Letting Babies Move Freely
Laying the Foundation for a Lifetime of Physical Fitness
You can instill in your child from the very earliest age a love of physical fitness; just give your baby lots of free movement outside of all the restraining devices!
Jane Clark, Chair of the Kinesiology Department at University of Maryland, first came up with the term, "containerized babies". As parents go about their busy lives, their little ones are toted around in a variety of padded seats, carried from bed to car to shopping cart. Sometimes hours go by without the baby having a chance to stretch and move his or her little body. Lack of movement at the start of life is partly to blame for the increasing numbers of unhealthy and sedentary older children.
Dr. Clark worked together with Rae Pica, well-known children's movement specialist, to develop guidelines for keeping babies moving. Rae Picas's blog, The Pica Perspective, is well-written and full of creative ideas for helping get your children moving from the youngest age, and why it's so important. Here are some practical ideas, inspired by her approach:
Massaging Young Infants
Starting after the umbilical cord stub has fallen off, you can stretch out your baby on a towel in a warm area and give him or her a full body massage with olive oil. Vimala McLure has created an excellent website on which she presents the Indian art of baby massage.
After the massage, you can give the baby a slow relaxed bath (in the tub with you, if you have time). This allows the baby to begin learning the pleasure to be found in stretching and moving his or her body in perfect freedom.
The Football Carry
Small infants can be tucked nicely over a parent's forearm, face down, with their head nestled against the bend of your arm and your hand firmly grasping a little thigh. A new perspective helps stimulate new connections in the growing little brain.
Turning-Over Practice
When the baby is starting to try to turn over, at four months or so, you can give him a chance for some good practice time. Put him tummy-down on a blanket in the middle of the floor. Put a thick towel underneath, so he can be naked. When he starts tilting his head in an effort to turn over, you can lay next to him and watch him and admire his effort. Every once in a while (not too often) you can give a hand by helping ease his arm or leg over just a little so that he can see what the completed motion feels like.
Let the Baby Crawl on the Floor!
Dirt is not the enemy. Give the house a good sweeping or vacuuming, childproof it, and let the baby loose. Experiencing the different surfaces of carpet, wood, and tiles will make the baby sensitive to her body and her surroundings. Crawling underneath tables and rocking chairs will allow her to relate to an unfamiliar setting on her own terms.
These are only a starting point, but your imagination can take it from here. Babies are blessed with insatiable curiosity, and you can make use of that curiosity to help your baby develop a love of moving around.
