Get your baby to move more

The development of your baby’s motor skills is important in order to help your baby to grow physically strong and healthy, feel confident and learn from their environment.

Pampers Institute Expert and Occupational Therapist, Kate Bailey elaborates that, “Movement is important for your baby’s overall development. When your baby moves well, his thinking and communication skills improve and this will ultimately help build confidence in your baby”.

Bailey shares a few tips on how you can encourage your baby to be more physically active, thus helping his motor skills:

Dance, roll around, do somersaults and have fun moving together

Moving in space stimulates balance, body awareness and control of movement. This is how babies learn about themselves and how to adapt and relate to the world around them. Include music, be it the radio, CD or a lullaby, as rhythm, rhyme and song stimulate movement.

Spend time on the floor

Spending time on the floor is very important for babies to learn how to use their bodies in order to develop strength and independence. Encourage tummy time, back lying, rolling and crawling.

Encourage your baby to reach for different levels

When your baby is pulling to stand and learning to cruise around furniture, and eventually walk, place things at different levels – put his favourite toys or food on various surfaces like the table, the floor, or on the opposite chair.

When cruising along the furniture, squatting down and then reaching up, his legs and core muscles strengthen. This helps him develop better balance and confidence for standing and walking.

Clambering and climbing

When your baby is walking and wants to climb on and off furniture, encourage this wonderful exploration by providing safe, low surfaces for him to practice this important skill.

Use the cushions from the couch for crawling and clambering over, boxes and tubs to climb in and out of, steps and “kiddi chairs” to climb up and down. At first, you might have to help your baby learn how to turn around and go backwards off certain surfaces such as stairs, couches and beds.

Clambering and climbing is important for learning about space and how to plan to move in space.

About the Author: Something as simple as using the correct nappy can directly impact the amount of time baby is able to move around. The Pampers® Active Baby-Dry nappy enables baby to enjoy uninterrupted learning because of its newly designed embossed absorbing layer and a core that reliably absorbs wetness, keeping your baby’s bum dry for up to 12 hours.

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