The period from 0 to 1 year old is the growth stage with the most changes. In addition to height and weight, babies before the age of one will experience the very important development of movements such as turning, sitting, crawling, standing, and walking. Regarding movement, parents should learn to grasp the laws of baby's motor development and how to promote baby's motor development according to the month's age.
Lack of motor development is caused by overprotection, not giving the child the opportunity to move on their own. With proper protection, allow the child to practice more. Delayed motor development will harm the child's cognitive development and, to a certain extent, affect the normal development of the child's potential. Therefore, in all stages of the baby's gross motor development, mothers should know the following small details.
Five steps for baby's growth before the first year
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👶 Roll over
Rolling over is an important milestone in early motor development. Infants turn over as early as 3 months, but most will do so by 5 months of age. Late rolling over may be due to their development, insufficient guidance, or restricted movement. Parents are careful not to dress their babies too much and wrap them too tightly so they can have the opportunity to move freely, and they will not learn to do so if the appropriate practice can let the baby turn over in advance.
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👶 Crawl
Crawling is an important action in the baby's motor development, which requires the coordination of all four limbs and the natural combination of sight and movement. It is a good facilitator of active exploration, cognitive learning, and interpersonal communication, so parents now pay great attention to their baby's crawling learning. Generally, children have two stages of crawling: first, they learn to crawl forward and then crawl on their hands and knees to support.
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👶 Sit
A 5 to 6-month-old baby can sit, but you need to help him by pulling and sitting, leaning and sitting, or holding on for a while. Don't let your baby sit alone when he can't support his body well and don't sit for a long time when his posture is not correct. By 7-8 months, they can sit alone, but they are not stable enough at the beginning and need to master their balance and learn to change positions gradually.
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👶 Stand
According to the order of development of large movements, it is time to start standing after the baby can sit and crawl. Of course, you can't let your baby maintain one position for too long, and you should use different positions to play with your baby. In the process of development, babies will keep trying once they have certain abilities. Artificial restrictions will make the baby unhappy. What parents need to do is to ensure that their babies get enough vitamin D and calcium supplements to strengthen their muscles and promote the development of motor skills.
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👶 Walk
Walking independently is an important milestone in your baby's gross motor development, and parents take it seriously. However, there is a great deal of variation when babies can walk independently. It is normal for babies to walk independently from ten months to a half years old, but most babies will be able to walk independently by the time they are over one year old.
Here are some suggestions for moms help your baby learn to those skills
- ✅ Provide Support
The most effective way you can do this is by propping them up on the edge of a sofa or between your legs and putting a toy nearby.
This placement permits your infant to practice the tripod rest by putting out a hand to sustain themselves and push themselves back into the sitting setting.
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✅ Stay Close And Create A Soft Landing Place
Even if a baby is well supported, you MUST keep an eye on your baby in any way when they are discovering to rest and also guarantee that they have a soft area to fall by surrounding them with pillows or cushions.
Babies can conveniently get scared if they take an unforeseen tumble, which can also slow their advancement of finding out to rest separately and, eventually, learning to sit up from resting.
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✅ Place Toys For Reaching
Start by placing toys close enough for your little one to reach easily, then gradually move them further away and to the sides to encourage them to turn from side to side.
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✅ Don't Stop Tummy Time
Just because your kid gets on the road to independent sitting does NOT suggest that tummy time can be minimized.
Time spent on the baby's tummy is still hugely important and will help with crawling and moving from the lying-down position on their front to sitting. I suggest mom buy a Tummy Time Mat. It will help babies to learn the two skills.
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✅ Have Time On Their Backs Too
Time spent on their backs is important also, especially when under play fitness centers where they have to reach for dangly toys. This enhances their full body and arms, which are vital to assisting the baby to sit up from relaxing!
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✅ Have a chance to go outside
Every baby is happy to get out and about. When exposed to nature, babies feel good and grow up happily.
The importance of vitamin D and calcium
Some parents worry that their baby's spine will bend if they sit early and their legs will bend if they stand early. The flexibility of the baby's bones and joints is very good, and the key is to pay attention to supplementing the nutritional elements needed for bone development, namely vitamin D and calcium. Legs bend or not, and standing early or late also has no relationship with nutrition. If the baby's body lacks calcium and vitamin D, the bone is not hard enough. Standing will lead to deformation of the lower limb bones, O or X-shaped legs, which is the sequelae of vitamin D deficiency rickets. If the baby is not deficient, there is usually no leg curvature.
More holding is not good for a baby's development.
Some parents find that their children's motor skills are not as good as children of the same age, sitting and crawling, and walking is late, and they are very anxious. There is a situation where these parents are afraid that their children will fall and touch their activities, so often hold overprotective limits. After the baby is half a year old, the ability to move develops, and they must learn to sit, crawl, stand and walk through their active activities. With proper parental protection and encouragement, babies are allowed to practice on their own, using toys and games to stimulate the development of their movement and ability to become independent walking, happy babies!