Jelly Babies Profile: A Community of Support for New Parents

Laura Igiehon is an Infant Massage and Mum & Baby Yoga Instructor who runs her Jelly Babies classes at the Mansion every Tuesday.

After her first baby suffered from colic, leading to lots of evening tears, a friend suggested she try a baby massage course. “Honestly it was life-changing. Previously I felt I was doing something wrong.” But after Laura put what she learnt on the course into practice, her baby instantly became calmer – “our bond became even more beautiful.”

Laura was so deeply moved that she left her job and retrained with the International Association of Infant Massage and has been supporting new parents and babies since 2013.

Jelly Babies is an important part of the Mansion’s regular class programme, bringing lots of local young families to the park and inside the Mansion building for the first time. “Visitors repeatedly tell me how lovely it is to see babies at the Mansion.”

As a proud Beckenham resident, Laura knows what a special place the park and Mansion are for locals, “Even though I’ve been teaching here since 2016 I still feel so excited each time I arrive to set up my classes!” The park offers parents a gorgeous setting to relax and bond with their babies, plus meet for coffee or lunch after classes which feels extra special for Laura, “finding local friends is so needed during those early days as a new mum or dad.”

This relaxed Mansion community is another plus point for Laura, creating a cyclical culture of compassion. “The events team really understand and support me whilst I’m supporting new parents during this very special time – I never feel I have to rush the families out of the room at the end of a class.”

In future Laura hopes to broaden this support by starting family massage sessions with older children, focusing on anxiety relief and enhancing the parent-child bond.

On top of this Laura wants to bring mum and baby day retreats to the Mansion in partnership with her sister, featuring massage and yoga as well as healing sound baths and meditation. For Laura the Mansion really is a family hub as her photographer father has already helped out with taking some beautiful pictures of the Jelly Babies classes and clients.

If anyone is interested in any of Laura’s classes, you can get in touch here.

Jelly Babies sessions are hosted at the Mansion each Tuesday. You can find all info and booking details here.

Photos: Gil Murray