BABY MOVES #9

NOTE: Most guidelines are built for “birth at 40 weeks”. If your baby came early – it is recommended to “correct” or “adjust for due date”, specifically in movement. *Learn more about corrected age HERE.

This Baby Moves goes in a slightly different direction. The focus is more on looking for where they are at and finding ways to create new experiences alongside their progressions.

Baby Hands

The introduction of food becomes one of the more vibrant experiences for exploring sights, sounds, and social aspects of something while also being challenged to find food, grab food, and put food in the face hole. From playing with utensils…

To the transition of the palmar grasp to the finer pincer grasp. These are just fancy names for raking things with the fingers and palms vs getting some fine motor control of the thumb and fingers to better manipulate objects. When the thumb comes “online”, they are able to pinch food, using the thumb and forefinger. Pay attention to their hands, fingers and thumbs to see how they solve for grabbing things of different size, shape, and texture in order to play with it – or eat it.

This is where flap books can really help with fine motor skills (alongside some book/reading time). Be prepared though, depending on the kid, for the flap book to become just a book at some point.

Shaped blocks can also add several elements to play. From watching stacking, to smacking (cause and effect), to talking about colors and shapes, and feeling similar but different objects.

Note: Babies don’t understand stacking or have the body/development support to stack until 12-15 months. The popular nesting/stacking cups take even more skills to nest/stack cups. The problem solving around the nesting order comes online between age 2 years and 3 years. These items can be used in many ways at any time, but the skills come much later.

Water 💦 Play

As baby gets more comfortable/stable in sitting, they can explore more during bath time. Regardless of shower vs tub vs sink, pouring is a way to evoke highly engaged reaching, and grasping, and is also an easy way to get the grasp moving above the shoulders.

It’s also a place for water exposure to the face and over the head. Many parents avoid water on the face or head due to the initial shock and annoyance it may cause to the baby. As parents avoid this, this can lead to more discomfort with it as they get older, including avoidance of water on the face in swimming, rain, and other forms of play involving water. Exposure to water in different places and different forms in a controlled and safe environment such as a bath can create regular exposure. This exposure helps baby learn about water and find ways to remain calm in the chaos of it. One approach to this is to create cues for water exposure used whether is’t a cup of water over the head or a dunk in a pool. A “cue” is an audible signal that can help them prepare for the “unknown” a little better on their learning journey. One such cue would be showing the cup, then counting “3, 2, 1, water” while pouring the water out. This cue creates a pattern so they learn to know what is coming, which can help them better cope as they navigate new things. Fun, safe water play creates positive experiences around water which can help with their approach to future experiences with water.

This is also a perfect time and place for bubbles. Bubbles in the tub can help make water associations fun. They also help with reaching, grasping, and visual tracking unlike anything else. Bubbles also make for anywhere easy play (for next 5+ years), but maybe even more importantly, they make for a great distraction in a pinch. These mini bubble wands seal well, make for an easy addition to the diaper bag, glove box, changing table, stroller, or just a pocket carry – and they can be refilled giving them a long life.

Transitions

There are many ways to get from belly to feet and from bottom to more vertical. Baby Moves #8 covered some of the ways kids might go from belly to pushing up into a “bear crawl” on all fours to pulling up to their feet. One often overlooked transition is from sitting to crawling and from sitting, directly to pulling up. While kids will often take many strategies in this area, below are a few ways to look at the progressions and transition from independent/unsupported straight leg and/or ring sitting into the initial positions for crawling as well as pulling up or moving vertically. These motions keep the hips mobile and build strength in the pelvis and legs.

Standing

As they pull to stand, start to cruise (hold furniture to “walk” along it), or even stand will less support – keep an eye on where the support is, how they use the legs and body. Just as with supported sitting – they needed support under armpits initially, then just at the chest, then at the belly, then at the hips, then none at all – at least in the initial ability to sit unsupported.

The same applies to support while standing. From both hands to one had to just a finger. From support at the shoulders, armpits, hips, and even the legs – the lower body learns to support the upper body. Pro Pointer: Support from shoulders or support the hands at or below shoulder height. If you are a tall dad, you may need to find a way to give them support without hunching over into awkward positions – via a hangar or dangling towel or a gymnastics ring, etc. Humans don’t generally walk or balance with our hands above our heads, but when we support them from that position, this is what their body learns as the proper way to balance. Avoid unnatural support as much as possible.

In the end – babies all go at their own pace and there is no need to rush development. Regardless of where they are, a careful eye and a few ideas of how to support them can go a long way.

A Life of Transition

The science section here will cover a little on fine motor skills, a check in on milestones with a note on crawling, as well as a reminder on sleep challenges and movement progressions.

In terms of fine motor skills, many educators and teachers are reporting a drop in fine motor skills by kindergarten in recents years. This is having a negative impact on holding a pencil or crayon and coloring or writing. But before we can poder if writing matters for those living in the tech forward world, we need to understand how fine motor skills of the fingers add to dexterity in technology use vs what is missed if technology toys are prioritized. It’s too early to tell, and research is ongoing – but for now, foster the fingers and toes in their finest glory when you can.

In terms of motor skills, below is the modified chart of when “most” babies hit milestones. Most babies will be sitting upright around now (adjust for birth date). Many babies will show some ability to stand with assistance. Some babies will be crawling, and some might be walking along with support.

If they are crawling, the main thing to watch for is “funny crawling” – where they are not showing some symmetry to their approach to crawling – showing preference for one side of the other. This kind of crawling can be indicative of tight muscles (yes, even babies get tight muscles) or less muscle tone on on side. Kids will typically progress through these things, however the time spent doing something reinforces it (firing, wiring). These funny movement patterns are only an “issue” if they use the same strategy for over month or so without showing a change in strategy or a progression in strategy.

One interesting area in this range for sitting/standing/crawling is that about 7% of kids skip crawling, meaning they jump to “milestones” post crawling and on to walking.

There is a lot of argument in the science world and practitioner world on the importance of crawling. Currently there is very little evidence or high quality studies either way to support the need for crawling or to support anything advantage/disadvantage to skipping it. What IS known, however, is that moving around on all fours does provide experiences in a transitional posture that strengthens and coordinates the body in ways that no other activity can. While the claims on either side tend to for or against in a more extreme nature, there is one important foundation to understand if you find yourself in this unique area. All fine motor skills build on gross motor skills. Just because a baby skips crawling, this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t crawl. It’s still important for fine motor development to spend time on all 4’s (such as for foot and toe motor skills). Just note that a baby that skips crawling might be very interested in standing and trying to walk for some time before having much interest in crawling. No worries – support what they are into – but as they look for novelty again, find ways to encourage exploration on all fours via tunnels, boxes, forts and having to crawl under, around, and over things.

In closing, the 8th month (adjusted for birth date) is a time of transitions and the building of finer skills. It’s also a time when sleep changes can crush happy and rested parents who might have just found a groove. Just a friendly reminder for expectation management – anytime they grow or unlock a new skill – it often coincides with some sleep disruption.

A 2005 study of a small group of healthy babies that had started crawling vs not showed more fragmented/disrupted sleep in the babies that had started crawling. More research is still needed in this area, but typically whenever a baby moves through specific milestones their sleep changes. From new skills, to new experiences, to new social interactions – while the dynamic interrelations across domains of development aren’t well understood, they may make for some rough nights of sleep. Just keep to the routines, build those internal resources, manage expectations, and you’ll be through it in no time… (or a few weeks).