Baby’s Sense of Touch Development – Timelines and What to Expect
A baby’s sense of touch development is the first sense that develops in babies in the early weeks of pregnancy is. The key sense of touch starts developing when the baby is in the mother’s womb. It plays a crucial role in building a bond. And as a mother starts feeding the newborn, cuddling, and holding them in her hands, it helps to communicate and understand what babies want.
But as the babies start growing, they develop a different sense of touch that helps them to learn things and interact with people. Continue reading to learn about the baby’s sense of touch development stages. Let’s get started.
The sense of touch is the ability to recognize things. This sense is generated through neuron receptors present in the skin. This is the first type of sense that develops in babies in their mother’s womb. The sense will develop after the end of 7 weeks of pregnancy.
Is Sense of Touch Developed at Birth?
The first sense of touch developed in babies during the first trimester of pregnancy. Yes, it starts early when a baby is in the womb. Within the next few months of pregnancy, touch receptors will develop all over the baby’s body. By the end of eleven weeks of pregnancy, your infant begins to move in the womb. Those tiny movements help babies to feel the external environment.
In the middle of the third trimester, the infant can feel the various sensations of touch, including cold, heat, pain, and pressure. Touch plays an essential role in communicating with babies. Moreover, the babies use the sense of touch to grasp things faster.
Why is the Sense of Touch so Important to Infants?
Like other senses, the sense of touch plays a significant role in a baby’s growth. The lack of sense of touch during the early stages of pregnancy can affect growth. Babies with a great sense of touch are likely to understand emotions and learn things faster.
The sense of touch helps to improve cognitive development. Furthermore, the babies who receive skin-to-skin touch with their mother are likely to experience less anxiety, hostility, and emotional distress.
Lack of sense of touch reduces the learning power and delays cognitive development. Touch deprivation can increase aggression and may affect the behavior of babies.
When Do Babies Develop Sense of Touch Development?
According to the brain scans of the fetus, unborn babies don’t sense pain even after the end of 30 weeks of pregnancy, when most of the somatosensory neural pathway has been developed. However, in the middle of the third trimester of pregnancy, babies develop a sense of touch and experience the full range of senses such as pressure, cold, heat, and pain.
Over the next few months of pregnancy, touch receptors have been developed. Also, soles and palms will develop by the end of 12 weeks of pregnancy. And by the end of 17 weeks, babies develop an abdomen. After the completion of 30weeks, they can understand the full range of senses.
Baby’s Sense of Touch Development After Birth – Milestones
As discussed above, the baby’s touch sense begins to develop when they are in the womb. Let’s discuss this here in detail.
Birth to First Few Weeks (0 to 2 Weeks)
During seven to eight weeks of pregnancy, babies’ touch sense develops. Although they aren’t born yet and are growing within their mother’s womb, they can still experience various sensations, including temperature, heat, and cold.
Newborn babies have sensitive skin, and a few parts of the baby’s body are extremely sensitive to touch, such as the face, cheeks, abdomen, and hands.
The skin-to-skin touch with babies is a way to communicate with babies and build a bond with them. They feel secure and comfortable with your touch and can respond through a grasping reflex. However, the grasping reflex will soon disappear as babies start growing.
When mothers place their babies close to the chest, they automatically find nipples in the mouth. This type of reaction in babies is known as the rooting reflex.
When your baby turns two months old, their sense of touch develops completely. They enjoy their mother’s touch and start responding to tickling and friendly handling.
When babies start chewing their toys, they use their lips, tongue, and mouth to feel the texture.
When your tiny baby is three months old, they will enjoy grasping things, noticing their surroundings, and differentiating between the items near them.
The mouth of the babies is highly sensitive, and you’ll be surprised to know they also use their mouth to explore and learn things around them.
Four to Six Months (4 to 6 Months)
When the baby is four months old, the baby’s muscles, especially hands and arms, start maturing and gaining strength. They begin to touch things and reach out to them.
At the age of five months, babies can hold and lift objects with their hands. However, they still use their mouth to understand and feel textures.
At 5 months, they also like to splash water while bathing.
The baby’s touch sense improves when they turn 6 months old. They learn to hold things firmly with both their hands. Moreover, they can pass the objects from one hand to another. At this age, babies enjoy touching things and interacting with other people.
Seven to Nine Months (7 to 9 Months)
The babies develop spatial awareness about things and surroundings when they are seven months old.
With their touch sense, babies can distinguish between 3D objects and flat objects.
They love to grab objects that are easy to grab, spin, and twist, such as soft toys.
Most babies start crawling by the age of nine months. Babies love to touch new things around them.
Babies pick up objects around them and put them in different places. It is vital to create a safe and friendly environment so that they do not harm themselves while playing with objects.
When your baby is one year old, their sense of touch develops completely. They can feel the textures such as soft, hard, cold, sticky, wet, and other things.
Now, they can investigate objects with their hands and play with objects.
Moreover, when babies turn 12 months old, they can feel everything around them. They can recognize the emotions and the way people interact with them.
Babies’ sense of touch starts developing when they are in the womb. As babies grow, they start developing different senses of touch that help them recognize things around them and sense heat, cold, temperature change, and other things. In the meantime, as a mother, you can help your baby learn different things and provide a comfortable environment to make them feel secure.
FAQ’s
1. How Does Lack of Touch Affect Development?
Babies, at an early stage of development, only have a sense of touch. This is the only way they recognize and feel anything around them. Hence, if the babies lack touch, their other sense development may be affected. Moreover, they are not able to feel and respond to you.
2. How Can You Help Stimulate Your Baby’s Sense of Touch?
As a mother, you can engage your babies in different activities and play with them. Place toys near them and give them your finger to grasp whenever you hold them in your hands. It helps to develop grasping capabilities. Cuddle them while breastfeeding and nurture them with love. This is the way you can develop a sense of touch in them.
3. At What Age Can Babies Feel the Touch?
By the end of 8 weeks of pregnancy, babies start developing the sensation of touch. It starts when they are in the womb. So, all newborns are capable of sensing touch. They can sense things by touching them with their mouths and hands.
Baby Hearing Development After Birth – Timelines And What to Expect
The birth of a baby is no less than a miracle. But with the birth of the baby, it is also important to make sure that the sense organs are functioning properly. Even though a baby is very small, almost like a small grain, it develops the ears as close to the second month of conception. The ears are like small skin folds on the sides of the head. It is only after the eighth week that the embryo becomes a fetus. A lot of importance is given to the hearing of the baby as a lot of babies have well-developed ears but still, they cannot hear at birth. So, the question is, when does baby hearing development after birth happen?
The hearing ability of the baby develops with time and after a few years they can even gauge the sound range. This is also the time when the parents should watch out for age-related or hearing milestones. If the milestones are not met, they should detect the underlying hearing problem.
As per studies, babies start reacting to sounds by the time they are three months old. It can take up to 6 months for the baby to hear and identify or understand different ranges of sounds.
Babies start developing the ability to hear in the womb itself, and at around 35 weeks the formation of the ears takes place. The fetus starts reacting to sounds as early as the sixth or seventh gestational month, but proper baby hearing development only takes place once the baby is born. The hearing of the baby continues to develop as they grow, which is important for learning. It is important that the baby undergoes a hearing screening and proper check-ups to catch any issues early so that proper diagnosis and treatment can be done.
Baby Hearing Development After Birth – Milestones
Every parent would want to know the important milestones pertaining to the hearing development of babies. This will help them ensure that their little one is on the right track and any issues are caught at the right time.
We list the important milestones for a baby’s hearing development after birth:
Birth to Three Months (0 to 3 Months)
The baby will get a shock when he hears a loud sound
It calms down or smiles when they listen to a familiar voice.
The baby stops sucking when being fed if a sound is made.
The baby will make a different sound each time they need something different.
Four to Six Months (3 to 6 Months)
The baby will move the eyes in the direction of the sound.
It will start observing the toys that produce a sound.
The baby will start paying attention to music and tunes.
Your little one starts imitating sounds like baa, aah, mum etc., also known as babbling.
This is a good time to start reading books or singing songs to your little one.
The baby may even recognize their name and respond well to it.
Seven to Nine Months (6 to 9 Months)
The baby turns its head and looks at the source of the sound.
It starts to look at the object when prompted.
The baby may get scared at loud sounds.
It starts responding to words like no, want more, yes, come, go, bye.
The baby also starts understanding words and follows simple requests of bye-bye, hi, kiss etc.
The baby starts identifying words for common things as well as people. For eg, juice, cup, daddy or juice, mummy, etc.
Your little one starts responding to words like no, want more, yes, come, go, bye.
Listens to songs and stories but for a brief time.
Some babies also sing or hum and even start giving toys when asked.
How to Know if Your Baby is Hearing Clearly?
As long as your baby is meeting all the milestones mentioned above, there is nothing to worry about. Having said that, these milestones can vary slightly from baby to baby, and this should not be a cause for concern.
It is important to get hearing tests done after the birth of the baby to check the hearing abilities. However, only when the baby is old, can the hearing ability be gauged. If the pediatrician detects a problem with the hearing ability of the baby, then more tests must be done at later stages of life.
It is important to remember that babies do not react to the sounds of a doorbell or a telephone when they are sound asleep.
When Should You Not Worry About Your Newborn’s Hearing?
When the baby is awake, they show reactions to some loud sounds. Yet there are few signs that are shown by the baby that need the attention of the parent and they are
Not getting responsive to loud sounds.
Showing no reactions even after they turn six months old.
To turn at a known face but not when they hear but when they see.
Being alert to only a few sounds and not all.
All the symptoms, however, do not always indicate a hearing problem. At times, the babies can even show a temporary diminished hearing during ear infections or an episode of cold and cough. They do not even react if they are too engrossed in playing with an adult or a sibling. Therefore, one should not panic. When in doubt, always consult a doctor before arriving at a conclusion.
What Factors May Affect Your Infant’s Hearing?
Babies can use their ears to take in a lot of information related to the world in which they are. Hearing ability also helps the infant to learn new words and languages and promotes the development of the brain.
There are many factors that can affect the hearing of a newborn. Some of them are:
Genetics
Viral infection in the mother during pregnancy.
Premature birth or babies with low birth weight.
Birth defects can even result in hearing loss.
Ear infections after the birth of a baby result in temporary hearing loss.
Very rarely, ear infections result in damage to the nerves of the internal parts of the ear.
A few other conditions that result in hearing loss are
Earwax or the presence of fluid behind the eardrum.
Low Apgar score (score for the newborn after birth).
Antibiotics like kanamycin etc.
Prolonged mechanical ventilation.
Objects like crayons, toys or food get stuck in the ear canals.
If surrounded by machines that produce loud sounds.
A baby’s hearing development starts at the fetal stage and continues post-birth. As your baby’s hearing development continues, you will find them responding to various stimuli. In cases where you are worried that your baby is not responding enough, you can also check with a pediatrician to make sure there are no problems.
Yes, babies are more sensitive to sounds than adults are. The brain of the baby is not able to differentiate the sound and identify the source of different types of sounds.
2. What is Too Loud For The Baby’s Ears?
120 decibels are the pain threshold that a human ear can withhold, and any continuous noise at 85 decibels can lead to deafness. As the babies are more sensitive, loud sounds of aircraft, factories, trains, pistols etc. cannot be tolerated by them.
3. Are Babies Able to Hear Right After Birth?
The babies start hearing after birth and possess the ability to listen as well as respond to sounds till a certain extent and then proceed to hear in a more advanced manner.
Baby’s Vision Development – Timelines And What to Expect
It is an amazing feeling to cuddle your baby in your arms. Being a new mom, you must wonder what your baby can see. Whether they can see your face properly or you are just another blurry object for them. The answer is that their vision develops gradually from hazy to clear with their development. There are many stages to a baby’s vision development, and each stage happens gradually.
Vision is a critical aspect of human development. It plays a crucial role in the learning of the child. The vision develops like the other organs of the child’s body. Gradually, your baby will learn to focus their eyes, move them, and know the outside world through their eyes. You, as a parent, are surely anxious to know about the developmental phase of your baby’s vision development. This article tells you about the gradual development of your baby’s vision stage-wise. We will also discuss the signs of vision problems and tips to improve your baby’s vision. Stay connected.
Vision development is the phase of the improvement of the eyesight in babies. When a baby is born, like all other body organs, their eyes also get exposed to the external environment and start adjusting. Gradually their vision starts getting clear. Initially, they cannot see colors or identify the colors of objects. All are hazy for them. After a month, they see the world differently as their vision improves. When they reach one year of age, their vision develops like that of an adult.
When Does Newborn Vision Start Developing?
Babies can see everything from birth itself, but the vision at this time is not clear and everything appears to be blurry. Gradually with the development of other organs, their eyesight increases, and they can start seeing a thing clearly, differentiate various colors, identify things separately, and more.
Initially, after birth, high-contrast colors attract babies very much. But they cannot distinguish the colors, or their brain cannot process the critical aspects. Within a few weeks, you can see a great development in the vision of your baby. When your baby turns three months and more, they can distinguish primary colors like green, red, and blue and respond to these colors. His newborn eyesight starts at 20/400, which improves to 20/20 when they are three to five years old.
Baby’s Vision Development After Birth – Milestones
We can segregate the vision development in some timely stage, say month-wise. Let’s have a look.
Birth to First Few Weeks (0 to 2 Weeks)
At the initial stage of birth, your baby can see everything hazy and in black and white or grey. But at this point, they cannot move their eyeballs properly.
Their nerve cells are not developed to transfer the vision statement to the brain properly. They also cannot focus properly and are not very sensitive to light.
They can see colors and things eight to ten inches far in a week. At this stage, change the sides during feeding. This will help them use both eyes equally and is important for the vision development in both eyes.
First to Three Months (1 to 3 Months)
Your baby is able to differentiate colors and they can also focus. They can move their eyeballs with the movement of any objects in front of their eyes. When your baby turns three months old, he is capable of learning tracking skills.
With the development of nerve cells, your baby can understand the difference between the near or far objects and respond to them.
Four to Six Months (4 to 6 Months)
By the time your baby turns six months, their vision is getting better and stronger.
With more color sense, now the world is more colorful to them.
They can learn and remember objects and familiar faces.
They will smile and move head, legs, and arms to express happiness with their facial expression.
By this time, your baby will use both eyes together to perceive objects better.
To help them develop their vision, use mirrors and play with them.
Seven to Nine Months (7 to 9 Months)
You can see a significant improvement in their hand and eye coordination as they turn nine months old.
At this point, they will be more interested in pictures and more colorful objects.
They can identify partially hidden materials and move to grab them.
By this time, they can crawl fast and learn more about the distance and how to reach there.
Ten to Twelve Months (10 to 12 Months)
When your baby turns one year old, they. more or less, have the vision of an adult.
Their eye color at this stage remains the same lifelong. Usually, babies start to stand and walk at this age and try to grab objects by their hand and forefinger. They can judge nearer and further items clearly and make efforts to reach there.
Signs of Any Problems With Your Baby’s Vision Development
Usually, babies are born with normal and healthy eyes. But in some cases, there are chances when the baby may have some vision problem. In such cases, you must check with a doctor.
Here are some of the signs for when you should consult an eye specialist.
Excessive Tearing: This indicates that your baby may have a blocked tear duct.
Red Eyelids: In case of an eye infection, the baby’s eyelids become red.
High Sensitivity to Light: If you notice that your baby closes his eye whenever there is light, see him to a doctor.
White Pupils: If you observe that your baby has a white spot in his pupils, immediately check with a doctor. It may be a sign of a severe problem.
Turning Eyes Continuously: It may signal an eye muscle problem.
Top Tips to Help Improve Baby’s Vision Development
From birth to one or two years of age, you can do a lot to improve your baby’s vision. As a parent, you can use the below-mentioned tips.
Up to 4 Months
Do not expose the child to bright light. Use a night lamp or dim light in the baby’s room.
Change the feeding position frequently to help them use both the eyes properly.
Keep bright toys within their reach, around eight to twelve inches.
Make eye contact and talk to them.
Up to 8 Months
Hang different types of toys to the crib so that the baby tries to grab them.
Let them explore the floor with their hands and legs. Allow them to crawl.
Give them objects to grab. It will help them to coordinate with the eyes and limbs.
Play hide and seek games to stimulate their vision.
Up to 12 Months
Give them toys they can grab by their forefingers and palm.
Play hide and seek.
Make faces to help them to recognize and remember objects.
Encourage them to crawl and stand.
Let them play with other children. This will help them imitate the elder’s activities and learn new skills.
Vision is an important part of human life, and usually, babies do not have any vision issues with a few exceptions. With their natural development, their vision also grows, and till they turn one or three to five years, they can see like adults. But as a parent, you can use some tips and techniques to help them develop the skills right and fast.
During the first week of birth, babies cannot identify colors and see things only in black and white.
2. When Do Babies Know Colors?
After a few weeks of birth, at around the 2nd to 4th month mark, babies get better at perceiving colors and respond to bright colors like red, green, and blue.
Baby’s Sense of Taste Development – Timelines And What to Expect
Baby’s sense of taste development starts from the time when they are in their mother’s womb. By the end of 9 weeks of pregnancy, the baby’s tongue and mouth are formed along with taste buds. This means they can taste what their mother is eating through amniotic fluid. Infants are born with a complete sense of taste, but breast milk is the first taste they experience.
As they grow and shift to other foods, your baby can experience the flavors that they were experiencing inside the womb. If you want to expose your little one to different flavors, it is good to start exposing them during the pregnancy stage itself. Let’s have a deeper insight into the baby’s sense of taste development stages.
Newborn babies do have the sense to taste. At the birth time, babies have 10,000 taste buds active on their tongues. However, the first taste babies experience is sweetness, which is from the mother’s milk.
But when babies are inside the womb, they are surrounded with amniotic fluid. Some taste buds are also present on the mouth roof and in the throat lining. These taste buds contain taste receptors that send messages to the brain to identify the taste. Depending on the foods the mother is having, the fetus will able to smell and taste different flavors through the amniotic fluid.
Your born is also born with all the taste buds like an adult. They will experience all tastes when they start growing up or when their mother starts feeding them solid food.
When Does a Baby’s Sense of Taste Develop?
A baby is born with almost complete development of taste buds and receptors. The Baby’s sense of taste develops by the end of 9 weeks of pregnancy. Their tiny taste buds become active when they rise inside the mother’s womb. The infant is surrounded with amniotic fluid with which they can easily sense the taste of food their mother eats.
Moreover, babies inside the womb can even smell the food that the mother consumes through the amniotic fluid. But right after the birth, the foremost taste they will experience is the mother’s milk. Later, a mother can help them experience different food tastes when introducing them to solids starting at around 6 months of age.
Baby’s Sense of Taste Development After Birth – Milestones
While a baby can taste well at birth, their reaction to a different taste may change as they start growing. Let’s understand the various stages of baby’s sense of taste development after birth:
Birth to First Few Weeks (0 to 2 Weeks)
Newborn babies have two times more taste buds than some adults, but they are extremely sensitive.
The taste buds of babies work in tandem with a smelling sense, a training they receive when in the mother’s womb.
Infants, at this stage, can even differentiate between others and their mum just by smelling.
When babies are a few weeks old, they generally prefer to have sweet flavors even if they have a wide distribution of taste buds due to their exposure to the sweetness of mother’s milk.
First to Three Months (1 to 3 Months)
When your babies turn three months old, they start exploring different things and love to squeeze anything and everything into their mouths.
At this age, they are trying to experience different textures and tastes of food by putting them into their mouth and through their fingers. They explore tastes and textures through their tongue and mouth.
During the first 3 months, babies can only distinguish between bitter and sweet tastes. They prefer to have sweet flavours instead of sour, bitter and other.
Babies can easily sense the difference between savory, sweet, bitter, and sour tastes.
At around five months old, they begin to react to the savory and saltiness.
Though they can taste saltiness at this age, it doesn’t seem to be a good idea to give salt to the babies.
Six months is the right time to introduce your babies to the textures and tastes of different foods.
Many babies push away different food such as purees and look at this food suspiciously at first glance. But try to serve them over and over again. This way, they begin to know about the different textures and flavors of the food.They might reject it the first time, but if you continuously feed them, they will likely gain interest in the food.
It is better to avoid forcing them to eat if they are still resisting. Sometimes babies do not like all the stuff you offer to them. So, understand their needs and slowly help them get familiar with different food tastes.
When your toddler is 8 months old, you may need to offer the food continuously. It’s ok if they reject the food but make sure to offer them repeatedly. Also, at this age, they can grasp(pincer grasp) things in their tiny hands, so you can give them food to hold and help them to explore different tastes.
Try to give them fruits that are chewy but not so hard. If they reject it, then try different forms to see which form they like the food. This is the best way to develop taste and food textures in babies.
Ten to Twelve Months (10 to 12 Months)
The majority of young babies fear trying new food (Neophobia), especially when they turn 12 months old. You may face inconvenience in teaching your babies about different food tastes at this stage. They may even push the food away and refuse to eat sometime, even if you offer their favorite food.
You don’t need to worry because babies become furious, and it’s a normal part of their development. Keep in mind that toddlers may have sensitivity to touch, taste, and smell. They may face difficulty in handling new food tastes. So, try to give them simple flavors which they can easily accept.
When Do Babies Start Liking the Taste of Certain Foods?
Although your babies develop taste buds when they are in the womb, as they grow, toddlers start exploring different foods and may develop likes and dislikes. Once they shift to solid food, they begin to love a few food items and reject some.
They may reject the food items multiple times. Therefore, try to give them a different variety of food and notice their reaction. This way, they may like to eat those food items and start munching on them by themselves. Also, remember that babies do copy their parents and people around them.
A baby’s sense of taste takes foundation in the womb and continues to develop as they grow. For the first few months of life, they only know the sweetness of mother’s milk. Once they start solid foods, they get the opportunity to try out different flavors and textures.
Try to provide different food items so that they can learn and experience the flavor of food easily. As a mother, you can experiment with different food items, especially fruits, and give them to your little ones after you start introducing solids to them.
Your babies have sensitivity to taste and mouth. This is how they can explore different textures and tastes by chewing and squeezing everything around them. Moreover, they may attract different food textures and various food items. However, be sure to offer them simple food and slowly help them to experience other food items.
2. What Taste Do Babies Not Like?
Babies mostly like the sweet taste and dislike the bitter and sour taste. But as they grow, they start experiencing different tastes.
3. Why Does My Baby Reject the Food Items I offer?
Sometimes, babies don’t like the smell, taste, or texture of the food; that’s why they reject the food items you offer to them. But offer them food again and again. This is the only way they can learn about food taste and may start eating later.
Stimulating Activities For An Infant
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Consciously or unconsciously, you are performing many stimulation activities for your baby in day-to-day life. These activities help your child to learn and develop by stimulating their senses. A baby is new to almost everything – and as he develops reflexes such as sucking and rooting, he needs to develop his other senses as well. There are many stimulating activities for an infant.
Simple things like blowing raspberries and making your child laugh are also baby stimulation activities and help your child to learn new things, increase his attention span, memory, and curiosity level and affect him in a positive way. A child, introduced to an enriched environment where his senses of hearing, seeing, touching and tasting are constantly stimulated, has been found to be more active and intelligent than the one who is not. Baby or Infant stimulation activities can be numerous. It depends on your baby’s age to find which particular activities will help him learn things faster.
The term “infant stimulation” refers to the therapeutic practice of giving a baby with additional sensory stimulation in any or all of the sensory modalities (sight, sound, touch, balance, smell, and taste). Play is the best way for babies and young children to learn. Through play, children acquire exposure to and understanding of the world, language, social skills, motor development, and knowledge.
Important developmental activities for newborns may begin as early as the first week of life. Anything may stimulate the baby, from establishing eye contact to making funny expressions and sticking out your tongue to singing songs and tickling their toes.
How Much Stimulation Do Babies Need?
The quantity of stimulation that a newborn gets has a direct impact on the number of synapses created. Repetitive and regular stimulation strengthens and cements these connections. Those connections that aren’t utilized may be removed. Talk to your infant often, hug him or her, and create eye contact.
Read to your baby, repeat nursery rhymes, or sing songs to him or her. Repetition of the same song, rhyme, or narrative, is beneficial for newborns since it is one of the ways they learn. Baby needs less than an hour of stimulus distributed throughout the day.
Stimulating Senses Of A Newborn
A newborn is new to almost everything. Many of us have doubts about what can be done to stimulate our senses. As a parent, you also get to learn many new things with the baby’s arrival. In the first few months, your baby’s growth is rapid. Parents get very exhausted in feeding, cleaning, and hushing their baby to sleep. In the first few months, the baby’s eyesight also takes time to adjust. The baby cannot focus on things from the beginning itself.
To start stimulating his senses you have to begin with, hearing and touch. A baby is an expert in recognizing touch and sounds. He can identify his mother’s touch soon and sometimes if exposed to unfamiliar touch he reacts by crying.
You will soon learn that your child is able to identify your voice. He can make difference between the voices of different people. The activities you can do in this period are to hold, hug, touch your baby as much as you can, and talk to him. Use squeaky toys, play soft music, and play something on which you can dance. Hold your baby in your arms and sway your body, and do a little dance.
Keep yourself and your baby entertained. Using colors in the nursery, bright contrastive colors, patterns, and shapes make it easy to recognize him in different colors and shapes. Buy colorful soft toys for him and help him recognize colors. These activities will be very useful in developing, your baby’s senses and bonding with him.
Stimulating Activities For Three to Seven Months Baby
Your baby would have started to enjoy social play and would be moving already. His tummy time would already be working wonders for him. Motor skills development will take place, and soon twisting and crawling will encourage mobility by strengthening the core muscles. Some would be attempting to balance themselves, and would also babble – so be careful what you say.
After your child is 12 months old, you can include many activities to enhance his senses and help his nervous system strengthen. These activities are helpful in getting your child’s attention and keeping him engaged in something or other. The more your child gets to learn new things now, the more intelligent, he will turn out to be later.
Some Stimulating Activities For Infants
You can do a number of activities to stimulate your infant, some are as follows.
1. The Good Kiss, The Bad Kiss
Get your child to sleep on his back. Lift his one leg to plant a kiss on the sole of his feet. Make a face that this kiss was yummy. Kiss his other feet and tell him this kiss was yucky. Make faces to tell how yummy or yucky the kiss was and observe your Childs reaction. He will normally laugh when you kiss his feet, which taste yucky. However, this is a good way to make him understand the difference between the two.
2. Peek-A-Boo
This activity does not require any explanation you simply have to hide your face or any object and pop it back into view. By doing this your child will be able to understand objects and recognize them.
3. Copy Cat
Make a face like sticking out your tongue or make simple sounds, vowels mainly. Do it repeatedly soon your baby will learn to copy you. Child young as two weeks can also imitate. By doing this you help him learn new things this is a sign of very early problem-solving behavior.
4. Chit Chat With Baby
Keep talking with your baby about anything. Talk in a high-pitched baby voice and be reactive. Make sure you display emotions in your talk. Just blab anything your baby will catch it. You may also see that even if your baby cannot pronounce words he will blab away anything. This is surely a wonderful moment, but by doing this your baby will understand how to display his emotions if he does not like something he will blab in a high-pitched voice. This is a good way to help him communicate.
There are many other things too that you can do to help your child learn, memorize, replicate, imitate, and develop. Singing, dancing, tickling, making faces, taking him out, surprising him, making him laugh, and making sure that you get to spend a lot of time with your baby. Your child learns a lot just by imitating you so be active yourself.
How Do You Tell If A Baby Is Under Stimulated?
A lack of stimulation to the child’s senses may lead to irritability, withdrawal, rocking, clothes chewing, and a lack of energy and drive. Is it taking more than twenty minutes for the infant to go to sleep? Can they sleep for more than an hour at a time? If this is not the case, they may be suffering from under stimulation. An under-stimulated infant may also seem disinterested or sleepy while awake.
FAQs
1. How Do Overstimulated Babies Act?
To put it simply, babies and infants may get overstimulated when exposed to excessive amounts of noise or activity. Children and infants who are overstimulated may cry or become irritable. There is a possibility that toddlers may have tantrums.
2. Is TV Too Much Stimulation For Babies?
Yes. A baby’s brain may not be able to handle the stimulation of a TV, phone, or other electronic devices until after they reach the age of 18 months. That’s why the AAP ( American Academy of Pediatrics) advises keeping kids away from screens until after they are 2, and even then only letting them watch an hour of instructional content every day until they become 5.
It is common for every new mother to dream and create a color-filled room that welcomes her newborn home vibrantly. But do you know that a baby’s vision at the neonatal stage (28 days from birth) is still developing, and they have poor focus? Yes, like all the other organs, their eyes and eyesight also evolve slowly. Babies cannot immediately see all the bright colors, nor black and white right after birth. Their only concentration stays on trying to focus on objects near them.
As a new mother, you may wonder if your baby can see your face. Their heartwarming smile while looking at you, can melt your heart. Yes, they will watch your eyes as their eyesight slowly develops. Babies also work on focusing on the objects that go farther, say 12 inches and far. Their ability to focus on a single thing also evolves slowly, but it will take time to distinguish bright colors. This article explains more about when babies start seeing colors and when you should be concerned about your little one’s vision.
According to several new studies, a newborn can see brighter colors like red patches. It is a fact that a newborn is only learning to focus their vision on an object, like distinguishing two faces in a single room. Their ability to see a particular color remains unknown right after birth. But, once the baby is 3-4 months old, the brain starts processing and reacting to different colors.
Research says that a 4-month-old baby’s brain works the same as an adult’s when they see bright colors like red, green, purple, and blue. Right after birth, they slowly start and learn to fix their focus. You might have observed something while breastfeeding, that your baby keeps their vision fixed on you. They can see your eyes very well. They can even see objects 8-10 inches away from them, but not beyond.
WHAT COLORS CAN BABIES SEE?
A newborn can only see dark and light, like black, white, and gray. The vision of a newborn slowly develops, and they will start to identify bold lines of red by the time they are eight weeks old. A baby can see appropriate colors like red, blue, purple, and green from 5 months. A baby can easily distinguish and identify almost all dark, light, and other shades of colors by the time they are 12 months old.
As a parent, you must play a keen role in developing their cognitive skills by playing with them. Show them different objects and surround them with vibrant colors. Although the neonatal period is too early for them to see colors, their vision slowly develops to identify different colors. Quality time with your little one can also generate a deep bond between you and the baby.
WHEN DO YOU KNOW IF THE BABY IS COLOR BLIND?
You can understand that your little one is color blind only when they start to communicate with you. The learning stage of identifying colors is the stage where you can differentiate if the baby is picking the right color for that particular object.
Keep an eye on your little one, and do not hesitate to call your doctor when they prompt one color for another. Color blind kids mistake one color for another, like green for brown and red for gray.
Get an appointment with your doctor if you observe any of the things below.
Call the doctor if the baby’s eyes cross inwards or outwards once they are two weeks old. (Below that, a baby is still trying to establish coordination between the two eyes).
Talk to your doctor if you observe any rapid movement like circular or vertical movement in their eyeballs.
Let your doctor know if the baby has fixed her vision in just one place, even after diverting them. (This can happen during the first few weeks of birth, but make sure to see your doctor if this persists)
Once your baby grows, take them to their pediatrician if they say brown for green color. It can happen as a mistake, but make sure to see your doctor if this persists.
As the baby grows, their ability to see and focus also increases. Understanding a newborn’s vision has still been a puzzle to many studies. However, your baby can joyfully react to the different bright colors they see within a few weeks after birth.
A baby can see colors at a very young age, but their brains will not receive them. According to studies, a young baby can see bold lines of red.
2. Can Babies See Colors at Two Months?
During the first few weeks, a newborn’s brain cannot perceive colors other than black and white. As their vision slowly develops, a baby starts seeing different bright colors. At the age of two months, a baby will be able to see bright red, purple, blue, and green colors.
3. What Color Can a Baby See at Six Months?
A baby can see almost all the colors, including their shades, at six months.
BABY’S SENSE OF SMELL DEVELOPMENT – TIMELINES AND WHAT TO EXPECT
We are all born with a nose and the sense of smell is very important to carry on with regular life. When does this sense organ start developing? Do newborn babies have a sense of smell? Or do they develop it as they get older, like other skills? You will be surprised to know that a baby’s sense of smell development starts in the mother’s womb and is fully functional at birth.
This sense of smell is vital for the survival and proper development of babies. Smell and taste and inter-related and babies accept feed only when they like and recognize the smell. As babies cross the 6th-month mark, this relationship between smell and taste will influence their food habits too. Let us learn more about the baby’s sense of smell and how and when it develops.
Yes, babies are born with a very keen sense of smell. They quickly learn the smell of their mother, primary caregiver, breastmilk, their room, and many others. Apart from the lighting and temperature, the smell of a room also triggers a baby. They know they are in a new place when it smells different.
They say a baby can smell breastmilk from a distance. This is why you can see a baby cry the minute the mother walks in. She need not touch or speak but the baby will know the mother is nearby.
BABY’S SENSE OF SMELL DEVELOPMENT AFTER BIRTH – MILESTONES
According to studies, the brain’s olfactory centre forms in the fetal stage itself. It develops as the baby develops and a baby is born with a very good sense of smell. This is why a newborn who is unable to see beyond a few meters or focus on a person’s face, will know if their mother or someone else is holding or carrying them.
Similarly, a baby is able to identify who is carrying them even with their eyes closed. So how does this sense of smell develop in a baby? Does it change month after month as it does with other skills? Let’s find out!
Birth to First Few Weeks (0 to 2 Weeks)
A newborn can smell and understand the scent of their mother and mother’s milk.
Some babies can even differentiate between their mother’s milk and another woman’s milk, or formula. This is why some babies reject other milk even before tasting it.
They know their primary caregivers’ smells. If someone new were to carry them, they can resist and cry to show disapproval. The minute they are handed back to their mother and they get her smell, they feel comforted and calm down.
First to Three Months (1 to 3 Months)
Babies start building their memory based on the experience they have with smells – parents and cuddling, strange smells can indicate strangers, and the absence of a mother’s smell can indicate she is not close by.
When they are 3 months old, their limbs are stronger, and they also have better control over their neck. So, if they encounter a smell they don’t like, they can kick, cry, and turn away to show disapproval or fear.
Four to Six Months (4 to 6 Months)
At this stage, you can introduce your baby to new food items. They prefer some foods over others, mainly by the smell. The texture comes next.
If your baby does not like the smell of a food item, they can refuse to eat it. Some strong-smelling foods can make them gag too.
The sense of smell plays an important role in their choice of foods.
Babies can move at this stage. They may move towards toys or food items based on the smell, in addition to the bright colours and textures.
They will pick foods off the plate and eat or spit depending on the smell and taste.
Ten to Twelve Months (10 to 12 Months)
Now, if you try to trick them into eating something, it may not be so easy anymore. Even if you try to give them different milk in the same bottle, they can differentiate even before tasting it. That is how sharp their sense of smell is at this stage.
By this stage, they are able to identify strangers and family members with their smell. You can even try making a new person wear the baby’s mother’s or father’s clothes. You can see the obvious confusion on the baby’s face.
They learn to recognize their parents’ perfume and other smells that help them realize their presence in the room, even before seeing them. At this stage, if you need to leave your baby for some time or overnight, you can give them your blanket or clothing for the comfort of smell.
TOP 4 FACTORS AFFECTING BABY’S SENSE OF SMELL DEVELOPMENT
Just like with everything else, external and internal factors can affect the baby’s sense of smell. Some babies can smell better than other babies while other babies may not be able to smell at all.
Some of the factors that can affect a baby’s sense of smell are:
1. Respiratory Infections
A common cold or a stuffed nose can affect the baby’s sense of smell, just like it can with us adults. They may seem very irritated and even the mother may not succeed in pacifying them as the baby might take time to pick the mother’s scent.
2. Additional Medical Issues
Hyposmia is when one cannot smell much and Anosmia is when one cannot smell at all. If a baby is born with either of these issues, it can deeply affect their sense of smell. You may take time to recognize this if the doctors miss it.
3. Premature Birth
Premature babies take time to develop in every way. Though the olfactory senses develop in the womb at week 10 itself, a preterm baby may not pick scents as well as a full-term baby. They may require a little more time to reach that level.
4. Strong Smells
When a smell is too strong, it can be too much for a baby to process, they may start crying to show their discomfort. It can hinder their ability to pick on a familiar scent.
For example, if the mother wears a new and strong perfume before stepping out, and comes to the baby to give a kiss, it can irritate the baby’s senses. The strong perfume smell will prevent the baby from realizing the mother’s familiar scent.
The nose is one of the sense organs and the sense of smell is very crucial in day-to-day life. There are many factors that can affect this sense. If your baby is unable to smell well, you need to identify the reasons, help your child get better, and support them until they can smell well.
You can give them multiple things to hold, smell and understand including perfumed books, food items, and toys. You need to take it slow and not overload their sense of smell. Give them time to get used to a smell.
2. How Far Can a Baby Smell Their Mother?
Babies can recognize the scent of their mother as early as day 3 of their lives. As the bond gets stronger, the babies learn to recognize this scent from a distance too (varies from baby to baby). During weaning, the mothers are advised to stay out of the room or sometimes stay even further away, when it is time for bed or a feed.
3. Can Babies Remember Smells?
Yes, they can. The sense of smell develops memory too. Babies remember what something or someone smells like and associate it with recognizing or remembering experiences in the future.
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For babies, almost everything is sensory play. That’s because, at this stage of play development, they constantly learn about their bodies and environment through the senses.
Small changes to tummy time or an extra few minutes at a meal can turn into sensory play. You don’t need to spend too much time planning or setting up sensory experiences. In fact, most of these sensory activities are no mess, no fuss.
Always, always supervise babies during sensory play. Babies are constantly learning and developing new skills. You might not be able to anticipate how a baby will engage with a particular material.
Sensory Activities for 0 to 8 Months Old
These sensory activities are great for younger babies who are not rolling, starting to roll, and starting to sit up.
Shadow & Light Tummy Time
Changing the location or lighting during tummy time creates a new play environment for babies. Show your baby how toys light up or how shadows move. Just avoid anything that flashes.
Tummy time in sun rays
Adjust window blinds
Turn off lights and explore shadows
Plug in nightlights
Place scarves over lamps
You may even discover some lighting combinations that are calming for your baby.
Senses: sight, vestibular
Mirrors
Mirrors are a tool for helping early learners develop social-emotional skills. Babies can use mirrors to learn more about their bodies and expressions. Mirrors are also a way for babies to explore reflections.
You can prop a mirror up for your baby to look at during play or set a mirror on the floor to explore during tummy time. Choose a shatterproof mirror if you have access to one.
Senses: sight, proprioceptive, vestibular
Water Play
Water play is a safe sensory activity for babies as long as they are being supervised. Even just a couple of tablespoons of water can be fun for babies to explore. Try one of these ideas:
Water directly on the highchair tray
Water on a cookie sheet on the floor
Water sealed in ziplock bags and taped to the floor for tummy time
Taking tummy time outdoors introduces babies to outdoor play. They can experience different types of weather and safely explore nature while working on gross motor skills.
Hang Loofahs For Kicking, Pulling, Swiping, Swinging
Hang loofahs of different sizes and colors from a baby play gym. Your baby can reach out to touch the unique textures. They can also use their legs to kick the loofahs and watch them swing.
Senses: sight, touch, vestibular, proprioceptive
Sticky, Tacky Contact Paper
Use masking tape to tape squares of contact paper to the floor, wall, or highchair tray. Let your baby explore the stickiness with their hands or with toys, pieces of fabric, felt, or ribbons.
Create a tummy-time space on the floor with layers of blankets and pillows. Babies can explore each item’s different colors, textures, and weight. Babies who are rolling or starting to crawl can work around the lumps of pillows. Adjust the space if your baby seems overly frustrated or tired trying to move around.
Senses: touch, sight, vestibular, proprioceptive
Exploring Weather
Experiencing different types of weather is part of the human experience. Simply step outdoors with your baby for even a few minutes. Talk about the wind, rain, snow, humidity, or fog. Check out our favorite weather books for help discussing the weather.
Senses: touch, smell, hearing, sight
Bubbles
There is something magical about watching bubbles. Even babies will be mesmerized. Talk to your baby about how the bubbles pop, float, bounce, and burst. Avoid getting lightheaded or out of breath by investing in a bubble machine.
Senses: sight, touch
Wet + Dry Sponges
Offer your baby two or more sponges, some wet and some dry. They can explore the different sensations of wet versus dry. You can also put a small amount of water on a tray and offer your baby a dry sponge that will slowly soak up the water.
Cut out 12″ by 12″ squares of contact paper and bubble wrap. Tape each square to the floor with masking tape. Encourage your baby to crawl or walk across the different materials. For a sensory bonus, do the activity barefoot.
When your baby is ready, introduce foods of different flavors and textures for them to explore.
Citrus fruits
Chia seed pudding
Multiple colors of bell peppers
Variety of crackers
Senses: taste, touch, smell
Push & Pull Play
Babies love to push, slide, drag, roll, lift, and pull large or heavy (for them) objects. Look for safe ways to create this activity.
Cushions
Buckets
Baskets
Walkers
Crates
Ride-On Toys
Boxes
Totes
Large Balls
Add weight and/or ropes so your baby can use muscles pushing and pulling large or heavier objects.
Senses: touch, vestibular, proprioceptive
Nature Walks (Or Sits, Or Cruises)
Time in nature is an incredible sensory activity for babies. And it takes almost no prep work for parents and educators. If you want ideas and inspiration for outdoor play, check out our nature play posts.
Music is a sensory play experience. You can introduce babies to finger plays, rattles and toy instruments, or your favorite music. Musical instruments, singing voices, dancing, clapping, and exploring how to make sounds all stimulate sensory systems.
Once your baby can sit up, it’s safe to slowly introduce drinking from an open cup. This is a great learning experience and a sensory activity all in one. For more sensory play, give your baby a dry washcloth that they can use to start wiping up spills.
Senses: taste, touch, proprioceptive
Exploring Light & Shadow
Lights and shadows activities are fun for babies and don’t have a messy cleanup. As babies get older, they can take part in exploring light.
Rope lights or string lights
Children’s flashlights
Cover lamps with scarves
Translucent objects
Reflective objects
Explore shadows outdoors during dusk or nighttime
Senses: sight, touch
Goofy Moves
Encourage your baby to roll, dance, or turn upside down. Or you can gently perform these moves with your baby.
Spinning
Upside down
Rocking
Swinging
Rolling
Senses: vestibular, proprioceptive
Under + Through
When babies crawl through tunnels or under tables, they are learning about how to move their bodies through obstacles. If you don’t have a pop-up tunnel, you can create your own with chairs or by draping blankets.
Using loose parts is a great way to incorporate sensory play into your home. Exploring objects is an engaging, developmentally appropriate sensory activity during a baby’s first year. You can learn more in our ultimate loose parts materials guide.
Loose parts are items that babies can safely manipulate, mouth, and explore. Objects with various textures, colors, weights, and sounds create a sensory experience.
I want to highlight some of my favorite loose parts materials for babies.
Themed Treasure Baskets (find ideas in the ultimate guide linked below)
Fabric: scarves, felt pieces, fabric squares
Shaker Bottles: made with plastic bottles or empty spice bottles
Bangle Bracelets
Cardboard + Felt Cutouts
Lids + Containers
Cookie Cutters
Cooking Utensils
Sponges + Loofahs
Coasters
Turning Household Items into Play since 1992(ish)
My FREE list of Household Items you can turn into LOOSE PARTS PLAY for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Turn that muffin tin in the back of your cabinet into a play prop.
In the first few weeks with your newborn, supporting her developing senses (aka interacting or playing with baby) probably won’t be top on your to-do-list.
If you’ve got the hang of breastfeeding, kept up with the laundry, fed yourself anything other than toast and chocolate and managed to sleep more than 3 hours straight then really, give yourself a pat on the back! Is there really more you should be doing?
Well, yes and no….
Your baby does need plenty of stimulation and of the right kind too… But panic not, chances are your baby is getting all the stimulation he or she needs in the mundane madness that is involved in looking after the little blighter, sorry, darling. (Apologies to all you US folk, I think blighter is British slang but I can’t think of a better alternative!)
But if you’re a little curious or have an urgent need to check your baby is getting the appropriate level of stimulation (yup, that was me) then you’ve come to the right place.
Or maybe you’re sitting at home twiddling your thumbs wondering – what the hell am I supposed to do with her all day?
As my dad asked (repeatedly, because he’s soooo funny like that), “When’s he going to do something?!” Hold onto your horses, dad, Alton Towers is a few years away yet…(4 years later it still is…)
(But I do kind of know where’s coming from…other than poop, scream, demand food… and very occasionally give you a giggle and a gurgle – just to remind you that’s all worth it – things do seem to move very slowly when it comes to your baby’s ability to actually ‘do’ something fun or interesting…I digress…)
This post covers your baby’s developing senses and tips to ensure he or she is getting the right kind of stimulation/activities/experience.
Most are easy to try at home, free or cheap. Many you will be doing anyway.
WHEN to stimulate & interact with your newborn
In the first few weeks, your newborn will be sleeping such a lot of the time, that there really is no need to actively look to stimulate your baby. As you’ll see, your baby will be getting plenty of stimulation from being fed, carried about, bathed, cuddled and fed…
But as baby has a few longer awake periods (hopefully in the day) this is when you may want to try a few new and different ways to stimulate and interact with her.
Awake times will still be short though, so watch closely for signs that baby is getting tired and reduce stimulation and/or switch simulation for the calming types as appropriate.
Wondering what to look for when baby is starting to tire and become overstimulate? Check out this baby cues post here.
Look for signs that your baby wants to engage with you before actively stimulating and interacting her
The sense of touch
In the close confines of the womb, an unborn baby receives plenty of touch stimulation, so this sense is well developed at birth. For this reason, plenty of deep pressure touch stimulation is exactly what your newborn will crave in order to feel secure.
So deep pressure touch stimulation, such as swaddling, a close hold during feeding and babywearing will calm and soothe baby. So just by doing these things, you’re providing plenty of touch stimulation.
While these types of touch sensation may irritate
rough textures (unstitched seam on babygrow, fussy fabrics)
soft touches (light tickles)
a light breeze (blowing air)
hot and cold touches (hot or cold hands, cool air)*
unfamiliar touches (new people handling your baby)
*I think it goes without saying to watch the intensity of hot sensations for your baby and not to have baby in direct sunshine but just in case…
The importance of touch stimulation
Touch is the foundation block for movement (since baby first needs to develop awareness of her own body, which comes through touch) but is also important for bonding and other higher cognitive functions.
But touch stimulation isn’t just important, it’s a necessity; without it, development is severely compromised.
Research has found that, even with adequate nutrition, a lack of touch can lead to stunted physical development as well as inhibited emotional and intellectual capabilities (source).
Stimulating your newborn’s sense of touch will come naturally
Tips for using TOUCH to support and encourage healthy newborn development
1 – Don’t save deep pressure touch for when baby needs soothing
Deep pressure touch is very effective when it comes to calming and pacifying your baby, so things like:
swaddling
babywearing
skin-to-skin
holding baby close when feeding etc.
But there’s no need to limit these types of touch sensation to when baby is upset or needs calming; these also provide plenty of healthy stimulation.
For example, your newborn will love the naked cuddles of skin-to-skin and it’s a fantastic way for the two of you to bond. Not only that, there are a whole host of well-researched benefits of skin-to-skin to baby, from helping to regulate temperature to a stronger immune system.
2 – Try a baby massage to stimulate in a calming way
Massage is another form of deep pressure touch that is both calming and stimulating, but unlike things like swaddling mentioned at #1 it cannot be used when baby is particularly fractious, overtired or overstimulated; baby needs to be fairly relaxed.
It’s another lovely way to bond with baby and, in terms of development, it can help baby develop body awareness which is necessary for the development of spatial perception.
Baby massage can also help with the discomfort of trapped wind or constipation. Read all about the benefits of baby massage here.
Here’s a great video with some pointers on getting started with baby massage…
NB: Don’t massage baby if in extreme discomfort, overstimulated or overtired – check this baby cues post to understand what behaviors your baby may show you if any of these are the case.
3 – Bathtime water fun
If baby enjoys bathing, gently pour water over her tummy. Be led by your baby on this – some babies enjoy water more than others.
You can also massage and stretch out your newborns arms and legs, with or without soap. (Don’t use soap on tiny babies as their skin is too sensitive.)
This is for the slightly older newborn who is content to lie in a bath chair.
Expose your newborn to different textures to stimulate the sense of touch
4 – Lie baby on different textures
This is best done with baby just in a nappy in the warmer weather or after a bath in a warm room. Find different sheets and blankets with textures for baby to lie on.
The sense of movement (vestibular)
Like touch, this sense develops rapidly before birth due to the constant rocking motion of mom’s body which provides a lot of stimulation.
By the end of pregnancy, the vestibular system has developed to a point where it helps baby get into position for birth (clever, huh?!)
Gentle, rhythmical movements will calm and soothe your newborn, while irregular, quick and jerky movements will alert or even irritate.
The importance of movement stimulation to your newborn
As a newborn, movement stimulation is firstly about experiencing being moved. So for healthy development, you want to expose baby to movement as well as allow baby the chance to move. With this comes muscle tone, balance and coordination until baby becomes in control of her own movement.
So movement stimulation is necessary for the development of every single motor skill but it’s also important in the development of emotional skills and higher cognitive functions.
Give baby freedom to move her legs and arms every day so she can start to develop coordination and muscle tone
Tips for using MOVEMENT to support and encourage healthy newborn development
5 – Give baby freedom to move naturally every day
Lie her on her back so she can kick her legs about and stretch her arms.
6 – Try a few minutes of tummy time every day
Tummy time is crucial for your newborn’s physical development. It helps strengthen the muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms, and core. By lifting their head and pushing up with their arms during tummy time, babies develop the necessary strength for holding their head up, sitting, and eventually crawling.
Start with just a few minutes at a time and, if your baby doesn’t like it, I’ve found the best position to start is with them lying on your chest, with you lying down. That way you’re close to them for support and encouragement.
Here are some different ways to encourage tummy time if your baby isn’t so keen.
7 – Minimise use of car seats (and other contraptions) that inhibit movement
This is related to the last one; your baby needs to move! Car seats and some other baby accessories do not allow and certainly don’t encourage any movement. The advice is to limit time in the car seat to 2 hours a day.
8 – Stimulate your baby’s sense of movement with full-body maneuvers
When baby is just a few weeks old this can be as simple as turning around slowly when you’re holding baby. Babywearing has this one covered too.
As baby gets a little older you can extend this to moving her from lying on her back to sitting up by holding her hands.
Lifting baby from a lying down position to sitting up stimulates the sense of movement
A much older baby may enjoy a bit of rough play (my son loved the feeling of almost being thrown up in the air (in reality, he didn’t even leave my husband’s hands….)
The sense of taste
From the second trimester, when swallowing starts, baby starts to experience the different flavors of whatever you’re eating (albeit very diluted).
At birth, a newborn’s sense of taste is thought to be better than an adults and memory for tastes is also good. Research has shown that babies exposed to certain flavors in the womb and while breastfeeding, show preference to these flavors at weaning (source).
The importance of taste
Taste is important for reflexes related to feeding (e.g. saliva secretion and the swallow reflex) but taste is also closely linked to emotion. For this reason, the sweet taste of breast or formula milk will soothe and pacify.
Tips for using TASTE to support and encourage healthy newborn development
9 – Expose your baby to different tastes
Obviously baby can only drink breastmilk, but exposing them to different flavors, both while in the womb and while breastfeeding will stimulate this sense.
In addition, babies have a good memory for tastes, so this exposure to flavor may influence their preference to certain foods on weaning.
Another reason to eat a wide, varied, healthy diet while pregnant and breastfeeding.
If you’re worried about certain foods making your baby gassy, fear not – there are actually very few that do.
You can stimulate your baby’s sense of taste by eating a wide and varied diet if breastfeeding
The sense of smell
The development of smell
Like taste, a newborn’s sense of smell is incredibly acute, better than ours. It’s so good that research has shown that a newborn will show preference to mom’s milk over someone else’s just a few days after birth (source).
Even though baby is exposed to the different flavors and smells of the amniotic fluid while in the womb, this will be nothing compared to the hugely varied smells of the outside world, which will come as quite a shock to your little one’s system.
So your newborn will find familiar smells the most calming, so mom, mom’s milk, other regular caregivers, as well as their own smell.
New and different smells will stimulate your baby but can easily irritate. A particularly strong or unpleasant smell or too many new smells at once may cause your baby to suck, cry, or breathe more rapidly.
The importance of smell to your developing newborn
Smell has a direct connection to the emotional centers of the brain and so is very important in bonding and sexual attraction.
It’s the emotional link that gives smell the power to calm your baby.
Tips for using SMELL to support and encourage healthy newborn development
Your baby will be exposed to a huge variety of smells in the outside world without anything extra needed at this age. If anything you will want to keep new and overpowering smells to a minimum in order to ease the transition from the relatively neutral smells of the womb.
The sense of hearing
Baby sill start to detect sounds during the second trimester and may even start to recognize them during the third – by shifting positions, moving faster or slower in reaction to certain sounds.
A newborn’s hearing is as good as an adult’s and memory for sounds is good. At birth, your newborn will quickly recognize your voice and other sounds she heard while in the womb.
At around 3 months your baby will start to try and mimic sounds and coo; the first step in language development.
Gentle, rhythmical sounds help calm baby as does the dull consistency of white noise, while irregular sounds and loud noises may stimulate and irritate.
The importance of hearing stimulation
Hearing is intricately linked to language as well as higher brain functions, such as emotion.
For language development, regular exposure to the mother tongue is necessary during the first year
Babies are born with an acute sensitivity towards different sounds, allowing them to distinguish sounds that adults can’t. This allows a newborn to distinguish the huge variety of complex sounds that exist across all the different languages of the world.
During the first year, this sensitivity is lost as the brain tunes in to language heard on a regular basis, i.e. language spoken by parents and other regular caregivers.
At a year old, your baby will no longer be able to hear the unique sounds of other languages and without being able to distinguish them, won’t be able to vocalize them. (Source)
So hearing the mother tongue regularly is vital for optimal language development.
Good exposure to language enhances the development of language
The more words your baby and growing toddler hears, the more his understanding and therefore language will develop, but it needs to be in a social context, not the TV (source).
Music is thought to have a powerful effect on brain development
This is due to the rhythm of music, which may help develop simple patterns of thinking into more complex ones.
You can stimulate your unborn baby’s hearing by playing music to her. This may provide reassurance as a newborn
Supporting healthy development during pregnancy
Your unborn baby will hear your voice when in the womb so will already be getting exposure to language (so try not to make it too colorful!)
But if you want to go one step further you can play music to her by listening to it yourself and holding the speaker close to your belly (music recommendations coming up in the next section) or putting headphones over your bump, as in the photo above.
Not only does this stimulate her sense of hearing but using the same music in her first weeks and months of life will be very calming and reassuring to your newborn.
Tips for using SOUND to support and encourage healthy newborn development
10 – Bring on the baby talk
Firstly, talking to your baby is completely normal and a good thing. I had no problem with this having always talked to the dog etc but I know this doesn’t always come easily to everyone. But it’s a good thing!
As is the higher pitch you will find yourself using. This baby talk or ‘parantese’ might make you feel a little bit silly but it’s totally natural.
It’s this type of language that helps language to develop as it encourages your newborn to listen.
Your baby will also find your voice very soothing so use it to calm her at times of stress, such as new experiences for example, doctors appointments.
11 – Don’t go OTT on baby lingo…
Yes, use baby talk/parentese, but don’t go completely mad with cutesy language. Good language development comes from exposure to good language!
12 – Ensure regular exposure to the mother tongue throughout the first year
As mentioned above, hearing the intricate sounds of the mother tongue is necessary in order to develop good linguistic skills later. So if your baby’s regular caregivers speak your language there is no issue here.
This tip really only applies if your baby is in the care of a foreign speaker. If this is the case try to ensure regular exposure to the mother tongue when baby is back in your care.
13 – Try classical music to calm and stimulate
For calm and relaxation, music from the baroque period is said to be best due (Bach or Handel). This is due to the slow tempo and rhythm similar which is though to be similar to the Alpha rhythm of the brain.
I’ve enjoyed listening to classical music mixes at bedtime with all my babies. Or simply when we need to bring a bit of calm to the house (so on a daily basis with a 3 and 4 year-old!)
You can buy classical music for sleep or check out some of youtube’s free compilations.
Some classical music (e.g. Mozart) is more stimulating due to it’s fast paced nature. Try these when your baby is awake and alert to stimulate their hearing.
14 – Read, recite nursery rhymes and sing to your baby
This helps expose your baby to different vocabulalry and hear the rhyme and rhythm of poems/nursery rhymes.
15 – Imitate
When your baby starts to gurgle, coo, grunt and even squeal, imitate your baby and encourage ‘conversation’. This is the beginning of your baby’s speech.
16 – Help baby practice locating a sound with new sounds
You can do this with a baby rattle by shaking it close by, but slightly out of sight. Or use anthing that you can make a noise with, like teaspoons in a tupperware.
All you’re aiming to do is give your newborn a sound to turn towards.
The sense of vision
The development of vision
With almost zero light exposure in the womb, at birth, vision is poor and blurry and in shades of grey. Despite this a newborn will be able to recognize her mom’s face after just a few hours.
Focus is best at the distance between her face and yours while feeding (8-10 inches or 20-25 cm). Crossed-eyes are normal as baby tries to focus at different distances.
At first, vision is reactive – so baby will move her eyes in reaction to what’s happening around her.
At around 2 months baby will start to consciously move her eyes to follow objects or people within her field of vision.
Color recognition starts at about 4 months and by 6 months baby should be able to focus at any distance.
The importance of visual stimulation
There’s been a lot of research into the effects of visual deprivation; without adequate visual stimulation, the development of vision can be severely compromised.
But no need to panic, providing visual stimulation is very straightforward.
VISUALS that calm & VISUALS that stimulate
Soft pastels, muted colors and low lighting are calming, while bright colors and bright lights are stimulating.
Your newborn will love studying your face. This is great visual stimulation and good practice for focusing at different distances
Tips for using VISUALS to support and encourage healthy newborn development
17 – Let your baby study your face
Your baby will love studying your face, particularly when they’re feeding. A newborn’s focus is best at around 23cm, the distance between your baby’s face and yours when breastfeeding. (If bottle feeding try to stick to this distance in the early days.)
S0 encourage focus by make funny facial expressions. Sounds odd and a little bit silly, but give it a go!
As she gets older you can encourage her to focus at different distances by moving closer or further away.
18 – Find a picture of a familiar face and put it where baby can look at it
You could put it next to the changing mat or hang it from the buggy so that baby can try to focus on it.
19 – Show your baby black & white images
To encourage focus, the higher contrast the image, the better. Hence the black and white picture books you may have seen, which are specially designed for babies.
However, you can easily draw some black shapes and patterns on white paper.
20 – Move objects slowly within her field of vision
In the first few weeks move objects from side to side 8-10 inches or 20-25 cm in front of her face. This encourages your baby to follow the object and helps develop eye muscles and therefore eye control.
As baby learns to focus at different distances you can do the same at different distances.
21 – Pin a bright color to your clothing when you’re feeding
As your baby’s ability to focus develops at different distances develops you can encourage this by giving her a focus point.
22 – Regularly change up mobile or other toys
Alternate the toys hanging from your baby’s mobile, play gym or pram or DIY some new toys. (Kitchen utensils can make an interesting alternative, especially metal ones that reflect light – just make sure they’re tied properly!)
Play copycat tongue talk or other ‘mirroring’ form of conversation (while your husband is ‘watching’ the baby 🙂)
23 – Copycat tongue talk (or other visual ‘conversations’)
My son just loved to stick his tongue out from just a few weeks old so, naturally, I stuck my tongue back out at him. This quickly became a regular in our play repertoire.
It seems all babies love this “mirroring” conversation and from this develop the ability to imitate our facial expressions (source). So start adding in other expressions and noises and see how your baby responds.
24 – Sit baby up in a position to watch the world
When baby is old enough to lie in a more upright position she will get plenty of visual stimulation from watching the world around her. So prop baby up and let your baby watch as you go about your day-to-day chores.
In summary
I hope that’s shone a light on your newborn’s developing senses and the importance of the appropriate stimulation.
But stimulating these senses doesn’t need to be difficult or complicated. Just by feeding your newborn, holding her close, carrying her, bathing her, talking to her and settling her ready for sleep you will be giving her plenty of stimulation. And if you want to do a little more then hopefully you now have plenty more ideas to try.
Any queries, please let me know in the comments!
Exploring outdoors: Sensory Experiences at your fingertips
HOME » BABY » BABY RESOURCES » Exploring outdoors: Sensory Experiences at your fingertips
5 min read
The outdoors are abundant with endless sensory experiences. You can use all your senses when outside. Therefore, outdoor exploration is a must for all. Hence this blog post is about exploring the outdoors. So where can you go? Everywhere! Parks, playgrounds, beaches, forests or going for a walk around the block. Anything that takes you out and lets you feel that fresh air on your face.
My family loves the outdoors so much that we spend most of our day exploring. We try out new parks, take walks around the block, play in the puddles or dig holes in the dirt. At 15 months Josh (my son) loves to explore. He currently loves to push and pull things. His favorite cart goes with him on most of our outdoor adventures. Besides pushing his cart, Josh loves running around collecting dandelions, swishing his hands through dirt or leafs to see what happens to them. He also loves to climb onto or into things and slide down grassy hills. What’s your child’s favorite outdoor experience?
Parent’s role when exploring outdoors
Things to keep in mind:
Be aware as you don’t want anything unsafe landing in your little ones mouth.
Be patient! It can take you an hour to walk around the block as your little one stops to observe and experiment.
Have wet wipes handy. Just in case your child picks up something nasty!
When possible get them out of the strollers, carriers and onto the ground to explore.
Allow your child to get messy.
Allow your child to take safe risks. Doing something that is challenging but safe enough so they don’t get hurt.
When you see your child over stimulated or tired it’s time to take a break.
Child’s role when exploring outdoors
Have fun!
Be curious!
The outdoors can target every sensory system through many sensory experiences. These experiences help to build foundations for strong body and mind.
The opportunities are endless. Below is an overview of each sensory system and what your child can expect to benefit from.
Sensory systems
Vision/Visual Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
This isn’t only about clear sight. It is also about visual processing, which affects how visual information is interpreted and processed.
When we are outside there is so much information that our eyes can process. Your child can go searching for the marching ants on the ground. They can try counting all the red cars driving by. Or even scan the playground to find their sibling. They all help in the development of stronger visual skills.
Josh playing with Dandelion.
One of the things that Josh loves doing is scanning the grass for dandelions.
Hearing/Auditory Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
This sense is about hearing through our ears and interpreting speech and sounds in the environment.
Sound can also be explored outside. Your child can experience quiet noises (buzzing bee) to loud noises (train passing by). They will also get to hear your comments or directions. All this while a wealth of other distractions around them come streaming in. Many playgrounds have musical instruments within their play structures that your child can play with and explore their sounds. Over time, your child will learn to block out the non important noises such as a dog barking, while paying attention to the important ones like the mother’s voice. Hopefully!
Smell/Olfactory Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
Olfactory sense is where the information is inhaled through the nose. It helps us recognize whether smells are dangerous, strong, faint, pleasurable or foul.
Your child can expand their sense of smell while playing and exploring the outdoors. Your child might get to smell different foods at a picnic: smell the grass or the flowers. There might also be different smells of animals or the ocean.
Taste/Gustatory Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
The tasting (gustatory) sense is connected to the smelling (olfactory) sense. The information is taken in through the tongue, in the form of flavor such as salty, bitter, sweet, and sour.
Josh got to taste quite a lot outdoors. He got the chance to taste sand, grass, flowers, sticks and stones(yuk!). If your child is older he may not need to learn so much about his world through mouthing anymore. So tasting the outdoors might come in a form of food that you might give him for a snack or lunch.
Touch/Tactile Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
Tactile input is when the information is received primarily through the skin. That is the skin covering your whole body and inner linings of the mouth. It also includes temperature, pressure, vibration and pain.
Anything that your child touches helps to develop their tactile system. Remember, it’s not only about your hands. It includes your whole body. So let your child take off their shoes and walk on the grass or in the sand.
Here are a few other things you can encourage your child to do: They can play in the sand or in the water. Collect sticks, rocks, flowers, acorns, leaves etc. Pet an animal or hug a tree. Let your kids get DIRTY!!! Let them play in the dirt, in the mud or in the puddles. I know it can be hard but just take a deep breath and repeat after me: “This is helping him develop a strong and healthy tactile system!”. You can look away if you need to.
Josh playing in Australian ocean
Vestibular Sense
The vestibular sense is located in the inner ear. It provides information about gravity, balance and movement. It coordinates how the child’s head and body is moving through space.
Activities that promote the development of a healthy vestibular system is anything related to movement. There are so many fun things that can be done outdoors. These can include: running, skipping, jumping games. One of my all time favorites is rolling down the grassy hill. To this day I enjoy doing it! Swings are so fun and great for movement. See if your swing goes in other directions besides front and back. Maybe it can go side to side or around in a circle. Going down the slide, playing on seesaws. There may be things you can bounce on or spin around on. Hanging upside down on playground equipment. When I was a child climbing trees was another one of my favorites.
Proprioceptive Sense
What is it?
Sensory Experiences
The proprioceptive sense receives information from muscles and joints to provide an awareness of our ‘position in space’. i.e. where we are in relation to other objects, people and environment. It’s all about the muscles and joints stretching and contracting. It helps to coordinate movement of our arms and legs so we can play without paying active attention to what we are doing. This sense is stimulated through activities such as pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying and movement against gravity.
So lets wake up those muscles and get playing outdoors!
Try carrying heavy buckets of sand from one side of the sandpit to the next. Or maybe those buckets are full of water.
What about climbing all those amazing playground structures.
There are rock walls, ladders or climbing nets your child can choose from. Maybe they have a favorite tree to climb. Then there are also monkey bars that you can hang from, or crawl under and over different parts of the structures.
For the younger ones maybe pushing/pulling a baby stroller or a cart around.
My son Josh at 15 months loves pushing his little cart around. We would walk around and he would try to find the heaviest rocks and toss them into the cart. Then he’d push them around until he decided that their free ride is over and would unload them in another location. If you have a blanket or a beach towel you can get your kids pulling something or someone around. Maybe your child would enjoy gardening. There is lots of heavy work with that. All that digging around and watering the plants.
HOW TO USE A THERAPY BALL TO MAKE TUMMY TIME EASIER AND MORE FUN FOR BABY
If you’ve been around babies in recent years then you’ve probably heard about tummy time, am I right?
Tummy time is simply any time a baby spends in the tummy-down position while awake and supervised.
While placing babies on their tummies is not a brand new concept, it is something that has become more important in recent decades. Ever since the American Academy of Pediatrics initiated the “Back to Sleep” campaign in 1992 in an effort to reduce the occurrence of SIDS, the majority of babies in the U.S. have been sleeping on their backs rather than on their tummies. While this has significantly reduced the incidence of SIDS (hallelujah!), it has also contributed to babies taking longer to reach gross motor milestones, with nearly one-fourth of back-sleeping babies exhibiting gross motor delays at 6 months of age.
Now that babies are no longer sleeping on their tummies, it is important for them to spend time in the prone position while awake. This allows them to develop the ability to move against gravity as they learn to control and strengthen their neck, trunk, and shoulder girdle. All of this strengthening and control leads to awesome skills such as being able to push their chest off the ground and shift their weight side to side, roll, sit up, crawl, and even pull to stand! Can you believe that all starts with tummy time?
Okay, so we get it that tummy time is important for babies’ development. But guess what? Not all babies love it. In fact, many despise it. Wouldn’t you scream, too, if you were plopped face down on the floor and didn’t have the strength to lift your head or push up and change positions? So it should come as no surprise to you that research has shown that the majority of parents give their babies 30 minutes or less of tummy time per day. Additional research has shown that these parents avoid or discontinue tummy time sessions specifically because their babies just can’t tolerate it.
And guess what? Research has also shown that, at four months of age, babies who spend at least 80 minutes per day playing on their tummy while awake are able to more successfully reach motor milestones involving the prone, supine (laying on the back), and sitting positions than those who spend less time playing on their tummy.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking — MORE THANAN HOUR A DAY OF TUMMY TIME? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THERE IS NO WAY!
So what do we do about this? If we know that tummy time is important for helping babies achieve early motor milestones, but our babies don’t want to play on their tummies because they hate it, how do we get around that?
Use a therapy ball to make tummy time easier and more fun for baby!
This is probably my favorite way to help babies become comfortable and stronger in the tummy-down position. In fact, I actually wrote about using a therapy ball for tummy time in the very first informational blog post ever published on Mama OT back in 2012! Not only does this trick instantly allow babies to become successful during tummy time, but it’s also FUN for them. Betcha never thought you’d hear “tummy time” and “fun” in the same sentence!
Here is how you can use a therapy ball (also referred to as an “exercise ball” or “Swiss ball”) to help baby enjoy tummy time:
Making sure you have a good grip on baby, gently place her tummy-down on top of the therapy ball. You can vary the angle at which your baby is positioned, thus determining how easy or difficult it is. A greater incline will be more comfortable for a baby who is just beginning tummy time (kind of like being held up against an adult’s shoulder as a newborn), whereas a more flat position right on top of the ball will be more challenging and appropriate for babies who are further along in the process and more comfortable being on their tummies.
Once you get your baby into a position on the ball that is comfortable for both her and yourself, you can begin to slowly roll her forward and backward, making sure you keep a good grip on her and that she is okay with how far and fast you are moving her. When starting out, it is best to position yourself behind baby as you roll the ball forward and backward. However, as you become more comfortable maneuvering her on the ball and as she becomes stronger, you can place yourself in front of baby to make therapy ball tummy time even more interactive and fun as the two of you establish eye contact, make funny faces, stick out your tongue, or even blow raspberries at each other (depending on how old she is, of course).
The first therapy ball tummy time session doesn’t have to be long — it can be less than a minute if needed! The goal at the beginning is simply to get baby comfortable on the ball and get you as the grown-up comfortable with handling baby on the unstable surface. If you want to be extra cautious when starting out, you can always recruit your partner or another helper to help stabilize the ball as you focus on keeping your hands on the baby. Once baby is secure on the ball, your helper can even position him or herself in front of the ball to smile at baby and entertain her! Remember, the farther forward you roll baby, the more difficult it is because her body moves into a more “flat on the ground” type of position. So start out slowly and only roll her as far as she can tolerate while still being happy.
If baby is not yet able to lift her head or push up with her arms while doing tummy time on the therapy ball, that’s okay! She’ll get there. For now, just make sure baby’s head is turned to both the left and right sides during the early tummy time days. This will help prevent over-development of the muscles on one side of the neck.
As baby becomes familiar with rolling forward and backward on the ball, you can incorporate some rhythm and predictability by gently singing to her as she rolls on the ball. Hey, she doesn’t care if you have an awful voice; she LOVES the sound of your voice! Songs I love to sing while doing therapy ball tummy time with babies include the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and, of course, Row Row Row Your Boat. As you begin to incorporate singing into your therapy ball routine, you are helping baby tolerate tummy time by providing a sense of rhythm and predictability, which is totally what she wants at this age. And you know what? It also provides an opportunity for bonding between the two of you as well, as you interact with her through the sense of touch, movement, sound, and sight and she learns to trust you. How sweet and amazing that is.
{Okay, I got a little sentimental there, sorry! Can you tell I love babies???}
One great way to increase baby’s interest in tummy time on the therapy ball (other than your rock star voice, obviously) is to place items of interest directly in front of the ball. You want something that will grab baby’s attention and make her want to look up at it. You can use anything from a musical or light-up toy to a sibling or other grown-up. I especially enjoy getting babies in front of a mirror while they do tummy time on the ball…babies LOVE looking at themselves in the mirror and are so easily entertained by their own mirror image! I also love using a baby play table as an attention-grabber during therapy ball tummy time (what’s a baby play table and how do I use it?). Simply remove two of the legs in order to make it tilted, then zoom baby forward toward the lights and songs. If she is learning how to reach, you can roll the ball forward and slightly to the side of the arm that needs to bear weight in order for the opposite arm to reach out and push one of the buttons (so, for example, roll the ball slightly to the left if the right arm is going to reach forward). Whatever it is you use, just make sure you keep it in front of the ball rather than to the side of the ball in order to promote balanced development of those neck, shoulder, and trunk muscles.
Once you are comfortable handling baby on the therapy ball and baby is happy to be on the ball, you can begin to change up the direction a bit by slowly rocking her side to side. This provides a new sensation to baby’s vestibular system (the sensory system that senses movement and helps with developing balance). This also provides increased proprioceptive input (sensory input to the muscles and joints) to those chubby arms, giving them a sense of where they are and how they can resist against the ball’s surface as baby is gently rocked from side to side. In addition to the new sensory input, side rocking also provides baby an opportunity to experience shifting her weight from left to right to left to right. Upper body weight shifting is a HUGE skill learned during tummy time that allows babies to learn how to support themselves on one arm while they reach for an object (such as a favorite toy or Daddy’s nose) with the other. And you know what other skill is related to upper body weight shifting? Crawling! Isn’t it amazing how many higher level infant motor skills are related to what babies learn how to do during tummy time?!
As baby becomes stronger and more comfortable while playing tummy-down on the ball, you can increase the challenge by loosening your death grip on baby’s hips (which gives her the chance to use her muscles more in order to maintain a stable position when pushing up), rolling with a quicker pace (just don’t act like you’re launching baby to the moon!), or pausing for increasingly longer periods of time as you get her to the top of the ball. Check out my post about how to play with and challenge your older baby (12+ months) on an exercise ball (demo video included) by clicking HERE.
So now you can ask the big question: Does this actually work? Will my baby really learn to enjoy tummy time if I use a therapy ball?
I mentioned earlier in this post that I have written about tummy time before. It was the first informational post ever published on this site, and is called 7 tips for making tummy time a little less…um…miserable. (You can read it HERE.) In that post, using a therapy ball for tummy time is the 4th of 7 steps introduced for working up toward happy, independent tummy time. I have received many comments about how helpful the post is, but one particular comment that was recently submitted was especially memorable and it pretty much sums up how a therapy ball can work wonders for a baby who hates tummy time. Here is a good chunk of that comment:
“THIS ACTUALLY WORKED!!!! I had been struggling with my son (now almost four months) for about three months to help him get used to tummy time but he absolutely hated it! The only reason he did anything on tummy time was so that he could get to me in order to nurse, and that only involved pushing with his feet. He would scream and cry, his face would turn purple, and I felt like I was torturing the poor guy.I started to ease off of tummy time, but by two months, he couldn’t hold up his head at all and the doctors were concerned (though I now know this is perfectly fine) and by three months, he could only hold it up for a couple of seconds. I was terrified that he would not learn to crawl because he would not stay on his tummy for any length of time once he realized that he was going on the floor!…Step 4 is definitely my favorite with the exercise ball! He loved being at a steep angle and being able to look around, and I was able to slowly progress him to being parallel with the ground!! (BEST STEP EVER!! THANK YOU!!)…We are not fully into Step 7 where he is content, but he has actually stayed on his tummy for several minutes, is not only holding up his head but is also pushing up his chest several times, and now he is even starting to scoot forward using his hands!! It’s still a work in progress but this article has been the answer to my prayers about tummy time!! Thank you so much for posting this article!!!”
Didn’t reading that just make you smile from ear to ear?
Whether your baby hates tummy time, loves it, or hasn’t even started it yet, I hope you’ll consider using a therapy ball to enhance their tummy time experience and support their development of higher level infant motor skills. It’ll be fun for them, fun for you, and good for their development. Win-win-win!
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Now that you have learned all about how to use a therapy ball for tummy time, it’s time to introduce you to several other therapy bloggers who are providing helpful info and ideas to help you and your baby out with tummy time as well!
I am excited to be participating in a Therapy Bloggers Blog Hop all about tummy time! Basically, we have coordinated our efforts to bring you lots of great posts that explain why tummy time is important and provide tips for how to successfully implement it with the baby in your life.
Below you will find all the posts in the Tummy Time Therapy Blogger Blog Hop.
So many great ideas and thoughts on tummy time from Occupational and Physical Therapists!
