Goals :
- How to carry and handle a baby by getting him to participate more in the action
- How to help him be more conscious of his wide range of motricity.
- What are the main postures, the motor coordination milestones and the importance of letting him experiment them in a secure environment.
With your new-born:
- To carry your baby:
From the lying position, we put one hand under the neck, head, and upper back, and with the other hand we place it under the bottom.
With both hands, we maintain the baby in a fetal position, which is a calming position for him.
- 4 options of carrying:
- When holding the baby vertically, the baby put his head next to your neck , gently move his head to your shoulder
- The traditional rocking position, hold him with your hand under his bottom, his head in the crook of your elbow.
- In a prone position; one hand between the legs of the baby, his head resting on the side of your arm, at the level of your elbow. It’s a very good position to relieve colic (also by flexing his legs with your other hand).
- The lotus position is very appreciated; his back rests on your chest, it’s a calming position, his arms can relax and he can observe easily his environment.
- To change gently your baby
When changing diapers or during dressing time, you can rely on the baby’s skills to get him more cooperative and less passive.
- To put him on his stomach: To make him roll on his right side, we grasp his ankles, we put his left leg over the right and spontaneously, he’ll start to roll on the side. Than we escort the movement of the upper leg and maintain the other aligned with the center of the body. We just need to help him to free his arm and shoulder.
- Roll him over from stomach to back: we slide one of his arms under his body and we gently push him from his hips (on the other side) while slowing down the movement
- At 1 Month
Get him used lying on his tummy by putting him on the playmat and regularly changing his positions: from the back to the sides (you can use a baby wedge). Under observation, the tummy times are important. The baby will get used to be in this position when it’s for short periods and if you interact with him at these moments. Progressively, he will stay longer in the tummy position.
Put his toys in his field of vision, directly above his nose and away around 30 cm to encourage him to try to catch.
In those moments, on the mat, it can be a good time to share active-passive movements with him, to unify the two hemi body of the baby with:
- Swing of the hips (with the legs bent)
- Pedaling
- Extension of the legs and same exercise with the arms
- And at last, crossing the upper side with lower, meeting at the center of his chest
It is a moment that the baby appreciates the activities and it can help him to explore new movements and release tensions.
- From 3 to 6 months
To pull a baby to sit, and even if the baby had strong muscle tone, use the lateral movement by rotating his hip to the side and up while holding his arm. If we pull him up by holding his hands, it will provoke a hyperextension of the neck with his head backward.
Around 6 months, the baby can sit for a short time by supporting his back.
We can put the baby in a sitting position on his mat when he’s able to sit alone from the lying position, if not, he’ll be a “prisoner’s’” of this position.
- From 6 to 12 months
Before being able to sit by himself, baby will experiment important steps as:
- Rollovers
- Crawling back and forward
- Laying sideways and straighten up
- The “bunny position”.
Also, for the stand-up position and afterward the walk, baby must experiment:
- The “all fours” position
- The “knight servant” position
- The standing up, with a support of wall or objects
- The squat position, up and down
- The standup position directly from the ground and after, he’ll be able to do few steps alone
At last, when he is awake, calm, and up to, I suggest you to share a massage time with your baby.
