to get massaged is the side one.
- The prenatal and postnatal massage is different from the normal massage and is generally a soft massage.
- You should be aware of the sensitive and painful points and not press on them too hard.
However, every woman is different, so is the experience that she goes through While being pregnant. Consulting a medical professional before adopting any therapy and method of self-care is recommended.
