January 2020 : My Baby Moves

5 Simple Ways to Help Your Baby Love Tummy Time

Your baby needs time every day on his/her tummy to develop good muscle balance and strength. Although it is recommended that your child sleep on his/her back, it is important that you take time during the waking hours and place your child on his/her belly. If you are having trouble getting your baby to tolerate this position, here are some simple ways to help your baby love tummy time.

Did you know that you can actually reduce your baby’s risk for SIDS by helping your baby strengthen neck muscles to be able to move his or her head? This helps your baby move away from items that can smother him or her.

The following is a simple list of ways to help your baby love tummy time:

1.) Tummy time can be as little as 5 seconds!

If your child gets irritated after a few seconds, give him/her a short break and then do it again. It’s okay to do small amounts at a time as he/she gets used to this position.

2.) Help your child keep his/her arms tucked underneath and palms facing down

3.) Don’t do tummy time right after eating—this can cause more spit-up and discomfort.

4.) If your baby has a G-button or a hernia, tummy time is still okay in most instances. Check with your pediatrician to make sure.

5.) Watch for signs of distress and change your child’s position.

Ways to accomplish Tummy Time:

1. Place a childproof mirror or brightly colored book/toy in front

2. Place your child on his/her tummy facing you on your chest while you sit in a reclined position. This will make it easier for him/her to lift his/her head and your baby will love looking at you!

3. Lie on the ground facing your baby and talk/play.

4. Lay your baby across your lap with a book or toy beside you to motivate him/her to lift his/her head.

Note:

–Avoid placing objects too high because this will cause your baby to lift his/her head too much and overextend.

–Also, if your baby has a slight head tilt (torticollis) make sure you put all objects straight in front for now. Talk to your physical therapist about this and make sure they teach you how to progress this, etc.

5. If your baby has some head control, sit your baby up and have him/her lean forward onto your hands or place his/her hands on a pillow. Allowing her to put weight through his/her arms is similar to the pushing up on his/her belly.

There are many more ways to accomplish improving the strength needed for your child to enjoy tummy time more. There are some medical issues that can cause problems with tolerance to tummy time as well. One of these is reflux.

—ALWAYS STAY WITH YOUR CHILD when they are on their tummy.

Check out more ideas and games in my available books HERE

Ford’s new windows help the visually impaired see

Have you seen this? Ford has developed new windows to help the visually impaired see!

In a world of obstacles, it’s nice to see companies beginning to create more accessibility. Target has a whole new sensory line of toys, weighted blankets are showing up everywhere, and now these windows that give the visually impaired a chance to “feel the view” through a new application of technology.

The smart window takes pictures of the passing landscape and converts these into monochromatic images and displays them on the glass. A passenger can touch the different areas on the glass and receive vibrations in a large number of intensities to help them “see” the landscape.

As a therapist who works with many visually impaired children, it’s nice to see a company like Ford taking a step toward reducing some of the obstacles in their life. As a mother of two children with vision problems, I’m always interested in technology that is addressing some of the difficulties of any type of visual difficulty. Some of the self-driving features that have begun to evolve may lend even more freedom to those experiencing some limitations by visual impairments.

Click HERE to read the entire article.

Don’t let your time with your baby go to waste! There are many ways to play and create memories while helping your child reach his or her full potential with gross motor development.

Click HERE available books on how to play with your child to play with a purpose!

When will my child walk?

Whew! I get this question literally every day in my practice. It is a HUGE concern from parents with a child with developmental delay as well as most parents in general.

Well, let me say that there is absolutely no way that anyone can predict this, however, there are stages and general developmental skills that usually have to be in place.

Not every child has to crawl in order to walk, but I highly recommend that you seek help from a therapist if your child tries to skip this phase or if they only crawl for a few days. Once your child begins to crawl, encourage this and notice that he/she will quickly be pulling to stand.

Once in standing, your child has to develop balance and strength as well as confidence to take a first step.

NEVER back up as your child walks to you. They will be less likely to trust you again if they feel scared during those first trials.

Look through the Gross Motor pages on my site for ideas on how to accomplish the steps to attain walking. Here is the general order:

Side-lying

Tummy Time

Rolling

Sitting

Crawling

Standing

Walking

There are MANY things in between (like the transition skills), but the general idea is that your child needs to accomplish each skill in order when possible. Trust your therapist to guide you and teach you ways to play to encourage each skill. We generally work on several skills in tandem, so don’t be surprised if we are working on rolling while we address standing. When we see a weak area, we will go back down the skill list to a skill we need to use to build the muscles for upper skill development.

For ideas on ways to interact with your child, see available books HERE