Watching our little ones grow is both thrilling and stressful. While there is no high like seeing your sweet baby recognize your face for the first time or learn to play peek-a-boo, there is no low like worrying that your baby might not be developing on schedule.
Almost every time I speak to a parent about their baby I find that they have been worrying about one or two of the major milestones of the first year. So, rest assured, even if your baby hasn't rolled over and it is nearing the 10 month mark, while you should let your pediatrician know, your baby will be just fine in all but the rarest cases. However, there are a few small things you can do to help your little one as they are working on figuring out how to flip the world upside down and back.
1. Hip Swivel
This is a simple little exercise to help you start walking your nimble little wiggle worm through the motions of rolling over. Start with her laying on a blanket on a soft floor. Take ahold of each of her legs, and gently cross the right leg over the left. Keep bringing the top leg over and around, until her right hip lifts off the floor. Now hold her there or a count of five unless she seems uncomfortable or frustrated. Then gently bring her right leg back to it's natural position, and repeat the movement with her left leg. Repeat this, taking turns on each leg, about 6 or 7 times in a row to help encourage muscle memory. This gentle repetitive motion will help guide your baby through the mechanics of how to get her lower body to roll over. In just a couple of weeks you should see her start to swing her leg over and swivel her hips on her own as she gets ready to fully roll over.
2. Raise the Arm
Another step you can take to help your little finger muncher learn how to get from his back to his belly is to show him how to get that arm out of his way. If you've seen your baby roll up onto his side at all, you might have noticed that one of the things stopping him from just rolling the rest of the way is the arm he is resting on. So, the next time you see your sweet little monkey get almost up and over, just reach in and take a hold of his arm that is against the blanket, and guide it up near his ear, so it is completely out of his way. Always guide the arm gently, and let your baby pull it back if he is uncomfortable. Try to remember to do this as often as you can while playing with him on the floor. Before you know it he'll start figuring out how to get out of his own way.
3. Demonstrate
Yes, this means what you think it means. It means you should get down on the ground and roll over while your little sock kicker watches. It may sound silly, but there is more and more evidence turning up that babies start learning visually long before we think they do. Hold her up to watch as another baby rolls over sometimes as well. This is helpful, because it gives you an example of exactly how another baby gets themselves rolled over. Also, when you are demonstrating the technique to your baby, remember to think through each step from your little rug buddy's perspective. You might realize how hard it is to twist your legs over without something to push off from, or notice the huge barrier that your shoulder becomes. These little insights can help you understand your baby's struggle, and be supportive in the ways that are most effective for her.
4. Sing a Ditty
A little tune can turn a stressful training session into a fun workout for a grown up, and unsurprisingly, it can also work for your baby. Sing, or hum or whistle a peppy tune to your little giggle face as you help roll him back and forth slowly from back to front, and then front to back. I particularly like singing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" because it comes with built in instructions about how to roll over! I have even wondered if teaching babies to roll over might have been the original purpose of the nursery rhyme! Whether you use this song, or one of your own, a little music goes a long way toward turning floor time fun, for both of you.
5. Payoff is Important
It is important not to discourage your cute little honey bubble by forgetting to give her a reward after she has been working hard on learning to roll over. Though your little one doesn't have a concept of "earning a reward", she will already have a highly developed sense of "needing a break". So take a few minutes to play with her before, during, and after you work on rolling over with her. It'll be a surprisingly nice pause for yourself as well. Teaching your baby to do anything can feel like trying to train water to dance, so take a lot of breaks to enjoy your little stinker and remind yourself that he's pretty amazing already.
It is extremely likely that eventually your sweet cuddle bear will learn to roll over, no matter if he does it spontaneously at 4 months, or seems to be just starting to figure it out by his first year. There is hardly ever a reason to worry about exactly when it will happen, and chances are good that if there is a reason to worry, your pediatrician will not only know what it is, but give you helpful and useful things you can do to help him with his own unique developmental needs. The most important thing is to always see the best in your baby, encourage, and support him, and always believe that he is capable of anything. Your baby will understand that long before he figures out how to get from his back to his belly. As always, comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome, and if you have found these tips to be helpful, please forward them to any new, or expecting parents you know. Happy parenting!
Also, please check out my current work over at YummyShapes.com where I blog about once a week these days.
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Friday, September 5, 2014
Monday, May 25, 2009
Toddler Tuesday: 5 developmentally stimulating games
Toddler Tuesday Tips!
So today I am introducing Toddler Tuesday! I may not be the first person to ever have this idea, but I still think it is a good one. Each Tuesday, my tips will be for the parents of toddlers! Today I thought I would share some of the fun and educational activities that are good for a toddler to do. Some of these will be easier and some will be harder, every child is different, so don't worry if one of these activities seems a little beyond your little finger-food fanatic.
1. Stacking blocks.
Just regular old run of the mill blocks will do for this activity. Padded blocks don't stack well, big card board box blocks are never really square and odd-sized blocks can be frustrating at first. Just a normal set of wooden alphabet blocks that are uniformly square are great for stacking. First let your baby look at the blocks and investigate them on their own for a little while, then begin to model for them the right way to stack the blocks. Count each new block with an excited voice as your tower gets taller, then say "time to knock it down!" and push over the tower. Your toddler will be most interested in knocking down the tower at first, but keep at it, and soon you'll see great stacking skills develop.
2. Throwing a ball.
For this I recommend that parents start with a soft ball. Your toddler might take a long time to figure out how to get the ball to fly through the air like you do, or the ball could come hurtling right at your head on the first try, so plan for the worst. This activity is a great one to do outside on summer days, or in the living room during the winter. Try sitting with your feet touching your child's feet so that your legs form a diamond shape, then tossing and rolling the ball back and forth.
3. Make-believe with stuffed animals.
You may have already had your baby pick up the remote control and hold it to their ear while saying "heh-woeh?", in which case CUTE!!! The next step is to get your child to use figure-type toys, like stuffed animals, dolls or action figures to model behavior that he sees around the house. Sit down together with some spoons and an empty cup and "feed" the stuffed bear, or use a brush to help the dolly comb her hair. The nice thing about this kind of activity is that it doesn't require you to always be around for it to be fun. The other day my son was making the penguin clap it's hands while reciting "patty cake". He was rolling on the floor laughing while I was tidying up the kitchen!
4. Sorting colors and shapes.
There are a million toys on the market that are made to help your child do this exact activity, so use whichever one you have handy, I don't have much of a preference here. If you want you can combine sorting with putting the shaped in the holes, or sorting colors by stacking the disks on the pegs. I really love when there are a couple of different ways to sort the same objects. Like first sorting them by color, then resorting them by shape. An advanced form of this game would include things like texture and sound, but move at whatever pace is comfortable for you and your child. Sit together at a small table and begin by modeling the type of sorting that you want your child to do first. If they try to participate, but are getting it wrong, simple kindly explain where that piece really goes and why, then move it there yourself.
5. Threading beads on a pipe-cleaner.
This is a great fine-motor coordination activity. The hardest part about this activity is the amount of concentration and attention span that it requires. I wouldn't push your child to do it with you, but perhaps if you sit and do it for a while near where they are playing, they will come and express some interest. Use large wooden or plastic beads, so there is less of a chance that they will break or be ingested, and attach one to the end of the pipe cleaners to start with so that the beads your baby puts on won't just fall off the other end. If you fill a couple of strands you can segue into a fun game of dress-up in which the beaded strands can be crowns, and necklaces! This is one of those activities that my son has to have mommy help him with and that requires some clean up afterward. No one wants to step on a bead in the middle of the night.
I hope you all like my new segment, Toddler Tuesdays!, the regularly scheduled 5 baby tips will be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!
So today I am introducing Toddler Tuesday! I may not be the first person to ever have this idea, but I still think it is a good one. Each Tuesday, my tips will be for the parents of toddlers! Today I thought I would share some of the fun and educational activities that are good for a toddler to do. Some of these will be easier and some will be harder, every child is different, so don't worry if one of these activities seems a little beyond your little finger-food fanatic.
1. Stacking blocks.
Just regular old run of the mill blocks will do for this activity. Padded blocks don't stack well, big card board box blocks are never really square and odd-sized blocks can be frustrating at first. Just a normal set of wooden alphabet blocks that are uniformly square are great for stacking. First let your baby look at the blocks and investigate them on their own for a little while, then begin to model for them the right way to stack the blocks. Count each new block with an excited voice as your tower gets taller, then say "time to knock it down!" and push over the tower. Your toddler will be most interested in knocking down the tower at first, but keep at it, and soon you'll see great stacking skills develop.
2. Throwing a ball.
For this I recommend that parents start with a soft ball. Your toddler might take a long time to figure out how to get the ball to fly through the air like you do, or the ball could come hurtling right at your head on the first try, so plan for the worst. This activity is a great one to do outside on summer days, or in the living room during the winter. Try sitting with your feet touching your child's feet so that your legs form a diamond shape, then tossing and rolling the ball back and forth.
3. Make-believe with stuffed animals.
You may have already had your baby pick up the remote control and hold it to their ear while saying "heh-woeh?", in which case CUTE!!! The next step is to get your child to use figure-type toys, like stuffed animals, dolls or action figures to model behavior that he sees around the house. Sit down together with some spoons and an empty cup and "feed" the stuffed bear, or use a brush to help the dolly comb her hair. The nice thing about this kind of activity is that it doesn't require you to always be around for it to be fun. The other day my son was making the penguin clap it's hands while reciting "patty cake". He was rolling on the floor laughing while I was tidying up the kitchen!
4. Sorting colors and shapes.
There are a million toys on the market that are made to help your child do this exact activity, so use whichever one you have handy, I don't have much of a preference here. If you want you can combine sorting with putting the shaped in the holes, or sorting colors by stacking the disks on the pegs. I really love when there are a couple of different ways to sort the same objects. Like first sorting them by color, then resorting them by shape. An advanced form of this game would include things like texture and sound, but move at whatever pace is comfortable for you and your child. Sit together at a small table and begin by modeling the type of sorting that you want your child to do first. If they try to participate, but are getting it wrong, simple kindly explain where that piece really goes and why, then move it there yourself.
5. Threading beads on a pipe-cleaner.
This is a great fine-motor coordination activity. The hardest part about this activity is the amount of concentration and attention span that it requires. I wouldn't push your child to do it with you, but perhaps if you sit and do it for a while near where they are playing, they will come and express some interest. Use large wooden or plastic beads, so there is less of a chance that they will break or be ingested, and attach one to the end of the pipe cleaners to start with so that the beads your baby puts on won't just fall off the other end. If you fill a couple of strands you can segue into a fun game of dress-up in which the beaded strands can be crowns, and necklaces! This is one of those activities that my son has to have mommy help him with and that requires some clean up afterward. No one wants to step on a bead in the middle of the night.
I hope you all like my new segment, Toddler Tuesdays!, the regularly scheduled 5 baby tips will be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!
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