Bubs About Town are so pleased to be able to bring you a series of fantastic articles by Dr Jane Williams. A researcher and educator and who is actively involved in the development of high quality early childhood development programs in Australia, Asia and Europe. The GymbaROO/KindyROO program, in which she is involved, is focused on the delivery of a program that promotes healthy neurological, social and physical growth in the first five years of life. Importantly the program actively engages parents in their children’s development from birth.

Scroll down for the tummy time article.
 

Dads can help get babies moving!

By Dr Jane Williams
GymbaROO

Eleven month old Jill is always on the go - climbing the stairs, pulling herself up onto the furniture and creeping into every available space in the house. Her busy body was exploring the world around her, saturating her senses, feeding her brain with lots of information from her eyes, ears, hands, feet, muscles and skin. While her movements may still be clumsy she is not only learning to move, but she is moving to learn.

Why is movement so important for babies and young children?

Infants and young children need to move. It is one of the important keys to later learning. Moving stimulates the development of the brain in many ways. When babies are born, their brain is a mass of millions and millions of (mostly) unconnected nerves. Emotional, sensory and movement experiences that an infant and child have stimulate these nerves to connect, and this allows information to flow smoothly and quickly between the body and the brain, and around the brain. The more stimulation these nerve pathways receive the more consolidated they become - eventually transforming from disconnected tracks to superhighways that efficiently and rapidly zoom messages throughout the brain and to and from the brain to the body.

What happens if babies and young children do not move?

Children who have not had the opportunity to move a lot as infants may be placed at risk of later school learning difficulties. Growing research points to the link between learning difficulties and movement. This link has to do with how the brain develops and the skills a baby develops as he moves - young babies who move are able to inhibit the involuntary, inbuilt reflexes that are designed to help a newborn survive. Once these reflexes are inhibited the babies can learn to control body movement and stimulate higher levels of brain function - levels that are important for the accomplishment of complex skills that are required for learning at school. Toddlers are refining the movements of their bodies, learning to balance, and improving hand-eye and eye-foot coordination. During this time the brain is working as two separate sides – this means both sides of the body like to do the same thing at the same time - just ask an eighteen month child to hold out his hand for a treat - both hands go out! These movement skills stimulate the higher order centres of the brain that are important to academic learning. As the child is able to engage in movement experiences the message superhighways in the brain develop, and the child is able to perform more and more complex tasks.

Movement activities that dad’s can do to help babies learn

Babies
Babies need tummy time to really get going. Babies are born with inbuilt reflexes, some of which are there to help a baby push forward - but to do this, they must be on their tummies while they are awake. Baby’s who spend lots of time of their tummy have stronger heads, necks and shoulders, move earlier, are more content as they don’t rely on parents to entertain themselves ,and are stimulating their brain through their senses of taste, touch, hearing, sight and balance.

• Get your baby used to tummy time from as early as 5 days after birth. Lie your baby on your own body, across your legs and over your arm in the tummy position. You can do this while you watch TV or are resting on the couch!

• Take your baby for a walk in the pram - over bumpy paths as well as smooth. If your baby is awake, lie her on her tummy. She can strengthen her neck and shoulder muscles as she responses to the bumpy ride!

• Once babies are over 4 months of age dad’s are important in making sure babies get lots of movement - they seem to have an inbuilt understanding that babies just love being raised high in the air and then rapidly lowered, or to be spun around while wrapped tightly in dad’s arms.

• Once babies are crawling and creeping - get down on your hands and knees with your creeper and encourage them to explore the world around them - under chairs and tables, through open boxes, over different textures, along ladders flat on the floor, and up and down slopes.

Dr Jane Williams is the Research and Education General Manager for Toddler Kindy GymbaROO and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the JCU School of Nursing, Midwifery & Nutrition.

Tummy Time

Tummy time when your baby is awake is the first developmental step up the ladder of learning. Infant and child development occurs in an orderly and predictable sequence of activities that form the foundation for healthy brain development that underlies all higher levels of learning. Tummy time is important as it allows infants the opportunity to develop the head control and muscle strength required for later movement. It also allows babies to take advantage of naturally occurring primitive movement reflexes that help them “wriggle” or move forward. These reflexes are only present for the first few months of life, that’s why it’s essential to give our infants time on their tummies as soon as possible after birth. When babies are on their tummies the spontaneous in-built wriggling movements become learnt skills of coordination and movement. Babies who spend all their time on their backs can’t utilise these in-built reflexes and they end up like frustrated turtles stranded on their backs!

Tummy time does not just mean time spent lying on a rug on the floor. They get the same benefits from resting across your chest, along your arm, over your legs while you relax and watch television or over your shoulder as you walk about the house.

Tummy time is important for many developmental reasons:

• It stimulates development of vision;
• It stimulates hand and finger development and sense of touch
• It avoids misshapen head development that occurs when babies lie for long periods on their backs;
• It helps form the arch in the foot when the infant pushes his toes onto the floor;
• And, it is essential for strengthening the muscles of the shoulder, neck, arms and legs which are necessary for crawling (the next important part of a child’s development).

Babies who are given lots of tummy time during the early months of development find out about themselves and their world much more quickly than those who do not. It is tummy time that develops neck, back, arm, leg and eye muscles that will enable them to gain control over their body movements and get themselves moving forward along the developmental trajectory of life.

Encouraging tummy time:

As early as possible, lie baby on her tummy for several short periods of time each day to familiarise her with the position and then extend tummy time as they get stronger. Find ways to encourage them to lift their head and look up:
• Lie baby on your chest so she can look at your face
• Lie baby across your legs and stroke down her back;
• Lie on the floor with her, sing songs and talk to her
• Place a toy or mirror in front of her
• Place a small rolled up towel under her chest and arms

Dr Jane Williams is the Research and Education General Manager for Toddler Kindy GymbaROO and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the JCU School of Nursing, Midwifery & Nutrition.