SolveYourProblem
eLearning Series:
A Proud Parent's Guide To
Your Newborn Baby's First Year
(
17 pages )
Your
Baby’s Motor Skills
"The ultimate
goal of physical motor development is to make the human
organism as independent of gravity as is possible within
the limitations of the human body."
When babies
begin to participate and engage in the world around them
it is indicative of them becoming more and more independent.
From the moment a baby is born into this world she will
begin the process of developing the motor skills that are
necessary for her to take command of that which is around
her and for her to relate with her environment. Because
of this a baby who has mastered the motor skill of sitting
up without help, for example, will have a completely different
outlook on the environment that they are a part of than
a baby who has not yet mastered this skill and needs assistance
from objects or adults to help them up. You will find as
your baby begins to stack skill upon skill that her experience
of the world, and in turn the complexity of newly learned
skills, will grow exponentially. As your baby’s motor skills
grow and become more complex, so will your baby’s overall
interaction with her environment.
Physical development
can be broken up in to three-month intervals and divided
into two categories: gross motor skills and fine motor
skills. Gross motor skills are the term used to describe
your baby’s ability to control different parts of her own
body. Fine motor skills refer to your baby’s level of coordination
of different body parts, such as picking up an object with
her thumb and forefinger.
Infant muscle
development starts at the head and works its way down.
Your baby will first develop control over the neck muscles.
Soon after that she will learn to control the torso, and
finally the leg muscles. Your baby will then start sitting
up on her own, crawling a bit, and turning over by herself.
She will enjoy being bounced on your knee, which is an
excellent way for your baby to begin to develop balance.
By the time she is around eight months old she will start
learning how to stand up on her own and will try to pull
herself upright by holding on to objects with your help.
Typically, a
baby will start walking between nine and fifteen months,
with the majority of babies walking just after the age
of one (around thirteen to fourteen months). If your baby
cannot walk but has no problem crawling, standing, or sitting
upright, this is completely normal. Some babies skip the
crawling phase entirely and can start walking as late as
seventeen to nineteen months.
There are things
you can do as a parent to stimulate your baby to begin
the process of learning to walk. Although many parents
believe that they need to get their babies expensive toys
and walking aids to facilitate early development, this
is completely untrue. What you need to do most is interact
with your child as much as possible; this is to facilitate
brain development. Babies love to hear stories. This is
not just recreational or for entertainment, but very important
for helping along your baby’s brain development. Instead
of telling your baby a story and making it up as you go
along, try reading it aloud to her from a book. This
will help her develop her vocabulary. Play with
her, talk to her, sing to her. The reason younger children
in a family develop at a faster rate than their older siblings
is that they have someone to interact with constantly (not
just mom and dad, but big brother or big sister as well).
As far as toys and walking aids, walkers are definitely
NOT recommended, because babies tend to rely on them too
much. As a result of using walkers their upper leg muscles
will not develop as well as they should and this could
lead to a delay in the development of motor skills necessary
for walking. Furthermore, each year there are around 200,000
injuries sustained to babies due to walker use. Around
30,000 of these injuries are severe and include fractures,
dislocations, and broken bones. Canada has banned the use
of walkers and the American Medical Association, as well
as various other organizations, has proposed a ban on walkers
in the United States. Do not get a walker for your baby.
There are some
things you can do to help your baby along in the process
of developing the motor skills necessary for walking on
her own. Here are a few tips:
- Don’t let
your baby wear shoes indoors. It is much easier for a
baby to learn to walk barefoot.
- When you
are holding your baby while trying to assist her in walking
don’t hold her legs or hands. You can hold her by the
torso.
- Try to encourage
your baby to develop walking motor skills by calling
her to come to you or by placing a favorite toy just
out of reach so that she crawls towards it. This will
help her engage in these actions on her own volition
and will expedite the development of several necessary
skills for independence.
- Make sure
the floor is not too slippery; your baby may not find
it easy to balance on a slippery floor and this can be
dangerous for a baby just learning to balance.
Motor skills
are not exactly the same thing as hand and eye coordination
but they are pretty closely related. The development of
hand-eye coordination often parallels and/or compliments
the development of gross and fine motor skills. There are
some activities your baby can do to increase her coordination
and develop her motor skills, such as:
- Puzzles: Get
your baby started on jigsaw puzzles. Let her start off
on small puzzles of 4-5 pieces. There are baby-styled
puzzles available that have little handles on them for
babies to grip. As she gets adjusted to the idea, start
her off on puzzles of a higher level. Don't get very
complicated puzzles for her as she may get frustrated
if she can't do it and this could make her develop feelings
of frustration.
- Baby-sized
Lego Blocks: These types of blocks are the
kind which require construction and which require pegs
to be placed and fitted in certain places. These big
blocks are excellent for developing motor skills.
- Plastic
building blocks: These
types of blocks allow babies to stack and build things
that require balance and use a different set of hand/eye
coordination skills and motor skills.
- Peg
and hole toys: These
are toys that are made of plastic and have holes fitted
to plastic pegs for the baby to differentiate different
shapes and also to develop motor skills and hand/eye
coordination.
- Plastic
“Doughnuts”: Another popular toy for encouraging
the development of motor skills is the graduated soft
plastic Doughnuts that fit on a plastic center pole.
Your baby can stack these and will soon learn more
about shapes, sizes and colors, and how they relate
to one another.
The chart below
illustrates a rough timeline for milestones you can expect
your baby to cross in the first year and half:
| 1-3
months |
• Baby’s
hand is curled into a fist that instinctively holds
onto objects that are put into her palm. At two
months the grasp is less reflexive and more controlled.
At three months, the palm is weakly open but with
little strength to grip objects.
|
| 5 months |
• Baby begins reaching
for objects such as toys.
• Baby might briefly grasp and hold toys.
• Baby will enjoy sucking her own hands.
|
| 6 months |
• Baby is beginning to
follow objects with her eyes.
• Baby is sucking her feet and grasping objects between
both hands.
|
| 7 months |
• Baby is developing
the ability to transfer objects from one hand to
the other.
• Baby’s finger-thumb grip develops and she can simultaneously
grip objects in both hands.
|
| 8 months |
• Baby keeps hands open
and relaxed most of the time.
• Baby is starting to have the ability to pick up small
foods, like Cheerios.
|
| 10 months |
• Baby is able to release
an object voluntarily.
• Gives toy to caregiver when asked.
• Baby should be able to hold more than one object
in her hand.
|
 
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