There is something about a British summer, isn’t there? The way we all crowd into parks at the first sign of sunshine, strip our babies down to nappies and sun hats, fan ourselves with cafe menus, and pretend the heat isn’t slowly melting us. As baby massage and baby yoga teachers — and as people quietly wondering whether this could be our thing — we feel that particular summer squeeze from both sides. The babies in our arms need different things in July than they did in February. And we, holding them, need different things too.
So let’s sit with three questions I hear constantly at this time of year, from teachers in our global community and from the women (and men) who are still deciding whether to take the leap:
What do babies actually need from us during a long, hot, busy British summer? Is there a way to work with parents and babies that actually feels sustainable and not exhausting? How do I know if this kind of work is genuinely right for me?
Pull up a shaded bench. Let’s talk.
What babies actually need from us in a British summer
Our Blossom & Berry philosophy has always rested on a single, simple truth: love creates love. When a baby is held with presence, touched with care, and met with attuned attention, their nervous system learns that the world is safe. That safety becomes trust. That trust becomes connection.
Summer tests that promise beautifully. The heat, the longer days, the constant stream of visitors, festivals, picnics, soft plays, and “we must make the most of the weather” pressure — it is a lot for a tiny human whose only language is their body. A baby cannot tell you they are overstimulated. They tell you with clenched fists, a red face, an arched back, a sudden refusal of the breast, or crying that seems to come from nowhere at 7pm on a day that started joyfully.
What they need from us, in July as in January, is regulation before technique. Before the massage oil, before the yoga sequence, before the sensory activity, they need a grown-up whose own nervous system is steady enough to be a safe landing place.
Practically, in a British summer, this can look like:
- Slower, cooler touch. Long flowing strokes become even more important when the air is thick and sticky. A gentle Indian head massage on a hot afternoon, with the baby in just a nappy on a cotton sheet, can be the most regulating five minutes of their week.
- Timing around the heat. Offer classes in the morning or late afternoon, build in shade and water play, and teach parents to read the four key signs of overheating (flushed cheeks, damp head, rapid breathing, irritability) before they ever appear.
- Permission to do less. This is the radical, expert bit. Babies don’t need to be entertained through every sunny hour. They need a parent who is also slowed down, present, and unhurried. Our work as teachers is partly to give parents permission to be still with their baby, even when the rest of the family is sprinting toward the paddling pool.
I believe in 100% love for babies. This is how we change the world — by loving and caring for babies and children so they know they are safe, loved, seen and heard. Summer is the season where that intention gets stress-tested every single day.
Is there a way to work with parents and babies that is sustainable and not exhausting?
This is the question I wish more people asked before they burnout, not after. Because parent-and-baby work has a particular magic, and a particular drain. You are holding other people’s babies, holding other people’s stories, often holding your own small children at home, and somehow also holding a business. If your model depends on you being at full capacity, your model is broken.
What I’ve seen work, across more than two decades of training teachers, is a simple framework. I call it the nurtured-teacher principle: when you are nurtured, you can nurture others. Notice the order. You first.
A sustainable practice, in our world, has these ingredients:
- Bite-sized offerings. You do not need to teach five classes a week to build a thriving business. A weekly class plus one workshop a month plus a seasonal retreat is a perfectly full practice. Many of our most profitable teachers run just one or two recurring classes.
- Group sizes that respect your nervous system. Capping at eight or ten families isn’t a marketing decision; it’s a wellness decision. You cannot hold thirty babies’ nervous systems and your own.
- Built-in rest. School holidays are not a “lost revenue” problem. They are a design feature. The teachers who last a decade are the ones who plan their working year around their family, not despite it.
- A community that holds you. This is the part franchise-style training rarely offers. At Blossom & Berry, our teachers tell us again and again that the mentoring, the supervision calls, the WhatsApp thread at 11pm when a tricky situation comes up — that is what keeps them in the work. You were never meant to do this alone.
- A business that fits your life, not the other way around. No licence fees, no franchise rules, no one-size-fits-all. Your business should be as bespoke as the way you hold a baby.
One of our graduates put it perfectly: “Since starting the course I feel almost like new again… this course has saved your life.” That is what sustainable work feels like. Not like running on fumes. Like being refilled by your work.
How do I know if this kind of work is genuinely right for me?
Here’s what I’ve learned from training thousands of teachers over 24 years: the people who thrive in this work are not the ones with the perfect CVs. They are the ones who answer yes — quietly, in their body, before their brain has time to talk them out of it — to questions like these:
- When I see a parent struggling, do I feel pulled toward them, or pulled away?
- Do I notice babies? Not just my own — any baby — in a cafe, on a train, in a waiting room?
- Am I the friend people call when their baby won’t sleep, won’t feed, won’t stop crying?
- Can I be present with another person’s big feelings (postnatal anxiety, grief, exhaustion) without needing to fix them?
- Do I want a career that fits around my family, not the other way around?
- When I imagine doing this work, does my chest feel softer or tighter?
You don’t need a teaching qualification to answer those questions. You need honesty.
The people who struggle in this work are rarely the ones who lack skill. They are the ones who came to it from their head (“teaching babies sounds like a nice idea”) rather than their heart (“I cannot not do this”). The ones who were running from an old career rather than walking toward a calling. The ones who wanted flexibility but weren’t willing to do the slower, deeper work of building something real.
If your answer is yes, yes, yes, but what if I’m not good enough — that is exactly who this work is for. The doubt is not a sign you should stop. The doubt is the door.
A final soft word before the next heatwave
Whether you are already teaching and wondering how to keep going through the busiest, stickiest months of the British year, or you are still circling the idea of training, know this: babies do not need perfect teachers. They need present ones. Parents do not need more information. They need someone who makes them feel safe, seen, and less alone. And you do not need to copy anyone else’s model of success.
The first 1001 days of a baby’s life are a sacred window. The world is changing rapidly, and so much feels uncertain, but the need for gentle, loving, attuned humans to walk alongside new parents has never been greater. If your heart whispered yes while you read this, I’d love to invite you to begin properly.
Start with our free mini e-course, “Beginning to Teach Baby Massage,” where I walk you through what teaching really involves, the science and soul behind it, and how you might build something meaningful around your own family life. Or simply carry this letter with you into the next class you teach, the next park you sit in, the next hot, frazzled parent you see struggling.
Summer is short. Babies are small. The work is so important. And you were made for it.
With love, Gayle (Prema) Berry
Founder, Blossom & Berry
Explore our accredited Baby Massage and Baby Yoga teacher training, or download the free Blossom & Berry book on baby massage, at www.blossomandberry.com.
